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Ghost in the Shell thinks it's smarter than it actually is. Right from the start, it throws viewers into its world without explaining anything - what's a ghost? What's a shell? Who are these people? The movie acts like you should already know everything, which is just lazy storytelling.

The animation is technically impressive for 1995, sure. But it follows the same pattern as Studio Ghibli films of that era - all technical excellence, pretty visuals, and not much else. Both studios mastered the art of making things look good while forgetting to tell stories worth caring about. At least Ghibli doesn't pretend its pretty pictures ... are deep philosophical statements.

The main character, Major, is about as interesting as reading an instruction manual. She walks around asking "deep" questions about being human, but it feels fake and forced. The movie keeps stopping dead in its tracks for characters to make long speeches that sound deep but say nothing new.

The story, when it bothers to have one, is a mess. There's supposedly some crime investigation happening, but the movie cares more about characters standing around talking about philosophy like college freshmen who just discovered existentialism.

Fans of the movie love to say "you just don't get it" whenever someone criticizes it. But maybe there's just not that much to get. It's like someone tried to make a smart movie by making it confusing on purpose.

All style, no substance. The movie is so busy trying to look smart that it forgets to be good. Instead, we get beautiful animation wrapped around empty philosophical babbling. Another technically impressive but ultimately hollow piece of work that mistakes visual achievement for meaningful storytelling.