Movie Review of "The Legend of Zorro"
Rated PG
By CK Movie Kid Jonathan Lack

never saw 1998's Mask of Zorro, nor did I ever see the Zorro TV show. So as far as accuracy of the movie, I don't really have anything to judge this on. But for me, I thought this was a pretty good family adventure film. The action sequences are free of blood and gore, the dialogue is free of swearing and the movie isn't full of sexual content. It's a good family film, which is what the makers were shooting for.

After ten years of work, Don Alejandro de la Vega (or Zorro in simpler terms) has helped California to get its statehood. In just a few weeks, it will be part of the United States. Now that his goal has been achieved, Zorro's wife, Elena, wants him to stop being Zorro. An argument seemingly causes her to leave him. And three months later, just before California is to become a state, a threat to the pending statehood causes Zorro to take action.

This was a very good movie, I thought. It was over two hours, but it didn't seem that long, as there was lots of action and not large chunks of characters talking. The movie itself opens with an action sequence. The sword fighting in the movie was very well done, which is half of what made this movie good. If the sword fighting had been lame, there wouldn't have been a movie.

I also thought the story was well designed. I can't compare it to The Mask of Zorro, as I haven't seen it, but I thought it was pretty good. The story worked itself out very well, not leaving anything unresolved.

I would say if you want to see this movie, go ahead and take the family. Like I said before, it's free of blood, gore, swearing, and sexual content. (Although Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones slightly overdo it on the kissing.) If your kids are over the age of seven, definatelly take the family. (November, 2005)