Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

The Jungle Book is a remake of the 1967 Disney animated film. Both are screen versions of Rudyard Kipling’s classic book about Mowgli, an orphaned boy, rescued by Bagherra the Panther, and raised by wolves. The earlier Disney film is an animated film with characters hand drawn (the standard at the time); the current film, directed by Jon Favreau (director of Iron Man), uses computer generated (CG) technology to make the jungle and animals look more realistic.
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Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

Zootopia is another example of the originality and creativity in contemporary animated films (e.g. Inside Out, The LEGGO Movie). I admit that it took me a few minutes to get into this story of a young rabbit named Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin), who wants to leave her family farm and become a police officer in the large neighboring city, Zootopia. A word play on Thomas More’s Utopia, the city of Zootopia is a place where anthropomorphic animals of all kinds live and work together in harmony.
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Movie Review by Fr. Tom Condon, O.P.

No doubt you have heard about the much-anticipated new movie in the Star Wars franchise. In its first three weeks at the box office, it has shattered records everywhere, and been a hit with audiences and critics alike. As he has done with the most recent films in the Star Trek franchise, director J. J. Abrams has gone back to the source, and revived what made the original Star Wars movies such a sensation.

The Force Awakens begins rather slowly. It is 30 years after the original Star Wars. The Empire has been defeated, but now a new evil empire, called The First Order, is in control of much of the universe. Luke Skywalker has gone into self-imposed exile, after the last Jedi Warrior he trained, Kylo Ren, son of Han Solo, has gone to the Dark Side. With Luke, the last Jedi Warrior, still around, there is always the possibility that he will come out of exile and train more warriors. Therefore, the First Order is out to capture Luke, so there will be no threat to their power.
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