History YMMV / GhostInTheShell2017

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: [[spoiler:The reveal that that the Major really was a Japanese person named Motoko Kusanagi]] offers up a gift-wrapped opportunity to directly address the RaceLift issues that plagued the film's production ever since the casting was announced, but any feelings she might have about literally being an Asian character turned into a white one are unaddressed. Of course, it has to be considered whether they could have be still in time of integrating this element in the plot at the production stage they were in when the controversy exploded.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The general critical consensus of the film, despite a few positive and negative outliers. While many agree that the technical aspect and the action are the highlights of the movie, the story itself is simplified and dumbed-down for the sake of newcomers of the franchise which many agreed that it is the weakest aspect of the movie. Similarly, even the harshest critics agree that the movie itself is not nearly as bad as other Hollywood film adaptations of anime like ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' or ''Film/DeathNote2017'', yet still nowhere near as good as ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel''.

* SoOkayItsAverage: The general critical consensus of the film, despite a few positive and negative outliers. While many agree that the technical aspect and the action are the highlights of the movie, the story itself is simplified and dumbed-down for the sake of newcomers of the franchise which many agreed that it is the weakest aspect of the movie. Similarly, even the harshest critics agree that the movie itself is not nearly as bad as other Hollywood film adaptations of anime like ''Film/DragonballEvolution'' or ''WesternAnimation/AstroBoy'', yet still nowhere near as good as ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel''.

** It's [[http://deadline.com/2017/04/ghost-in-the-shell-scarlett-johansson-box-office-flop-whitewash-1202061479/ been]] [[http://www.inquisitr.com/4120952/ghost-in-the-shell-flop-critics-weigh-in-on-why-the-movie-tanked-at-the-box-office/ suggested]] this may be part of the reason the movie performed badly in the US. For starters, it's an expensive adaptation of an anime that has CultClassic status in the U.S. but otherwise is ''not'' well known in the Anglo-sphere or other western countries, particularly in modern day. The whole aesthetic on the man/machine and identity crisis, which was one of the draws of the franchise, had also been already presented in ''Franchise/TheMatrix'' (precisely Creator/TheWachowskis' love letter to the 1995 film) and many other cyberpunk works, thus making the film look like [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny old hat]]. The filmmakers were also accused of taking far too many creative liberties than what hardcore fans were comfortable with, who argued that the result missed the point of the original. Finally, the ensuing RaceLift controversy meant that many journalists and bloggers, who normally could have been counted on to help promote the movie, now felt antsy about showing any support towards it. As the linked articles show, some wonder if there was actually a way this film could succeed at all.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The source material inspired ''Franchise/TheMatrix'', among other franchises that the vast majority of western audiences could reasonably be expected to be more familiar with. ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'' put it thusly:
-->'''Epic Voice Guy:''' "...[[{{Manga/GhostInTheShell}} the source]] [[{{Anime/GhostInTheShell}} material]] was so influential that now it feels like it's copying the films that it inspired."

* WTHCastingAgency:
** When it was [[http://variety.com/2015/film/news/scarlett-johansson-signs-on-to-star-in-dreamworks-ghost-in-the-shell-exclusive-1201320788/ announced]] that Scarlett Johansson would star in the film, a lot of fans were not pleased by the RaceLift. Several Asian actresses were cited as being desired for the role.
** A directorial example. The film being directed by Rupert Sanders angered and worried many people, given that he was basically a rookie director whose only previous title was ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'' of all things, making it easy to think he wasn't simply the right person to manage an already delicate product (given that Hollywood anime adaptations tend not to do very well in general).
** A more minor example is Ishikawa, played by a Fijian Australian actor. While an argument was made regarding the Major's casting that since the Major is a full-body cyborg, she could theoretically plug her brain into a body of any ethnicity, Ishikawa is one of the ''least augmented'' members of Section 9 (the others would be Togusa and Aramaki who are both fully human with cybernetic communication implants) making some scratch their head regarding the casting.
** Casting the 47-year old Chin Han to play Togusa, who in all the previous versions of the franchise has been the rookie of the team or stated to be 27 years old, raised a fair bit of confusion. It only got muffled because Han gave a good impression of the character.
** When it was announced that Creator/RilaFukushima was cast in the movie, many expected that she might play a big role with some speculating that she might be the real Mokoto Kusanagi or the Major's new cybernetic body that she got when her old one was damaged which is similar to the 1995 film. Turns out that the director only based her physical features for the geisha robots that the Major fought at the beginning of the movie.

** A directorial example. The film being directed by Rupert Sanders angered and worried many people, given that he was basically a rookie director whose only previous title was ''Film/SnowWhiteAndTheHuntsman'' of all things, making it easy to thing he wasn't simply the right person to manage an already delicate product (given that Hollywood anime adaptations tend not to do very well in general).

** Music/ClintMansell and Lorne Balfe's score was also roundly praised, with some even saying it to be on par with Keiji Kawai's score for the original anime.

* HarsherInHindsight: Back in 2016, Scarlett Johansson faced criticism for playing a role of a Japanese character in this movie. Two years later, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/07/scarlett-johansson-transgender-casting-controversy-rub-tug/ she was bombarded again with criticism]] for being cast as a trans man in the upcoming film, ''Rug and Tug'' which was also directed by Rupert Sanders. However, [[http://ew.com/movies/2018/07/13/scarlett-johansson-rub-tug-exit-transgender-casting-backlash/ she backed out]], knowing that being in another controversial role is detrimental to her career and to the growing casting problem in Hollywood.

** Back in 2004, Creator/DreamWorks distributed ''[[Anime/GhostInTheShell Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence]]'' for international release via their now-defunct Go Fish Pictures label. Then they produced the live-action adaptation of ''[=GitS=]''.

** There a certain consensus among fans that the movie's basic premise was not the best for an adaptation of ''Ghost in the Shell'' in the first place. Before 2017, Kusanagi's past had never been a big deal in any continuity (or at least not in the way it is connected to the main plot here), so the decision to make the film an OriginStory for her, probably inspired by the success of recent superhero cinema, was condemned to feel unfamiliar and forced. It didn't help that Hideo Kuze is a relatively obscure antagonist, unlike more famous villains like the [[Manga/GhostInTheShell Puppet Master]], the [[Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex Laughing Man]] or [[Anime/GhostInTheShell Locus Solus]], and neither it did the inclusion of Hanka, a name that is literally a [[MonsterOfTheWeek villain-of-the-week in the manga]]. While the result could still be appreciated in a nostalgic light (as it gave Kuze symbolic elements of the characters above), it is hard to overlook this adaptation was cobbled together out of the franchise's '''least''' interesting pieces.

** A more minor one was establishing "Motoko Kusanagi" as the Major's real name, which is an incoherent name in Japanese and every other version has established as "an obvious pseudonym" (Kusanagi being a mythical Japanese sword, so it's like having a white woman having "Excalibur" for a surname).

** A more minor one was establishing "Motoko Kusanagi" as the Major's real name, which is an incoherent name in Japanese and every other version has established as "an obvious pseudonym".

-->'''Sandra Oh:''' [''Film/CrazyRichAsians''] is the first studio film with an Asian American lead since ''Ghost in the Shell'' and ''Film/{{Aloha}}''.

-->"Accordingly, your average Japanese citizen’s outlook on diversity is much less influenced by pluralism than the outlooks of many Asian Americans, who live in a country where popular culture rarely represents them well, if at all. Hence, many Japanese Americans may find Johansson’s casting in a Ghost in the Shell movie distressing, while native Japanese observers make nothing of it."

** Far more people are upset over completely changing the Major's backstory and role in the Section 9 than the name change as they switched her from an AsskickingEqualsAuthority Commander to TheIngenue, albeit one that retains badass combat abilities.