Rating: NR
Length: 82 minutes

Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic)

ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
JAPANESE: Dolby Digital 2.0

English

It's 2029 and two cyborg cops, along with one human, are hunting down a mysterious yet skilled hacker referred to as the "Puppet Master" that has been causing havoc over the network.

Unlike Akira (the film all animations get compared to) that was done seven years earlier, this film takes advantage of computer generated graphics. This allows for more fluent movement and a greater amount of detail without the painstaking development of each individual cell. The story is intriguing with lots of action, some female nudity (the Japanese seem to have a thing for large female breasts but we won't hold that against them), government conspiracy and the main perpetrator is believed to be an American (of course). Last, but not least, I loved the soundtrack.

This is not your children's animation, it's definitely for adults since the subject matter would be a bit too complex for the average child. I can't see many 10 year olds having a meaningful debate over what should and should not be considered life though that within itself could make for a decent horror film. And, like Akira, I had to watch this a couple of times before I was able to piece everything together; it could be that I'm just slow. My guess is I'm having a more difficult time identifying/recognizing each character in an animation the first time around than I would in a standard feature film. Then again, I never had this problem with Bugs Bunny. :-)

• The Making of "Ghost in the Shell"
• Complete Movie Production Report
• Trailer

Animation fans will love this film and film buffs should give it a try. It's certainly entertaining and a little more complex than I was expecting; especially considering it's rather short runtime.

Tesshô Genda - Section 6 Department Chief Nakamura (voice)

[Akira]

Iemasa Kayumi - Project 2501 aka 'The Puppet Master' (voice)

Namaki Masakazu - Dr.Willis (voice)

Takashi Matsuyama - Terrorist (voice)

[The Grudge, Ju-on]

Mitsuru Miyamoto - Daita Mizuho (voice)

Shinji Ogawa - Notorious Diplomat (voice)

Tamio Ôki - Section 9 Department Chief Aramaki (JPN) (voice)

Akio Ôtsuka - Batô (voice)

Maaya Sakamoto - Motoko (Girl) (voice)

Atsuko Tanaka - Major Motoko Kusanagi (voice)

Yûji Ueda - Assault-Unit Operator (voice)

Kôichi Yamadera - Togusa (voice)

Kazuhiro Yamaji - Garbage Collector A (voice)

Masato Yamanouchi oreign Minister (voice)