THE MASK OF ZORRO (1998)

Wildly elaborated retelling of the old story gets a tremendous charge from its playful cast, even if Antonio Banderas & Catherine Zeta-Jones are almost two decades older than the characters they play. The prologue lets Anthony Hopkins put on his famous Richard Burton voice for the swashbuckling, and he certainly enjoys the chance to go solo before the main story begins. But even here, Martin Campbell, fresh off of megging the initial Pierce Brosnan Bond pic, GOLDEN EYE, can’t get the editing rhythms to work for the action scenes. The angles don’t add up into believable patterns and James Horner ’s oddly handled score goes soft at all the wrong spots. Still, the basic Robin Hood aspects of the story remain indestructible with such pleasant people to root for.