‘Legend Of Zorro’ Is Entertaining,

But It Could Have Been Better

Rarely can we ever accuse Hollywood studios of dragging their collective feet whenever there’s a chance to capitalize on success. And usually — the recent success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Harry Potter films notwithstanding (two unique cases where the filmmakers set out from the start to make back-to-back films and were not swayed by box-office response) — if a company rushes to make a sequel in order “strike while the iron is hot,” the ensuing product suffers. But is it possible to wait too long?

Now playing and one of the top ten films in the country, The Legend of Zorro is the long-awaited sequel to 1998’s successful take on the venerable hero created back in 1919 by Johnston McCulley in his serialized novel, The Curse of Capistrano.

Here, we pick up the tale in 1850, ten years after last we saw our characters. The heroic Zorro (Antonio Banderas) is still righting wrongs but it would appear that his time is coming to an end as the California territory is nearing an historic vote that would signal its official entry into the union and make it a part of the United States of America.

His wife, the fiery Elena (Catherine Zeta-Jones), supports his desire for do-gooding but fears he’s missing out on knowing their 10-year-old son (played with spunk by youngster Adrian Alonso). Their perspectives at an impasse, Elena threatens divorce and begins gallivanting with a shady European vintner (Rufus Sewell) with much more on his mind than wine. It would appear that Zorro is needed once again… but this time around, he might be key in bringing his family back together instead of being the reason it’s beginning to fray apart.

The Mask of Zorro, the first film which starred Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, was a hit that helped spark Zeta-Jones’ stardom and solidify Banderas as a superstar. As directed by Martin Campbell, the movie also had an enduring charm that was kindled by the suave, smooth leads, but also buoyed by the director’s focus on Zorro’s noble ideals and low-tech swashbuckling ways, which were lovingly depicted with as much fervor and excitement as any of the high-tech masters of action mayhem (like a Michael Bay, for example) would muster for their big-bucks style of blockbuster bedlam.

I would recommend renting that original film before going out to catch the newer flick. It’ll get your blood pumping for another go-round with these likable characters.

That said, for this sequel (which not only reunites the two leading actors but brings director Campbell back together with most of this crew from the first film), although Campbell’s leads still have their unending charm and wonderful chemistry (and then some), the director seems to have lost a little of his way with his approach to the material.

Instead of keeping the simplicities of the first film’s entertaining approach to Saturday afternoon serials, this movie bogs itself down a bit too much with an overly packed script that tries too hard for relevancy. Without trying to give away too many plot points, let me just say that the film touches on ethnic cleansing, religious fundamentalism, patriotism, diversity, dishonest government operatives, shadow political groups, and family values, to name a few. But whenever it cuts loose and lets Banderas and Zeta-Jones engage in their winning brand of derring-do, it simply can’t go wrong. The Legend of Zorro fails to quite live up to its superior original, but it still hits the mark as appealing entertainment.

The Legend of Zorro is rated PG for sequences of violence/peril and action, language and a couple of suggestive moments. By including the son of Zorro, and toning down the graphic violence to get a PG rating, the film would appear to be courting the family audience, but it’s fair to say it’s still pretty violent and might be a bit loud and scary for the younger ones in the audience.