Advanced Search >
Help Me Search

Movies

Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores

Wide Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Limited Releases
Now In Theaters

sort by namesort by score

58 (Untitled)
96 35 Shots of Rum
56 Adam
39 Adventures of Power
66 Afterschool
73 Amreeka
49 Antichrist
76 Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86 Beaches of Agnes, The
71 Big Fan
65 Black Dynamite
76 Bliss
26 Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
44 Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81 Bright Star
76 Broken Embraces
70 Bronson
62 Cloud 9
65 Coco Before Chanel
69 Cold Souls
60 Collapse
82 Cove, The
75 Crude
82 Damned United, The
53 Dare
50 Defamation
67 Departures
70 Earth Days
85 Education, An
55 Endgame
88 Fantastic Mr. Fox
31 Fix
49 Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80 Food, Inc.
xx From Mexico with Love
28 Gentlemen Broncos
72 Good Hair
89 Goodbye Solo
63 Horse Boy, The
74 House of the Devil, The
xx How to Seduce Difficult Women
26 I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
70 It Might Get Loud
46 Killing Kasztner
43 Little Traitor, The
34 Looking for Palladin
80 Lorna's Silence
46 Love Hurts
84 Maid, The
45 Mammoth
75 Messenger, The
55 Missing Person, The
59 More Than a Game
34 Motherhood
62 My One and Only
48 New York, I Love You
66 No Impact Man
26 Oh My God
68 Paranormal Activity
68 Paris
79 Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
73 Red Cliff
69 September Issue, The
79 Serious Man, A
65 Skin
41 Splinterheads
42 Staten Island
50 Stoning of Soraya M., The
58 Storm
82 Sun, The
49 Ten9Eight: Shoot for the Moon
73 That Evening Sun
61 Trucker
49 Turning Green
83 U2 3D
45 Uncertainty
67 Visual Acoustics
32 War on Kids
67 Way We Get By, The
65 Wedding Song, The
xx White on Rice
59 William Kunstler: Disturbing the Universe
74 Woman in Berlin, A
43 Women in Trouble
69 Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence

EMAILPRINTGo Fish Pictures

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence reviews
66
7.8 User Score:

Generally favorable reviews

Based on 26 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

Based on 24 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >

Movie Info

Genre(s): Action  |  Animation  |  Drama  |  Fantasy  |  Foreign  |  Sci-fi  |  Suspense/Thriller

Written by: Mamoru Oshii
Masamune Shirow (comic Koukaku-Kidoutai)

Directed by: Mamoru Oshii

Release Date:
Theatrical: September 17, 2004
DVD: December 28, 2004

Running Time: 99 minutes, Color

Origin: Japan

Summary

RATING: PG-13 for violence, disturbing images and brief language

Starring Akio Ôtsuka, Atsuko Tanaka, Kôichi Yamadera, Tamio Ôki, Yutaka Nakano, and Naoto Takenaka

Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is set in 2032, when the line between humans and machines has been blurred almost beyond distinction. Batou, a cyborg detective for the government's covert anti-terrorist unit, is investigating the case of a gynoid - a hyper-realistic female robot created specifically for sexual companionship - who malfunctions and slaughters her owner. (Go Fish Pictures)

What The Critics Said

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Village Voice J. Hoberman

You can call me fanboy, but this is the best anime I've ever seen.

Read Full Review >
100

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Innocence revisits imagery from the first film. But this time computer animation pumps everything up to epic proportions. The results are overwhelming.

Read Full Review >
90

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

That rare sequel that surpasses the original.

Read Full Review >
90

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

Innocenc doesn't just reveal a wealth of visual enchantments; it restates the case that there can and should be more to feature-length animations than cheap jokes, bathos and pandering.

Read Full Review >
88

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

The imagery is uniquely that of Oshii, who deserves a place in the pantheon of visual artists.

Read Full Review >
88

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

The love and attention Oshii poured into animating Batou's pet basset hound proves that the human instinct dominates even in a movie dependent on technology.

Read Full Review >
83

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

The impressive marriage of CGI backgrounds and traditional hand-drawn characters gives Oshii more tools to sculpt his vision in color and light.

Read Full Review >
83

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

The title Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is a brain banger. But as sci-fi nomenclature goes, it's easy to read--no twistier, certainly, than "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow."

Read Full Review >
80

Los Angeles Times Kevin Crust

The dark sequel offers gorgeous images, with an updated and stylish design, but its characters' angst gets in the way of storytelling.

Read Full Review >
78

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Innocence is possessed of a highly literate, almost classical story.

Read Full Review >
75

Chicago Tribune Robert K. Elder

Like "Blade Runner," it's dense enough to be rewarding on multiple viewings, the hallmark of a classic.

Read Full Review >
75

New York Post Lou Lumenick

Some advice: Don't even bother trying to figure out what's going on in Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence -- just sit back and enjoy the lush, trippy visuals.

Read Full Review >
75

Boston Globe Wesley Morris

Brims with forboding, but it pulses with candy colors and the hum of neon signs.

Read Full Review >
75

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Hartlaub

Has plenty to satisfy fans and bring in new admirers.

Read Full Review >
70

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Less a sequel than a variation on a haunting theme -- the nature and origins of humanity.

Read Full Review >
60

Time Richard Corliss

It points out what's missing in his (Oshii) approach: fluidity of character line, the subtlety of expression that brought humanity to a Warner Bros. cartoon duck or rabbit.

Read Full Review >
60

Empire David Hughes

The visuals are an animation student's wet dream, the dialogue an English student's nightmare - but for Japanimation fans it's a big-screen must-see.

Read Full Review >
50

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

The effect of so much pretension and so many lovely images eventually becomes soporific.

Read Full Review >
50

Dallas Observer Luke Y. Thompson

There's a lot of imagination at work here; too bad just a little bit of it couldn't have been channeled into the creation of a better narrative.

Read Full Review >
50

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Ingeniously crafted with flashes of intelligence, if not very memorable.

Read Full Review >
50

Film Threat Eric Campos

Unfortunately, the outcome here is so over-the-top that it’s going to wind up alienating most everyone that sees it.

Read Full Review >
50

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

A downbeat story line layered with philosophical discourses will restrict the audience to fans of the animated genre.

Read Full Review >
40

Variety Derek Elley

Talky, repetitive and largely covering the same ground with no new thoughts, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence is a major let-down.

Read Full Review >
40

The Onion (A.V. Club) Tasha Robinson

At times, Innocence feels like a clip show of Oshii projects past. But the effect proves more dulling than warmly familiar.

Read Full Review >
40

LA Weekly David Chute

This sophomoric stuff is pure self-indulgence, a drone to accompany the admittedly eye-popping sound-and-light show. Oshii looks like yet another director who has gone off the deep end, believing too absolutely his own good reviews.

Read Full Review >
30

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Ghost suffers most from a distinct lack of anything, well, cinematic.

Read Full Review >

What Our Users Said

The average user rating for this movie is 7.8 (out of 10) based on 24 User Votes

Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

[Anonymous] gave it an8:
Like the first, a complex film that's an acquired taste, but the imagery is simply gorgeous. Still, there are momets where this film feels so fine-tailored for philosophy experts that it give me a brainache. No harn done, though, as it encourages me to analyze the film more.

Cody K. gave it an8:
A very mature movie that can be best categorized as a psychological drama. The drama overpowers the thriller aspect, in my opinion. Not only can you find great depth in the story, but the characters’ voices tell a tale… as well as the stunning visuals; not so much in the design as in the subtle and deliberate details. I also enjoyed the first Ghost in the Shell, but this one is something different. The only thing I had trouble getting past was the environment subtitles… [background chatter], [helicopter approaching], [singing in Japanese], etc. I speak English. I’m not deaf. ;-)

[Anonymous] gave it a3:
Weak.

Tim M gave it a10:
Firstly, visually jaw-dropping. besides that, the story was very layered and more psychological than the first, delving into the characters' nature of being. awesome awesome awesome i just got the dvd. the worst thing about it is the action sub-titles, but oh well i'll deal with it.

Dan F. gave it a10:
Incredibly thought provoking and beautifully comprised.

Alex C. gave it a6:
Good, but way to confusing.

God Complex gave it a7:
I can think of a lot better Anime's. Don't get me wrong, I loved the original movie, it's just not the same in the new film. The "gritty" feel isn't the same. I enjoyed this film for what it was worth. I'd recomend Ghost in the Shell; Stand Alone Complex too. There is better Anime out there though, like Samurai Champloo, Genkutsuou, Gundam Seed, Fullmetal Alchemist, hell even the original Cowboy Beebop. Watch those..they are better. +8's!

Read more user comments >

Popular on CBS sites: SEC Football | NFL | Video Game Cheats | iPhone | Video Game Reviews | Notebooks | Antivirus Software

About CBS Interactive | Jobs | Advertise

© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. | Privacy Policy (UPDATED) | Terms of Use