Banderas again plays Zorro, but this time the swashbuckler is experiencing marital problems with wife Elena (Zeta-Jones). She wants him to spend less time fighting crime and more time at home with their young son. The couple gets divorced just as a villain named Armand (Rufus Sewell) is planning to disrupt California’s pending statehood, thereby destroying the fabric of the entire United States. Would that scenario seem even more ridiculous if I told you that Armand’s main weapon is soap?

To Zorro’s surprise, his ex-wife turns out to be Armand’s new main squeeze. This causes additional friction, as he resents her dating such a sleazeball. A whole lot of bickering goes on between the three of these characters. Meanwhile, the boy finds all kinds of ways to create mischief; it’s obvious that he’s a little Zorro-in-training.

The Legend of Zorro comes with a new family-friendly PG rating. This is a fundamental mistake because – let’s face it – is there a movie that will be less appealing to kids? Zorro is too old school, especially in this day and age. The movie needed to be sexier and edgier than it is. The one scene everyone remembers from the original is the one in which Banderas used his sword to slash off the clothes of Catherine Zeta-Jones. It was a moment in which two very sexy stars sparred verbally, then made a move to something more physical and passionate. It was memorable. When you have Banderas and Zeta-Jones, you don’t want to see them apart the whole time; you want to see their sizzling chemistry. I’m not sure whose idea it was to tame the movie down, but they blew it right there.

The stars are certainly well-cast, and the swashbuckling scenes are again well done. This kind of stuff is always fun to watch, especially when it’s done with style. I liked some of the humorous touches in the movie as well. A few scenes earn genuine laughs. These things are rather regrettably let down by a dull story. This is one of those films where you can feel them straining for a reason to even have a sequel in the first place. The filmmakers obviously wanted to do a follow-up (most likely for monetary reasons) yet they had no creative ideas for it, so they slapped something together. There’s something dispiriting about watching such an uninspired production.

Compounding that problem is the fact that the film takes 130 minutes to do what it could – and should – have done in 90. There are long stretches of boredom here, occasionally broken by a sword fight. The pacing is way off, to the point where one is likely to check one’s watch a lot. Director Martin Campbell is adequate, but the material needed a showman – someone like Robert Rodriguez, who would bring some hipness and energy to the film. It’s also worth mentioning that a lot of the plot rests on what is supposed to be a surprise twist. However, that twist is so blatantly obvious that it robs the movie of a large percentage of its interest. We merely sit around waiting for the inevitable to happen.

I wasn’t a particularly big fan of The Mask of Zorro, but I could understand how its retro feel might appeal to a segment of the audience. The Legend of Zorro isn’t likely to inspire another sequel. Banderas and Zeta-Jones are great together; let’s hope they find another project that’s more worthy of their chemistry.

( out of four)

The Legend of Zorro is rated PG for sequences of violence/peril and action, language and a couple of suggestive moments. The running time is 2 hours and 10 minutes.