In this sequel to 1998's The Mask of Zorro – a vehicle for Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones – little remains of the original legend of Zorro but the title. Zorro was a California folk hero, a noble, yet modest, man who fought against injustice. Johnston McCulley first introduced the character in a serialized story The Curse of Capistrano in 1919. A number of TV-series and films have related his adventures since, including the notable 1957-59 TV-series Walt Disney's Zorro and the 1975 feature film Zorro, starring Alain Delon.
In this version, Zorro is full of himself: macho, arrogant and selfish. As such, Banderas is more exasperating than ever. What's more, the attempts to modernize the myth, however admirable, fall victim to just about every cliché and obvious emotional triggers imaginable. Of course this spoils the pace of an already very long adventure (2:10). Clearly, this movie is aimed at the youth market, full, as it is with too broad humor, a far too predictable plot with childish subplots, a showy hero, a cardboard baddy and overly-theatrical, unrealistic swordplay. Fun for the kiddies, maybe, but no laughing matter for adults.
Columbia Pictures

(c) that's Shanghai Magazine
Chief editor: Steven Crane
December 2005 issue