Sadly, Ghost in the Shell is a mediocre movie dealing with an outdated trend. It is advertised as a philosophical and thought-provoking movie with some deep story elements that make it way ahead of its time, but in reality, this movie is just another ride on the 90s' sentient AI trend.
Even in 1995, better movies discussed the topic GITS tried to touch way better than this movie did. The problem is the writers' inability to turn an exciting concept into a boundless philosophical idea.
Now the reason why they can't do this is that they do not even understand the basics of what they are lazily trying to deliver as a "philosophical-existential question."
There are many questions and definitions thrown at you throughout the movie, but to make these questions worth the time and effort one's going to put into answering, you have to give them a primary goal to reach.
I don't believe any questions asked during the movie's events are thoughtful enough to be called a tangible goal to be reached. And that's because there's simply nothing in the movie to turn them into something bigger than a few sentences coming out of the main character's mouth (in an unskillfully-written fashion).
The only occasion the movie can successfully convey a part of what it's trying to say is when one of the characters realizes their most precious memories were nothing but some fake images put into their mind by a hacker.
And again, even if the movie had dealt with every question it asked the same way as the fake memories side story, I still wouldn't call it a philosophical or thought-provoking piece. I still cannot see a timeless idea or a philosophical view being discussed here, and that's why I think the word overrated describes this outdated movie best.
