Though this sequel prequel is better than the first sequel, Ghost In The Shell - Innocence, it still doesn't match up to the original, Ghost In The Shell.What the screenwriters John Burgmeier, Clint Bickham, and Tow Ubukata, give the audience is the story of Major Motoko Kusanagi and her perfect machine of paid mercenaries. I like the idea that she sees her team as a well-oiled machine, each person represents a working part of the machine and every part (man) is required to make her perfect machine. Since she is a cyborg, I could quite easily see her making this simile. It's the story of how they were recruited into Section 9.The story is stronger than the last as the Disney influence is no longer there and the philosophical issues are once again interwoven throughout the story, which helps to give it strength and carry the viewer along. However, there are not as many twists in the tale.Also, the CGI is used to much better ability, as it's mixed in with the traditional animation style to help build better effects and ambiance. I particularly liked the scene near the beginning where a child is running through a flowery archway... The flowers are so bright and vivid it's very dreamlike.There is so much right with this animation that I cannot pick any faults, except it's just not as hard-hitting as the original... or as stylised.If you've watched the original then I'd say forget watching Innocence and opt to watch this one instead. It's soo much better and has a similar taste, tone, and mood to the first. These two together what a treat, not just for the eyes but for the mind also.

In the year 2027, a year following the end of the non-nuclear World War IV, a bomb has gone off in Newport City, killing a major arms dealer who may have ties with the mysterious 501 Organization. Public Security official Daisuke Aramaki hires full-body cyber prosthesis user and hacker extraordinaire, Motoko Kusanagi, to investigate. If you're new on this kind of stuff there's a 99% chance that you might hate this film but if you give it time and try to get inside the meaning of it you might actually enjoy it. Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie is not exactly a masterpiece for sure and it does have it's flaws mostly with the story that it does get confusing as some other reviewers said but the overall animation, characters and action was quite enjoyable and for a newcomer as me in this Franchise i found the movie to be very good and i had fun with it but even tho with it's story problems it does deliver on what it was meant to be from the start. (9/10)

The original Ghost in the Shell movie is one of my favorite movies of all time and still holds up very well to this day. GITS2: Innocence wasn't on the same level but it was still well made, looked great and had an spooky Alice in Wonderland feel. Ghost in the Shell: The New Movie (what a retarded and inspirationless title) is actually a continuation of the Ghost in the Shell: Arise, an anime TV series. But that actually does not matter much. The story revolves around the assassination of the Prime Minister of Japan. Although a bit typical for anime films and the GITS series and films there is an incredible amount of the characters just standing around jabbering endlessly with plot exposition. And the plot does seem overly dry and long winded IMO. When there is action it's great (but not as great as in Nr. 1) but there is so few of it. This makes the film feel very slow and long - a problem I didn't have with the first 2. So if you're a fan of GITS you'll want to see it just to be complete but for the casual viewer I would recommend to skip it or just watch the first 2.

I love Ghost in the Shell. The original movie was great, the series were a bit different, but still making the viewer think about the nature of self and the direction technology takes us in. All of that was enabled by great stories and wonderful music.While "The New Movie" is a good piece of animation and with an interesting story, it doesn't quite catch the magic of the original. Also, as a continuation of the GitS:Arise four episode series, it makes it difficult for newcomers to understand what it is all about. But probably what bothered me most was the soundscape. While not bad, it is a far cry from Kenji Kawai's work.Perhaps the problem is that, in attempting to reboot the franchise, they went too soft. Less blood, less killing, less subtlety and instead just a modernized corporate Yakuza fight that is easy to understand from the perspective of the Japanese viewer. Ghost in the Shell was never about the present, though, it was about the future, its role to make the viewer think things forward and see the predictions of the anime come true in the years to come. "The New Movie" doesn't quite do that and so I feel a slight disappointment with it.Still, a flawed GitS movie is a lot better than no GitS movie and I was glad to watch it. The excitement of the original, though, I didn't find it here.