03/09/06 The Legend Of Zorro

The Legend Of Zorro (2005), directed by Martin Campbell

watched w/ Leslie (partially); DVD rental (Record Exchange) @ home

The legendary swashbuckler Zorro comes out of retirement (thanks, Antonio) in pre-statehood California to save the day once again from bad guys. The bad guys here are many, and all mixed up together in a bad-guy stew of French royalty, gun-toting religious zealot cowboys (w/ wooden teeth), and undercover American agents. The good guys are the family Zorro, with his elegant wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and mischievous son carrying on the brave de la Vega name. In order to save the Californians from eminent danger, Zorro must put his life on the line to protect his family's honor and his superhero secrecy. This is typical of any sequel that knows going into production that it will never match the charm of the original, nor have enough bite to the script in order to keep it entertaining for over an hour. So, let's throw in some love affairs and a sweetheart child actor into the mix, and everyone will love it. Also, you gotta love Antonio's accent...which must prove that Governor Schwarzenegger must really be saying "Cali-four-knee-a" correctly. They played this less-threatening action film down to its PG rating. I don't think anyone actually dies in this one, kind of like in the old G.I. Joe cartoons where planes got shot down, but the guys always managed to eject safely just in the nick of time. Unfortunately, my seat on the home movie theater (my couch) didn't have the same eject button.

2 out of 5 stars