Ghost in the Shell 2.0

As many have noted in their comments, the new CGI in this remastered version of the original Ghost in the Shell movie do more harm to the film than good. I mean, they are nice and all, but they don't add anything to the story and they contract strongly with the original animation.

This being said, the movie is almost the same, so just as great. As a subject it is one of the masterpieces of modern sci-fi. One of my favourite films, GitS spawned two films and a series just as great, all adding more to the initial exploration of the human soul in the face of ever more complex and intrusive technology.

I believe its beauty stands in the many levels that the film can be perceived at. If you are looking for flashy technology, police procedure and explosions, you have them all. If you are looking for dark political intrigue, there is plenty of it. If you are going for more philosophical aspects, like the source of the self, the true spring of identity and consciousness, that is at the very heart of the story. It's a win win situation. I can hardly wait for the film that is to be filmed in 2011. I just hope they don't turn it into some mellow brainless thing, like so many movies nowadays.

Bottom line: I've seen the original a long time ago, so I can hardly comment on the differences. My advice to you is to watch either of them, because it is totally worth it.

Just like other reviewers have said, I can not recommend this remake of Ghost In The Shell to people who like the visuals and the sound of the original. For me, the original GITS was near-perfect in look and feel. The color palette, visual designs, animations and sound design were all strong, hard-hitting and rough.

In the 2.0 remake, the color palette was changed to a earthy, brown look that we know from so many video games and movies. Additionally the image is drowned in blur and bloom effects. Watching the movie you can clearly tell which scenes are CGI and which are hand-drawn, whereas these elements integrated well in the original. To make matters worse, many of the CGI scenes do not hold up to the original hand-drawn scenes. The jaw-dropping intro and title sequences from the original GITS are ruined for that very reason. The city has lost it's dirty, melancholy mood and is now indistinguishable from designs in other movies.

A similar treatment has been given to the audio. All new sounds are toned down in impact. Vehicles, machinery and weapons now sound like plastic. The new sounds alone destroy the combat scenes beyond recognition. On the upside, the original voices and music were preserved.

Why Ghost In The Shell received this treatment I can not understand. Supposedly it was to adapt GITS to the look of it's successor "Innocence" (Ghost In The Shell 2). The merits of such an undertaking can be disputed on a general level, yet GITS 2.0 is a perfect example of how not to execute such a task. Viewers should be able to recognize "Ghost In The Shell" as "Innocence"'s predecessor from the title, the story and promotional material.

Ghost in the Shell 2.0 (Kôkaku kidôtai 2.0): 7 out of 10: The original Ghost in the Shell is an easy 9 out of 10 and is one of the best animes ever made. Ghost in the Shell 2.0 isn't a sequel to that original anime but a rerelease with some scenes redone in CGI instead of the original style.

Not the entire movie mind you, that would be a conversation worth the candle Instead it is just a few select scenes. Does the new CGI look better? Um, not particularly as it consistently clashes with the other art style still present and, as a result, the CGI insertions bring the focus out of the story and instead to the constantly changing animation.

What is strange is the CGI itself really isn't even that good. Not for today as of this writing of course but it really isn't that good for the time either. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within this is not. The CGI simply doesn't blend in with the rest of the movie as you might have seen in Beauty and the Beast for example. Instead, it acts as if the film is changing its aspect ration at random. (I have suffered through the later in a few films and that is a nightmare.)

In a way, this should be like remastering a videogame. One would think there is no way to lose on that front after all the graphics are better and the game plays smoother. Alas, it should come as no surprise that the videogame industry is chock full of remasters that screwed up the original. From the cheap and sloppy removal of fog in the Silent Hill 2 remaster to the simply foolish decision to replace running and gunning with a lame quick time event in the climactic battle of Lara vs. the T. Rex in the Tomb Raider remaster.

Doing a remaster (okay partial half-assed remaster) like this is different than simply cleaning up a print. You are in danger of ruining the original for people. The good news is that the original Ghost in the Shell is available completely unmolested unlike those poor victims of Lucas.

Bottom line skip this and see the original it is both the exact same movie and it is a much better experience.

The wonderful story is intact, but why does this exist? The original is just slightly better in that it doesn't have random bad CG. There's nothing special to make this version stand out.

There is not much to say. 2.0 is an unnecessary, invasive and generally destructive "remaster" which violates the tone, breaks the immersion and adds strange 3D scenes, attempting to unite the original with the sequel in style, all the while their stylistic differences were so important to highlight the advancement of the story.

Avoid this and watch the original 1995 Ghost in the Shell.