Quote - I loved Spirits Within visually.  I can watch it over and over again as well as Final Flight of the Osiris.  The story of Spirits Within left a lot to be desired, and the more anime I watch the more I'm convinced that Japanese style story telling is just not compatible with American culture.  Not that our culture is better or anything, but we just think too differently to get a lot of the symbolism and metaphysical ideas they throw into what we would consider shallow action movies.

Appleseed was awesome visually as well.  The people aren't realistic looking so much as the backgrounds were.  Again, it hyptotizes me when I watch it, but don't go looking for a good story.

I need to check out some of these other ones mentioned, I've never heard of them before...

There's some stunning anime out there that crosses over very nicely, such as Grave of the Fireflies, an amazing piece of work that left me feeling breathless and incredibly rotten afterwards.  I strongly suggest everyone pick up a copy of this (subtitled, don't you dare get it dubbed).

Though with Spirits Within, it wasn't a cultural problem.  It was voice acting, directing, and scripting that was the problem.