What can we tell you about The Legend Of Zorro, which is released today? Not a lot that you don’t already know, probably.

We know that The Legend Of Zorro stars Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta Jones, who have teamed up to make the sequel to 1998’s The Mask Of Zorro. We know that Banderas and Zeta Jones both look almost pensionable this time round. And we also know that The Legend Of Zorro is involved in some stunningly bad Vauxhall TV adverts. And that’s about it.

But just because we haven’t seen The Legend Of Zorro, it doesn’t mean that nobody else has. Here’s a roundup of the critics’ views in The Legend Of Zorro – Review Digest…

The Legend Of Zorro is probably the least anticipated sequel of all
time – even if Hulk Hogan decided to make Mr Nanny 2, it would inspire
more positive feeling than another Zorro film.

But we should be
interested in how good The Legend Of Zorro is, because it was directed by Martin
Campbell – the man who is making the new James Bond film. If he can
arse up a film about a Mexican swordsman, who knows what he’ll do to
Casino Royale. Here’s what the critics thought…

John Hartl: MSNBC – "Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who created last summer’s
costly bomb, The Island, it’s a similarly strained attempt to mix
formulaic escapist elements with contemporary issues: terrorism,
corporate corruption, America’s status as a superpower and even weapons
of mass destruction."

Joshua Starnes: Comingsoon – "It tries to hard early on to be funny and isn’t, but once the adventure elements really kick, it is a fine swashbuckler."

Kirk Honeycutt: Hollywood Reporter – "What have they done to the Zorro movie series? It’s turned into Spy Kids!"

Lisa Schwarzbaum: Entertainment Weekly – "There’s no distinction to
this sequel – except that it’s designed, with more calculation than
ever, to be a Saturday-afternoon seat-filler for the whole world’s
pants."

Jeffrey M Anderson: Combustible Celluloid – "A movie so stupid and so boring at the same
time that it stops just short of causing Zorro creator Johnston McCulley
to roll over in his grave."

Derek Malcolm: Evening Standard – "I liked the drunken horse."

[story by Stuart Heritage]