Lots of Critical Reviewers
Mask of Zorro, The (1998) will leave its mark on the historic panoply of Hollywood swashbucklers, many films critics seem to agree today (Friday). "It's the most resplendently exuberant and best-looking Zorro ever," proclaims Jay Carr in the Boston Globe. Bob Strauss in the Los Angeles Daily News writes that the film "boasts all the classic movie virtues ... It's funny, exciting and heart-touching." Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times calls it "a lively, old-fashioned adventure yarn with just a twist of modern attitude." "This is hot-weather escapism so earnestly retrograde that it seems new,"< writes Janet Maslin in the New York Times. (Indeed, she singles out the work of Robert Anderson, who has choreographed sword fights in movies for 45 years, for special praise. He worked with Errol Flynn and wore the Darth Vader costume in the light-saber duel with Luke Skywalker in Star Wars.)
But if Maslin writes that Zorro is a role that Antonio Banderas "was obviously born to play," Stephen Hunter in the Washington Post insists that the film will make Catherine Zeta-Jones an "instant star, the new Rita Hayworth." And Mike Clark in USA Today writes, "The movie hits a higher plateau the moment she enters the screen. Give her a 'Z' for 'zowie.'" Coincidentally, Philip Wuntch in the Dallas Morning News uses the "'Z' for 'zowie'" phrase to describe the movie itself. Rod Dreher in the New York Post sums it up as "silly con queso," but adds that "like the tastiest junk food, it's hard to resist." Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times takes the film more seriously, praising it for having "a sense of honor." Moreover, he writes, "The film is a display of traditional movie craftsmanship ... a reminder of the time when stunts and special effects were integrated into stories, rather than the other way around."
Zorro does have a few antagonists. Jami Bernard in the New York Daily News dismisses it as "cute but terminally adolescent." Steven Rea in the Philadelphia Inquirer comments that it "may well induce a few Zs among filmgoers who happen upon this too-long, too-busy reworking of the popular pulp yarn." Michael Wilmington in the Chicago Tribune refers to this Zorro as "just another big, slaphappy supermovie." And Judy Gerstel in the Toronto Star concludes: "The movie buckles under its swash."
