AoD Review: Ghost in the Shell - Innocence

[Chris Beveridge]

Review (http://www.animeondvd.com/reviews2/disc_reviews/3570.php)

[ QUOTE ]
In Summary:
A visual and technical masterpiece that will certainly show off just how far anime has come since its predecessor, Ghost in the Shell: Innocence unfortunately is a very formulaic story that's so highly infused with religious and philosophical discourses that they seemingly forgot to put in dialogue for much of the plot. There's no denying that this is a beautiful looking film, rich in its vibrancy as well as the dark nature, but too many of the elements from the first film are brought to replay here and they're the elements that to many didn't make the first film work as well as it should. When all is said and done and I find that many of the filler episodes of the TV series are much more engaging on a wider variety of levels, the film has left me disappointed and not eager to watch again anytime soon.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Trey-Trey]

Yah, I only made it through the first hour or so. I'll have to go back and try to watch it when I'm sober. ha.

The cover art is not so great. Like I said before it looks like a first-year art student put it together. No insert. Bad subtitling. The visuals are good though but it seems like they tried to put too much humanity into the film so it comes off as overbearing.

It's like the Final Fantasy movie... great visuals, but I couldn't give a hoot about the characters or what they are going through. Sad really. I had high hopes for this release.

From the review:

"It's generally a slow paced piece which is more than fine, but it's filled with banter between the two where they're constantly quoting all sorts of religious or philosophical lines and using them as the way to advance the story. While I won't say that the dialogue between these two made me feel stupid nor lectured to by the pair, it did leave me watching a highly unnatural method of discussion between two investigators"


Yeah, as soon as I saw the score, I figured something had to be mentioned about the overuse of quotations by various and sundry philosphers/writers/etc. I enjoyed it overall myself and thought it was well done, but I became weary of all the quotation that they put in there.

But it is something I might just want to own just because of how visually well-done it is. I was actually surprised that I liked it as much as I did, considering the fact that I was not really a fan of the first movie.

[aniki21]

Two aspects of this film were instrumental in catching my interest.

1. The visuals.
Production IG are, in my opinion, the number one studio in the world for combining 3D and 2D art, and I was really looking forward to see what Oshii could get out of them. I wasn't disappointed.

2. The score.
I'm a sucker for anything and everything Kenji Kawai, and as a huge fan of the first movie's soundtrack I was really glad to hear he'd been brought back. Again, I wasn't disappointed; he's surpassed the original's score, and produced one of the most memorable soundtracks I've heard.

Unfortunately, the subtitles pretty much destroyed the film's atmosphere when I was watching it. All the gorgous artwork and music couldn't save the film for me. I get the idea it would even be better without the subtitles.

I wasn't expecting much from the plot/philosophy in the film after seeing a couple of advance reviews that said it wasn't up to much in the writing department, but it lived up to my expectations pretty well. I think I prefer the original film, though.

[ic14]

How do you feel about this release overall? Negative

I dont need to explain why do i?

[Thanatos]

I wonder if most users are selecting their poll option based on the subtitles rather than the actually "content."

Personally I thought it was a fantastic movie. The focus of the picture is in the massive amount of philsophical discourse not the plot or action sequences, which I think Chris missed entirely.

[Chris Beveridge]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanatos said:
I wonder if most users are selecting their poll option based on the subtitles rather than the actually "content."

Personally I thought it was a fantastic movie. The focus of the picture is in the massive amount of philsophical discourse not the plot or action sequences, which I think Chris missed entirely.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I said I did not go into this expecting an action pic; the first one certainly wasn't one and neither was this. What I found was that the massive amount of philosphical discourse wasn't really discourse but just spouting of lines in an attempt to fake dialogue and not really advance anything or to really try and say anything that wasn't already said in the previous one. The discourse just felt very unnatural and poorly done.

[dejr8bud]

I agree with Chris' review. I had the same thoughts when I saw this in the theater. Reaffirmed when I bought the DVD.

GITS 2 is nice to look at(except the gynoids ugh) but the bargain basement philosophical dialogue became really annoying.

I'm still puzzled at the lack of an English dub. A loss of potential income. And the cover while ugly, is kinda of misleading.

[gpn]

Content - N/A
Overall Release - Negative

I'll pick this up when either it's released with a dub or I find it at a price reflective of the bargain-basement treatment it was given.

[Jarred]

Content: B
Release: Neutral

I like the movie, saw it on the big screen here during out film fest. The visuals, animation, and score were damn impressive, 'A+' for those 3. The dialogue was a little TOO pretentious for my tastes. I understand the philosophic nature, but the constant quoting became laughable. I like Oshii material, but I think he went a bit overboard this time. In fact, when I was watching the movie I sometimes would ignore the subtitles for the dialogue and just watch for the visuals.

The release is kind of ghetto, Dreamworks should have put a little more effort into it.

[tstidm1]

Content: C+
Release Neutral

I think the visuals, animation and music were excellent, but the diolague was too deep. I have done a panel on GITS and I would recommend seeing the series first and then the first film. I am a huge fan and I will be getting the New Manga before the Film on DVD. That is how unimpressed I was with the film and not having a dub with at least some of the SAC cast is not excusable. It is not like the Series is dubbed in Vancouver or Houston. It is dubbed in LA where Dreamworks is located.

[cpuuk]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
[ QUOTE ]
Thanatos said:
I wonder if most users are selecting their poll option based on the subtitles rather than the actually "content."

Personally I thought it was a fantastic movie. The focus of the picture is in the massive amount of philsophical discourse not the plot or action sequences, which I think Chris missed entirely.

[/ QUOTE ]

No, I said I did not go into this expecting an action pic; the first one certainly wasn't one and neither was this. What I found was that the massive amount of philosphical discourse wasn't really discourse but just spouting of lines in an attempt to fake dialogue and not really advance anything or to really try and say anything that wasn't already said in the previous one. The discourse just felt very unnatural and poorly done.

[/ QUOTE ]

When I watched it the first time my reaction was OMG, this is just a formulaic attempt to repeat the first movie (score and all). Closely followed by “crap, didn't we do all this human\ soul philosophy in the first movie�? And the plot didn't make a lick of sense.

The second time I watched it my reaction was to get really annoyed about the whole doll innocence aspect, it seemed too blunt an idea to base the whole film on. I really started to dig the visuals though. Plot made more sense, the subtitling was getting on my nerves (what was Aramaki saying?).

The third time I watched it my reaction was oh, so that's where the innocence is, not just over there. Loved the visuals, really hated the subs, loathed the philosophy.

Who knows, 4th time lucky?

This film has so crippled itself, it's mind boggling that no one (Studio) has noticed. Did they learn nothing from the first film's experience.

[lostnomad84]

I saw this in the theaters and have yet, and most likely will not, pick up the DVD release. The horrible cover, lack of dub, and the issue with the subtitiles are enough to turn me off. So the DVD release is definitely NEGATIVE!

As for the content, while I enjoyed the movie, it is something no higher than a B rating. Visuals and music were beautifully done. The plot, as Chris says, is linear. I see the philosophy in the movie is simply to reinterate the events of the previous movie, which in my book made the movie almost a waste of time, but I enjoyed it enough to give it the rating I did. If I were to watch it again, I definitely think my rating would be lowered though.

[super rats]

Saw it in the theatre. I give it a C+ because it is pretty and I liked the music a lot. When the only interesting part to me is when Batou pets his dog...there's some problems. Five years ago, I would have totally dug the constant quoting, because I used to read some philosophy and I'd give myself props or be interested because I was already interested in it. But even then, the appeal of it would not be from the characters or story themselves, but from an outside interest in the philosophical quotes. So while the philosophy quotations can be interesting in and of itself, it needed to be backed up by some real character movement and presence which wasn't there.

I wouldn't choose to watch this movie again. The artbook and soundtrack I do have interest in.

[Pfil]

A / Positive.

Presentation: The cover sure is fugly, but then R1 covers usually are. The vaguely annoying captioned subtitles were just that, vaguely annoying. Didn't affect my enjoyment of the movie. Of course, I will still be fixing them for repeated viewings. No reason to just accept the mistakes the studios make when something can be done about them.

(Warning: the text below is a bit jumbled and messy, since I don't have the time to edit it properly right now. I may go back and fix it later.)

Content: Unlike Mr. B, I thought the dialog and character writing was the best part of the movie. I came off with the feeling that Oshii really knows these characters inside out. Everyone seemed to gain more dimension in this movie. The people in Section 9 seemed like realistic competent people, who may have differences but who have been working together for a long time and know how to deal with each other. And Batou actually showed a more human side by not being completely grumpy or sarcastic all the time; he even treated Togusa like a near-equal (Togusa seems much more mature lately btw, if you compare him to the first movie where he's just a rookie; the TV series has him somewhere inbetween, from what I've seen of it so far). He actually came of as a rather sympathetic person at times, <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>when he wasn't gunning down yakuza. I'm still not sure whether he was under the 'influence' when he did that. And while the Major was only in the movie for a few scenes, I thought those scenes were exceptionally cool. And again, watching the interaction between Batou and the Major, you really got a feel for the affection between them, which was sort of touching in a way</span>.

As for the plot, it certainly could have fit within a 30 minute episode. However, some times an intricate plot with many twists and turns is good, other times a more straightforward path can be just as rewarding. What I felt they did here was to take a relatively short and simple story and tell it really well, while allowing the amazing visuals and music to set the mood to an incredible degree. The story really felt more like a vehicle for Oshii's philosophing about life and humanity and all that usual business that he enjoys shaping movies out of anyway, and of course if you read interviews with Oshii (like the one at www.midnighteye.com (http://www.midnighteye.com)) that was exactly his intention with this movie. Most movies since Star Wars seem to rely on breakneck pacing to keep the viewer interested, but I was never particularly fond of that style of pacing, I much prefer it when movies take the time to set the mood and tell a story well, without rushing things. (Actually I've always been a huge fan of Star Wars, but I always felt that the pacing is the one thing that I would have changed if I had the chance to make one of those movies...) And I can't help it, I loved the bits with the dog. The whole thing with the dog is sort of like fanservice when you're familiar with Oshii's love of dogs (except that I'm sure he put it in the movie purely to please himself, which just makes it even funnier. /images/graemlins/happy.gif)

I did have to giggle a bit at one specific part in the movie when the quotations just kept coming. /images/graemlins/happy.gif But then that's Oshii for you. I always felt that when someone is trying very hard to make something of importance or value, as opposed to straightforward 'dumb' entertainment (I'm not dissing pure entertainment, but I feel that it should be judged by different criteria/rules - quality vs entertainment, if you will), they should be forgiven for small mistakes, and as such I'm not going to detract from the score (after all, it did not affect my enjoyment of the movie in any way.)

The animation and music was of course first rate, although the one complaint I did have with the movie is that while the 3D and the character animation look fantastic separately, they didn't merge them quite well enough. The 3D looks too realistic, while the 2D looks too cartoony - two different worlds clashing. But this of course is a luxury problem, after all if you can live with the (near complete lack of) animation in most low-budget TV anime, Innocence is hardly something to look down on. (Really, I'm just incredibly thankful to have something like this and SAC to help raise the standards and show that anime can be something more than narrated slide shows, albeit very well-made and well-narrated slide shows.)

Incidentally, I always felt the first movie felt like half a movie... it ended just as things started to get interesting. I don't feel that way about this movie, <span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>although the ending came rather suddenly</span>. Somewhat amusing to me to see people level that same criticism to this movie and use the first movie as a counterpoint. (Not that I'm necessarily right and they're wrong, just that it felt the other way around to me.)

[ZenAmako]

What I'm wondering is why Oshii has decided not to work with screenwriter Kazunori Ito anymore. Ito wrote the first Ghost in the Shell, the two Patlabor films, and Avalon. I think his presence was missed in Innocence. I think Oshii is a better director than he is a writer.

[Pfil]

ZenAmako said:
What I'm wondering is why Oshii has decided not to work with screenwriter Kazunori Ito anymore. Ito wrote the first Ghost in the Shell, the two Patlabor films, and Avalon. I think his presence was missed in Innocence. I think Oshii is a better director than he is a writer.

Maybe since Oshii presents a slightly different view of the world in this movie compared to the first, they no longer shared the same view of things and were unable to work together? It seems like these people (Oshii, Miyazaki, Takahata etc) can't make a movie if they don't believe in its basic philosophy. (See various interviews at www.nausicaa.net (http://www.nausicaa.net) and the interview at www.midnight.eye (http://www.midnight.eye) for more background info. These guys are opinionated and stubborn, if nothing else. /images/graemlins/happy.gif)

[Chacranajxy]

I agree with the content rating. It was a pretty shitty movie honestly. It's one of those movies that some people will say is brilliant or something just because it's marketed as being an artsy foreign film or something when really it's just garbage. The first movie and the TV series were good. This wasn't. The awful subtitles didn't help either.

[Legion]

Negative. Cutting the dub continuity just wasn't smart.

[Chacranajxy]

All I remember about the music was that there was the one song at the end where Batou is running through the sewers or wherever it was that was good and that the one song during the parade was absolutely horrific. It sounded like a bunch of choir children having their vocal chords gradually pulled out while they're trying to sing a terribly composed song.

edit: 4000 posts. Sad.

[mib]

All thoughts of dubs and subtitles aside, Chris got the content review exactly right. C-.

- mib

[callman]

I love the film, but I'm cleary biased. I love everything what Oshii does, like he takes a very simple story, and builds upon that. From breathtaking visuals, through action sequences executed with rare perfectionism, to deep thoughts. In fact, I don't really care about the story, I want to hear what he has to say and see what he has to show. I guess most people were expecting a longer, big-budget, more "complex" episode of SAC, but I'm pleased, that it turned out to be something different. Variety is good, and the world of GitS is a great place for it.

Innocence is a movie for Oshii fans, and it makes me glad that I'm one of them.

[Shale]

A solid B from me. Amazing aesthetics and production values, the best 3D/2D animation combination ever put on screen, but the (good) plot is too thin to support all the (intriguing) philosophizing. Subtext's perfectly fine, and can be a major asset to a movie, novel, or other work of fiction, but when it starts to overpower the framework, I start to wonder why the creator didn't just write a philosophy text.

As for the release itself, unqualified negative. The director's commentary is all well and good, but if you can't handle the basics, the higher-level stuff doesn't matter.

I initially felt like I'd end up giving it a C+ after just watching the trailer. But it ended up being better than I expected, which is why I moved it up to a B. Let's face it, though. The basset hound is to Innocence what Yoda is to Clones-the only reason to see either of them. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

[chicogrande]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanatos said:

Personally I thought it was a fantastic movie. The focus of the picture is in the massive amount of philosophical discourse not the plot or action sequences, which I think Chris missed entirely.

[/ QUOTE ]

When I first watched it, I felt the weight of the "philosophical discourse" heavily on my brain. I thought that most people would be turned off by the expectation of the movie for the viewer to process heavier dialog than they are used to. That coupled with the complex visuals could cause some to simply become overloaded, IMO. It is, for me, an unusually hard film to process. It takes attention and more than one viewing, that is unless you are a university philosophy major. In that case, you are probably very happy. Still, I probably felt the same thing about GiTS ten years ago (how time flies...).

In short, the action is not as pervasive. I think the most "action" in the movie revolved around Batou's infiltration of the boat and blowing the Yakuza away. Also, the movie is visually rich and the dialog is equally so. This creates an unusual situation, seldom seen in movies, as I pointed out in the first paragraph.

[rubyeye]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
What I found was that the massive amount of philosphical discourse wasn't really discourse but just spouting of lines in an attempt to fake dialogue and not really advance anything or to really try and say anything that wasn't already said in the previous one. The discourse just felt very unnatural and poorly done.

[/ QUOTE ]
That's funny, cause it reminds me of that Star Trek movie with that Klingon constantly quoting Shakespere. I've watched "Innocence" twice, and each time I fell asleep during the mansion-recycling sequence. I could still never figure out how the hell they go from one scene to the next when they never say anything related to what's going on. It was like watching a slide show of DaVinci paintings while listening to a Judas Priest album - two totally unrelated things going on here.

[CuriouslySane]

I was disappointed by the plot. I didn't expect Innocence to be the thriller that the original was, but it doesn't even stand up well to the TV series. It's a shame that all the creativity went into the philosphical ambience and visuals; with a little balance, this could have been a great movie. The C- is a bit harsh (as a huge Bladerunner fan, I can't bring myself to hate this movie), but it's in the ballpark.

[Jimmie M]

A B from me on the content. The visuals are stunning with the huge amount of detail (Especially with the parade scenes &amp; the grocery store). Plotwise it's good but it does tend to drag quite a bit in places with the philosophical dissertations. The subtitles were definitely an issue but I found them to be a minor annoyance &amp; in some cases mildly amusing (Come on! [Helicopter approaching] when even a hearing-impaired person can see it for him/herself on screen?). Maybe Dreamworks can take a lesson on this on how to do proper subtitles next time or if you do this at least provide both CC &amp; English subtitles.

Otherwise, a positive on the overall release.

[Orca]

[ QUOTE ]
Thanatos said:
I wonder if most users are selecting their poll option based on the subtitles rather than the actually "content."

Personally I thought it was a fantastic movie. The focus of the picture is in the massive amount of philsophical discourse not the plot or action sequences, which I think Chris missed entirely.

[/ QUOTE ]

No. While annoying, I wouldn't have rated it a C just for that. The animation, while lush, was in need of better direction. Too many of the shots struck me as "hey, look at what we did!" rather than setting the scene in an effective manner. It's a bad sign when you're wondering if you're looking at a Final Fantasy FMV or a movie.

Like Chris, I found that Batou just didn't have the charisma as a character to carry the movie - and when Kusanagi *did* show up, it was...well, disappointing for the most part.

Ultimately, I just didn't enjoy the movie as much as the first. I was expecting it to be slow, but it just *dragged*...

[gorgoroth]

The whole thing rates a huge "meh" outta me. Nice visual effects and eye candy, but the whole thing struck me as little more than cyber-noir with a bunch of man/machine/soul philosophical blah-blah. Hooray for Netflix.

Well, at least they didn't try to dub the thing with Vin Diesel as Batou....

[banksie]

[ QUOTE ]
Chacranajxy said:
I agree with the content rating. It was a pretty shitty movie honestly. It's one of those movies that some people will say is brilliant or something just because it's marketed as being an artsy foreign film or something when really it's just garbage. The first movie and the TV series were good. This wasn't. The awful subtitles didn't help either.

[/ QUOTE ]

It may be that the subtitles get in the way a bit when it comes to understanding the film. I quite like Innocence, it is a logical bookend to the first film and approaches the issue of mechanical integration from the robots perspective. Bateau actually sympathising with the robots is an interesting change for a character in the first film who was so self assured about his humanity and special status as a result of that humanity.

Finally loved the sequence with the dog, anyone who has owned dogs will enjoy that segment as Oshii nails it. /images/graemlins/happy.gif I gave it an A for content and interestingly enough many of the criticisms of the film espoused now were similar to those made when the first film came out. It will be fun to see how opinion matures over time.

[BonifaceVIII]

Sure GITS2 is horribly pretentious, but it's just following the first movie's footsteps. Sequels are never better, anyway.

[evilarrex]

I really enjoyed this movie. Endless Pretentious discourse notwithstanding. (With Oshii directing I was kinda expecting it anyway).

That AWFUL screw up with the subs was pretty unbearable however.

[Amasawa]

[ QUOTE ]
BonifaceVIII said:
Sure GITS2 is horribly pretentious, but it's just following the first movie's footsteps. Sequels are never better, anyway.

[/ QUOTE ]

I guess that if all you want from a film is action and a Hollywood limiter on intellectual content, it might have seemed pretentious. I liked the depiction of a world where cyber-enhanced brains are common place, and getting hacked is one of life's hazards. The doll analogies were a bit much, but I let that pass because I don't really understand the context. I believe that dolls have a different place in Japanese culture than they do in California culture. So, I don't really understand the reference points. Perhaps if I had a more "Japanese" emotional response to dolls, that part of the film might have had more meaning.

I watched the film twice. The second time I turned off all subtitles and just watched it. I found I had missed a lot of the beauty of the film because of the subtitles. Perhaps my interest in art and photography make composition and color of more interest to me than to the average viewer.

[Shale]

Intellectual content: not pretentious.
Making every other line a quote from Philosophy 200: pretentious.

[TekoMan]

Haven't seen GitS2, but if its anything remotely similar to the first one, then I'll agree to that C- rating.

[Amasawa]

[ QUOTE ]
Shale said:
Intellectual content: not pretentious.
Making every other line a quote from Philosophy 200: pretentious.

[/ QUOTE ]

A database of quotes was part of the bonus that came with that model cyberbrain. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[aniki21]

[ QUOTE ]
Amasawa said:
The doll analogies were a bit much, but I let that pass because I don't really understand the context. I believe that dolls have a different place in Japanese culture than they do in California culture. So, I don't really understand the reference points. Perhaps if I had a more "Japanese" emotional response to dolls, that part of the film might have had more meaning.

[/ QUOTE ]That reminds me - there's a Takeshi Kitano movie called Dolls (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0330229/), that I've never got round to watching all of. Maybe that'll clarify the metaphors a bit...

[BonifaceVIII]

[ QUOTE ]
Shale said:
Intellectual content: not pretentious.
Making every other line a quote from Philosophy 200: pretentious.

[/ QUOTE ]
*touches nose*

[Johnny]

Just got round to watching this last night. I voted a B+ and a neutral. That was because I thought that the film itself was pretty good and didn't mind the philosophical quotes and so on throughout. The subtitle issue was a bit annoying at first, but nothing too serious as to put off watching it. Still, it would have been nice to have had regular subtitles used.
Nice to see similar music to the first GitS as I thought the music in the first film was excellent.
Overall, I'd say I don't think it's as good as the first film, nor probably Stand Alone Complex, but it was nice to see the focus on Batou and co for a change instead of the Major.

[cpuuk]

[ QUOTE ]
TekoMan said:
Haven't seen GitS2, but if its anything remotely similar to the first one, then I'll agree to that C- rating.

[/ QUOTE ]

Watch the film, then make a judgement.

[evilarrex]

[ QUOTE ]
Amasawa said:

A database of quotes was part of the bonus that came with that model cyberbrain. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. 20 versions of Milton and assorted ramblings of various writers. Its no wonder cyborgs have so many issues.

[mib]

Is there anyone who thinks the movie is brilliant who isn't a dog lover? A correlation seems to be appearing in the replies here.

I thought the movie was mediocre and I don't like dogs at all.

- mib

[KerochanNoMiko]

[ QUOTE ]
evilarrex said:
[ QUOTE ]
Amasawa said:

A database of quotes was part of the bonus that came with that model cyberbrain. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. 20 versions of Milton and assorted ramblings of various writers. Its no wonder cyborgs have so many issues.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, imagine how many profound philosophical quotes and other random crap you could come up with if you had Google hardwired into your brain.

[Pfil]

mib said:
Is there anyone who thinks the movie is brilliant who isn't a dog lover? A correlation seems to be appearing in the replies here.

I thought the movie was mediocre and I don't like dogs at all.

I'm not a dog lover (although I have nothing against dogs). I mainly enjoyed the conversations about dog food, etc, because it's not the kind of thing you usually get in movies. And also because the whole Basset hound fascination thing with Oshii is kind of amusing. (The producers try their best to get him to drop it, but he persists in including the dogs just because. And of course Basset dogs in themselves are sort of funny.)

Just because you didn't like the movie doesn't mean that those of us who did are crazy people. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[frijoles]

[ QUOTE ]
KerochanNoMiko said:
[ QUOTE ]
evilarrex said:
[ QUOTE ]
Amasawa said:

A database of quotes was part of the bonus that came with that model cyberbrain. /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

Yep. 20 versions of Milton and assorted ramblings of various writers. Its no wonder cyborgs have so many issues.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hey, imagine how many profound philosophical quotes and other random crap you could come up with if you had Google hardwired into your brain.

[/ QUOTE ]

Or worse, if they were only Dave Barry quotes.

[Iridium]

Did anyone else's copy of Innocence come in this freakish keepcase that had two little latches on the side that had to be released before the case would open? /images/graemlins/knowital.gif

[Mahlernut]

[ QUOTE ]
Iridium said:
Did anyone else's copy of Innocence come in this freakish keepcase that had two little latches on the side that had to be released before the case would open? /images/graemlins/knowital.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had a few DVDs come in keepcases like that, both of them released by Focus (the first was Lost in Translation, the second was the regular edition of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). The latches are just bizarre; its not like the case -needs- them to stay closed...

[Iridium]

[ QUOTE ]
Mahlernut said:
[ QUOTE ]
Iridium said:
Did anyone else's copy of Innocence come in this freakish keepcase that had two little latches on the side that had to be released before the case would open? /images/graemlins/knowital.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

I've had a few DVDs come in keepcases like that, both of them released by Focus (the first was Lost in Translation, the second was the regular edition of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). The latches are just bizarre; its not like the case -needs- them to stay closed...

[/ QUOTE ]
It struck me as some sort of anti-theft device for retail sales. You'd have to pull more of the shrinkwrap off to get to the latches. They also make clicking noises when you open them, thus drawing attention to any shoplifters.

My (Canadian release) of Lost in the Translation didn't have them.

[Chris Beveridge]

[ QUOTE ]
Iridium said:
Did anyone else's copy of Innocence come in this freakish keepcase that had two little latches on the side that had to be released before the case would open? /images/graemlins/knowital.gif

[/ QUOTE ]

All of Universals, and therefore DreamWorks, releases come in cases like that and have for about a year now I believe.

[Melazomah]

[ QUOTE ]
Iridium said:
Did anyone else's copy of Innocence come in this freakish keepcase that had two little latches on the side that had to be released before the case would open? /images/graemlins/knowital.gif

[/ QUOTE ]
It's funny you should mention that type of case. While my Innocent DVD didn't come in the "latch case," my copy of Shrek 2 and Bourne Supremacy did. It's quite hard to get used to as I usually pull (hard) open my DVD cases when I want to watch something.

[Iridium]

[ QUOTE ]
Chris Beveridge said:
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Iridium said:
Did anyone else's copy of Innocence come in this freakish keepcase that had two little latches on the side that had to be released before the case would open? /images/graemlins/knowital.gif

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All of Universals, and therefore DreamWorks, releases come in cases like that and have for about a year now I believe.

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Maybe this doesn't apply to titles distributed in Canada until recently? This is my first encounter with such a thing. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

Our copies of Shrek 2 and Lost in the Translation had non-latched cases.

[KerochanNoMiko]

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Melazoma said:
It's funny you should mention that type of case. While my Innocent DVD didn't come in the "latch case," my copy of Shrek 2 and Bourne Supremacy did. It's quite hard to get used to as I usually pull (hard) open my DVD cases when I want to watch something.

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Those little latches break off really easily - I actually had a DVD (The Village, I think) come with instructions on how to open the latches and then break them off.

It apparently used to be easy to slit open DVD shrinkwrap and open the box just enough to remove the disc, and that's why you now get stickers on all sides of the case and latches and whatnot.

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Melazoma said:
While my Innocent DVD didn't come in the "latch case," my copy of Shrek 2 and Bourne Supremacy did. It's quite hard to get used to as I usually pull (hard) open my DVD cases when I want to watch something.

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Yeah, I remember grabbing The Manchurian Candidate off my living room table and walking around the house trying to open the case, not even paying attention to the latches. After about 2 minutes of pulling I decided to look down at the case.... Certainly something that will take getting used to.

[BonifaceVIII]

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Iridium said:
Maybe this doesn't apply to titles distributed in Canada until recently? This is my first encounter with such a thing. /images/graemlins/sweat000.gif

Our copies of Shrek 2 and Lost in the Translation had non-latched cases.

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My copy of Old School has the latches. It's a Dreamworks thing.

[indigo0086]

I like Mamoru Oshii's films, but he really needs to get closer to earth with his content. Few people can appreciate the film for anything but the CG, which isn't the work of Oshii, they need to appreciate his film first, and then the cg. THe script and story in the movie chime in rather than flow. IT has a good Premise, and ending, but everything in-between is a bit shotty. He doesn't have to comprimise his vision and intelligence when making the film, but he needs to make the movie for people other than the few who can catch up, and the rest who pretend to.

[eau]

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Iridium said:
Did anyone else's copy of Innocence come in this freakish keepcase that had two little latches on the side that had to be released before the case would open? /images/graemlins/knowital.gif

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Those freakin' keepcases with latches are becoming more common in the mainstream DVD releases now. For examples, Disney's latest releases have the latches (Mulan SE, Marry Poppins SE). Universal and Dreamworks use those keepcases more often now too.