Sandy Kenyon reviews 'The Zookeeper's Wife,' 'Ghost in the Shell'

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There's a little bit of everything hitting the big screen this weekend, from Scarlett Johansson's action movie "Ghost in the Shell" to Jessica Chastain's World War II drama "The Zookeeper's Wife."

The latter tells the story of a woman who risked her life so that others might survive, and the film feels real because so much of it is based on true events. Chastain's character Antonia and her husband save 300 Jewish people from the Holocaust by housing them in their Warsaw zoo, hiding dozens of people at a time from the Nazis.

A German officer who had a crush on Antonia allowed her considerable freedom, but she still risked execution every time she rescued someone.

The movie is a bit too earnest, but the drama holds audiences' interest.

"Ghost In The Shell" is based on classic Japanese Anime, which is why plenty of people complained when a non-Asian star was cast in the lead role, especially since the action of the story is set in an Asian city of the future.

Still, Scarlett Johanson is sexy in a role where actions speak louder than words. The "ghost" in the title is her mind, while the "shell" is her bionic body -- think robot with a human brain -- known as "The Major" and the first of her kind.

The story is less important than the spectacular visual, so some may prefer to see the movie in 3-D even if it makes an already-dark film even darker.