Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

I believe it was after watching this movie that Michael Douglas famously approached Catherine Zeta Jones with the line " I want you to have my children" and you can see why. Zeta Jones is truly radiant in this role, a true beauty. Her acting is flawless and despite the fact she was relatively unknown at the time she stands up well against the amazing Antonio Banderas. I've seen this movie countless times and don't think I do it justice enough in reviewing it and calling it a "classic" It's a truly amazing story along the old style, action adventure theme of a thief seeking revenge for his brother, and ends up being trained by the great Zorro. Funny in some parts, intense in others, it is a wonderful movie that I would fully recommend.

From the late 1940s through the 1950s, town theaters across mid-America at least, had Saturday matinée shows for kids. We had a second theater in my hometown that always showed Westerns – usually double features. Before TV became widespread, that's how kids saw many of the older Westerns and other films. And, that's where I saw my earliest Zorro movies. By the time the Zorro TV series was on the air, 1957-59, I was in high school, but I still watched it once in a while with my younger brothers. We were all wrapped up in Zorro, The Cisco Kid, The Lone Ranger, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and Hopalong Cassidy. The modern recreations of those old Westerns have much more glamour and glitz along with the color. I wonder if kids today see the stories and heroes quite the same way as kids did of a couple generations ago. Still, those of us who grew up with the originals can enjoy the modern takes and different stars in the roles. This 1998 reprisal of the "Robin Hood" of Old California, has some different twists. But, it is a good action follow-up to the 1940 film, "The Mark of Zorro." Although a couple of silent films, and one other talking picture had been made before, the 1940 film entrenched the masked caballero as a Western hero on film. Tyrone Power starred as Don Diego de la Vaga. Zorro had been highly popular in serialized articles and then books by Johnston McCulley since 1919. Now he was assured of longevity for future generations of kids, young and old. Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones are very good in their lead roles. Anthony Hopkins is very good in his role, which is a twist on the original stories. With its swashbuckling action, "The Mask of Zorro" and is a good modern tale of the fox of early California days.

A young thief, seeking revenge over the death of his brother, is trained by the once great, but aged Zorro, who is also seeking a vengeance of his own. The Mask of Zorro is such an underrated film i mean the IMDb rating is a joke 6.7 really? and a 63/100 from Metacritic? i guess critics were drunk in this one but for my surprise Rotten Tomatoes liked the film a lot and gave it a 83% which is really good this came one year after Batman & Robin and although it has nothing to do with DC or Batman they did a much better story with an Older Zorro pass the torch in a younger Zorro Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas are both amazing, the humor and action match good together, the theme is very good and overall the entire cast does a great job what really disappoints me is that the film didn't got the sequel it deserved but we will always have this movie at least. If they ever choose to reboot the Zorro Franchise i would love to see Generation Z it was a pretty good cartoon and if it was directed by the right person it would turn out to be awesome. This film was directed by the same person who directed Casino Royale and Golden Eye Martin Campbell.

If "The Mask of Zorro" has any deficiencies, they certainly aren't in the charm department. This movie's got charisma out the yin-yang, and not just with Anthony Hopkins and Antonio Banderas (perfect casting here) but also in the action; exciting swordfights, wicked double entendre and endearing heroism. I haven't seen this in a good 15 years and it holds up admirably. Swashbuckling movies don't come down the pike often, and it's nice when they're done so well. And even if it didn't succeed on the entertainment front, it still has a formidable secret weapon: the absurdly stunning Catherine Zeta Jones. My, god she's something else.7/10