The Legend of Zorro is fun, and I think a tad bit better than the first movie. And since the development of nitroglycerin is part of the movie’s plot, we see some gratuitous explosions aside from swashbuckling swordfights. Though predictable, full of cliches, and impossibly-perfect action scenes at times, all in all, it’s a great entertaining movie.

The chemistry between Catherine Zeta-Jones and Antonio Banderas is still as good in this film as in the previous one. While the lines were a bit more cheesy this time around, their scenes together accounted for most of the funny scenes. And almost stealing the show is Joaquin, Elena (Zeta-Jones) and Alejandro’s (Banderas) ten-year-old child, played by newcomer Adrian Alonso.

Anyway, the story revolves around the admission of California into the United States of America, and some sinister Illuminati-like plot to try to destroy America (through a premature American Civil War) before it becomes too powerful. Don Alejandro, because of his family, is trying to cut down on his heroic Zorro adventures, but Californians still need him until their place in the Union is secure. This provides the background to the movie and in between we get marital problems, blackmail, espionage, and some general hard-headedness from the de la Vega (Zorro’s) family. All are ingredients for a light and fun movie to watch.

The first film is more mature and targeted towards adult audiences. The second one aims for the general patronage crowd, especially with the prominent inclusion of Joaquin in the plot. Not much use in comparing the two films since, as many people have pointed out, the two films have different objectives. Watch it expecting fun. Don’t watch it expecting to be enlightened and to pick up a lesson or two.