Jones and you have a great combination. They then take a story filled
with swashbuckling and a better than expected timely dose of humor.
All this makes for a fantastic old school film where the special effects
are not mind numbing, but instead are timely.
Anthony Hopkins stars in this film
as Don Diego de la Vega or the first Zorro. De la Vega has fought
long and hard for the people. Now he is in his latter years and yearns
to live with his wife and child in a slow and peaceful environment.
Don Rafael Montero (Stuart Wilson) will not rest until he has eliminated
his mortal 
enemy,
and so the battle is on. Fast forward 20 years and De La Vega finds
someone who has a beef with De La Vega's number one man, that someone is
Alejandro Murrieta (Antonio Banderas). It is now time for De La Vega
to teach Alejandro so that he can become the "new" Zorro and carry on in
the fight.
De La Vega has lost everything.
All he has left is the hope that he can find his daughter, and even the
score with his enemy. Not only must De La Vega teach Murrieta to
fight, but he must also teach him how to behave. Murrieta has known
little other than being a thief. He has roamed the countryside for
years and is a decent fighter. He lacks the knowledge of an outstanding
fighter and the style of Zorro. That's what De La Vega brings to
him. The experience of one of the most talented fighters ever, and
the style to go along with it. The only question that remains is
will they get their revenge on the men who wronged them, and oh yeah....what
about the girl???
Zorro is a lot of fun. Anthony
Hopkins is the perfect teacher as Don Diego De La Vega. 
He
has had it all, lost it all, and found a way to teach it all. Hopkins'
on-screen presence is as always very commanding. When you watch him
you can't help but listen to every word he says, as you do when Jack Nicholson
is acting in some of his best films. Hopkins looks to be having fun
in his role and just expands his repertoire with his performance in this
film. Antonio Banderas is marvelous in his role as the "new" Zorro.
Banderas wows the ladies while trying to come up with a style all of his
own. He makes us laugh and ooh and ahh from time to time. While
Catherine Zeta Jones is just intoxicating as the beautiful Elena.
Zeta Jones lights up the screen like no one that I have seen in years.
Every second she is on-screen I found myself just mesmerized. The
three of them together provide one of the most potent and effective threesomes
that I have scene in recent times.
The Mask of Zorro
is an excellent film. 
There
is more humor present in the film than I expected, and the scenes are genuinely
funny. To see the swashbuckling scenes on the big screen is just
amazing. No they are not on par with some of the more elaborate swashbuckling
scenes of old, but they are close. This film is genuinely fun, and
it feels like a wild romp through the story that lets the actors lead the
way instead of relying heavily on special effects. There are one
or two scenes that slow the film down slightly, but mostly I was enthralled
by the variety of on-screen action. Go see The Mask of Zorro
for some good old fashioned fun with more work by stuntman than the FX
crews.
Grade: A-
Parents
Guide: PG-13 rated, The Mask of Zorro has a
number of things to watch out for. Language is rather minimal as
it is really unnecessary in the setting that the film takes places.
The main reason for the rating is for some intense violence and action.
There are a number of scenes that have the "evil" Don's beating their workers.
These scenes may be too harsh for a lot of people. Also there is
a scene where Murrieta's brother gets captured and is ordered to have his
head cut off. We don't see the actual decapitation on-screen, however,
we are shown the head which is not really pleasant. Sexual suggestion
is there in the fight between Zeta Jones and Banderas. In fact there
is no nudity in the scene, and the filmmakers do a nice job of keeping
the intrigue in the relationship. Previewing this film may be necessary,
however most older kids will be ok with the film.