Ghost in the shell has an excellent plot but presented in the most boring manner ever. Really nothing happens the entire time. And to make it worse, the english dub is like nails on chalk board.
Akira on the other hand has amazing action throughout brought to life with some of the best animation ever created. So even if you don't know what the **** is going on or don't care, you can at least have fun. And yeah, the streamline dub sucks but the new one isn't as good either, but I would still recommend it.
And honestly, the plot of the movie is also amazing but just really damn confusing. There's revolutionary parts, totalitarian parts, religious parts, and yes, science fiction parts. I know the movie was based a manga, but it seems incredibly condensed. Hell, I still don't know what the hell happens at the end.