swashbuckling adventure that can be enjoyed by both children and adults .
steven spielberg may not have directed ( he only executive produced ) but his touch certainly is evident in this movie .
and he knows a money making winner when he sees one .
the mask of zorro has the hallmarks of a blockbuster : big action , funny comedy , and the pacing of a rollercoaster .
hopkins plays
don diego de la vega , otherwise known as zorro .
a fighter for the people , he is eventually captured by don rafael montero ( stuart wilson ) , who also , unintentionally , kills his wife .
the film cuts to twenty years later , where vega still wants to montero dead .
however , he 's far too old now , and trains up thief alejandro murrieta ( banderas ) to become the new zorro .
banderas motive ?
to avenge the death of his brother , who was killed at the hands of captain love ( matthew letscher ) who rather tastefully keeps the head in a jar , in one of the more graphic scenes in this family movie .
with the scene set , the movie goes on full blast , with sword fights a - plenty and witty one liners .
banderas and hopkins have a marvellous chemistry as the two zorro 's , playing each other off with ease .
hopkins seems to come off a little better , but banderas does some excellent work .
as the bad guys , wilson and letscher seem one dimensional , but they go through the bad guy shtick in an above average way
.
the audience does hate them , which ca n't be bad .
catherine zeta - jones also pops up as hopkins daughter , and although she provides little more than the usual female lead ,
she delivers a charming , but one note , performance .
the chemistry is excellent between banderas and jones .
there 's a delightful little scene where banderas and jones have a sword fight , and every swipe an item of clothing gets slashed , until jones clothes fall off all together .
the director , fresh from the enjoyable goldeneye ( 1995 ) handles the film perfectly .
the action is well done and fast paced , the comedy put across well .
the cast help a lot , but the direction is still outstanding .
although the film is very long , the plot keeps chugging along , and there 's barely a dull moment .
however , the film is a little over indulgent , and it could have been trimmed .
it manages to hold the attention , thankfully , and the adventure and charm holds right up to the last reel
.
screenwriters john eskow , ted elliot and terry rosio have unfortunately written an cliched and one dimensional script .
although they 've bought zorro up to date with big explosions and wild action , the plot itself is barely existent .
there 's lots of little sub plots hanging around , but there 's nothing substantial to bring them all together .
the main story seems to be the fact that rafael wants to ' buy ' california using gold stolen from the guy he 's buying the land off .
this sets up for a temple of doom type plot where we see peasants slave driven into getting the gold from little mines .
however , this does n't seem to appear until nearly over a hour into the film , so the film is never quite sure where it 's going .
in the end however , zorro provides action and comedy in spades .
it suitable for everyone , so put the guilt behind , and put some more money into spielbergs bank account .
you wo n't regret it .
Output: P