Ghost in the shell review

For the love of...WHY??!! Why ruin a perfectly good and decent anime Hollywood? That was the question I was asking myself after the first few minutes of this big budgeted adaptation. Yes it starts out OK; following the anime quite closely but then the proverbial Hollywood monkey wrench is thrown into the works (a ghost in the machine hahaha) and...BAM, you have a poor and mediocre adaptation of a very good and ahead of it's time anime. I could go on and on about what a poor effort this movie was but as I understand it: if you haven't seen the original films then this might be a passable retelling of the story, a bit over simplified (maybe the audience is getting dumber) but that is how Hollywood does things and avoids over complexity of things but if you have seen the originals then prepare to be disappointed. The choice of casting Scarlett Johansson in the lead was an excellent choice as she pulls of an expressionless cyborg (just see her in "under the skin") with little to no effort required on her part. As for the rest of the cast...they do an adequate job but if I were to elaborate on each individual then I would find fault with each and every one plus then this review would be more than a few pages long. All in all: if you were to go in with no influence from the original films the this might be for some enjoyable viewing but speaking as someone who has seen and enjoyed the originals, I would stay away unless you enjoy being treated as a dumb person.