I found the ending annoying, but the animation and rest of the story was impressive.

Felt like an extended episode, not a movie.

visually stunning film. fascinating story. great introduction to Anime.!

It is stylish, gripping, looks brilliant and has such a wonderfully well realised world but near the end the plot turns to treacle - up until then the philosophy is an interesting, if admittedly filler-ish, aside but when the film decides to let the philosophy be the main focus in the closing several minutes it definitely feels like a misstep. This would all be improved in the TV series Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex by toning down the philosophy and keeping the show more focused.

must see action anime, cool weapons and tech

I appreciate the central message it's putting out there, even if the philosophizing becomes a bit of a world salad at times.

Awful in virtually all respects: flaccid pacing, wooden voice acting in both Japanese and English soundtracks, and, every ten minutes or so, everything stops so that someone can give a puerile and shallow philosophical lecture.