Back in 1995 I rented this movie and was impressed by the quality of the animation. I must have missed all the deeper philosophical undertones because I had to go back and re-watch the film to remember what it was about.
I watched it dubbed in Spanish on Youtube and then I read the Wikipedia page to make sure I had understood the finer points. I'm afraid my ear for rapid Spanish dialogue is fading but I got most of the good stuff.
The animation is still stunning and the story is intriguing, exploring the issues and consequences of putting a human brain (the ghost) into a mechanical body (the shell).
Unlike movies about robots achieving consciousness, the main character Major was once human and still has suppressed memories of who she was before she became a government weapon.
She has control of a body she can't feel and, strangely, was given breasts complete with nipples but no female genitalia.
She has the ability to become invisible which allows her to use stealth with her targets.
The theme song for the film is a wedding song and it gives me chills. Here it is in the opening sequence of the 1995 film:
If you've heard anything about the new movie it's likely about the controversy of casting Scarlett Johanssen as Major.
This was another in a long line of Hollywood fuckups when it comes to casting ethnic characters.
Heaven forbid American audiences have to watch an unknown Japanese actress play the role of a Japanese character written by a Japanese author.
It makes for uncomfortable watching when Major finds her Japanese mother and speaks to her in American accented English.
A young Japanese girl gets put into a white woman's body and while her mind is supposedly unchanged, she can't speak Japanese with her mother. ใใกใ?!
One film reviewer criticized the scene where the robot emerges from white goo saying that this was the epitome of white washing but in its defense, it was an exact replication of the anime version (seen above) and was not some blatant statement of racial superiority (not this time at least.)
Now that we've addressed the white elephant in the eiga, let's move on to visuals.
They were absolutely gorgeous and faithfully reproduced the best scenes from the 1995 anime .
The reunification of Major with her mother gave her a palpable humanity which was missing from the animated film. She meets her supposed nemesis in this film and learns of their common history. The film ends with the original theme song from 1995 which was amazing.
If it weren't for the idiotic casting decision I think this thing would have probably owned at the box office.
Take note film industry, the world is totally ready to see people of different ethnicities acting out their own stories.
I watched it dubbed in Spanish on Youtube and then I read the Wikipedia page to make sure I had understood the finer points. I'm afraid my ear for rapid Spanish dialogue is fading but I got most of the good stuff.
The animation is still stunning and the story is intriguing, exploring the issues and consequences of putting a human brain (the ghost) into a mechanical body (the shell).
Unlike movies about robots achieving consciousness, the main character Major was once human and still has suppressed memories of who she was before she became a government weapon.
She has control of a body she can't feel and, strangely, was given breasts complete with nipples but no female genitalia.
She has the ability to become invisible which allows her to use stealth with her targets.
The theme song for the film is a wedding song and it gives me chills. Here it is in the opening sequence of the 1995 film:
If you've heard anything about the new movie it's likely about the controversy of casting Scarlett Johanssen as Major.
This was another in a long line of Hollywood fuckups when it comes to casting ethnic characters.
Heaven forbid American audiences have to watch an unknown Japanese actress play the role of a Japanese character written by a Japanese author.
It makes for uncomfortable watching when Major finds her Japanese mother and speaks to her in American accented English.
A young Japanese girl gets put into a white woman's body and while her mind is supposedly unchanged, she can't speak Japanese with her mother. ใใกใ?!
One film reviewer criticized the scene where the robot emerges from white goo saying that this was the epitome of white washing but in its defense, it was an exact replication of the anime version (seen above) and was not some blatant statement of racial superiority (not this time at least.)
Now that we've addressed the white elephant in the eiga, let's move on to visuals.
They were absolutely gorgeous and faithfully reproduced the best scenes from the 1995 anime .
The reunification of Major with her mother gave her a palpable humanity which was missing from the animated film. She meets her supposed nemesis in this film and learns of their common history. The film ends with the original theme song from 1995 which was amazing.
If it weren't for the idiotic casting decision I think this thing would have probably owned at the box office.
Take note film industry, the world is totally ready to see people of different ethnicities acting out their own stories.
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