Why on earth did Don Deigo wait until the time he did to escape from prison? (it seemed so darn easy, after all) I don't imagine he was waiting for ten years just in case the bad guy would return home.

Oh DEAR was this thing full of holes...(I saw it on an airplane, for what it's worth).

All of the conventions of this sort of thing were followed. Where there is a large wooden structure, it must burn. Where there is a rope, it will either be swung on or cut. Where there is a beautiful woman, she won't be fully clad all the way through. All women know swordplay. Any random peasant can pass for an aristocrat with a bit of training. ("Pygmalion"/"My Fair Lady", anyone?) All peasants are oppressed. All white people are bad. All villains, given the chance, will be gallant and give up their huge advantage to allow the hero a fair fight. All villains must fall a long, long way before they die. All branches knock villains off steeds but not heros. There is no reason to grow vegetables except so the carts bearing them can be upset. All heros are heavy drinkers. Training must, must, must involve jogging in circles. (that's enough for now)

Random thoughts: Anthony Hopkins's voice didn't sound enough like Frank Oz, hmm?

Good thing for the ratings board that that little swordplay of Zorro's partway through didn't extend below the hips, eh?

I kept waiting for Mandy Patinkin to rush in and say "You killed my father. Prepare to Die!" (a film which, by the way, is far superior to Zorro--it doesn't take itself so stinkin' serious)

My dad and I sat on the plane predicting the outcome of every scene based on the available props. What incurable nitpickers we be....

This movie takes itself seriously? You must have seen some kinda weirdo airplane edited version...

My sister and I saw this one and rather enjoyed it. (Altho I do agree with you about all the conventions - hadn't thought of it that way before.) One scene we particularly liked was in the barn, when she loses her nightgown. Very well done, you didn't actually see anything.
I thought the movie was very funny. I thought it had a nice blend of serious and not so serious.

I like the scene where the "New Zorro" leaps off of a building and onto a horse, only he misses the horse. WHACK! I also liked the confession scene. "I have broken the fourth comandment."
"You..uh..er...Killed someone?" "No, That is not the fourth commandment!" "Oh, of cource it isn't. What is it?" "What did you say?" "Oh, I...uh..said, tell me more."

The confession scene reminded me of the "confession scene" in Desperado, also starring Banderas. Desperado is grim, funny action in the beginning, whole-sale camp in the end.

But you just haven't lived until you've seen musicians with rocket-shooting cases.

The horse bit was fairly original I'll admit, although I was reminded of a similar scene in "The Great Race". "You will excuse me, sir....I have a boat waiting!" [villain leaps from a high window into a boat, which breaks and sinks] (Now THERE's a movie that doesn't take itself seriously!)

This film was brilliant!

>>One scene we particularly liked was in the barn, when she loses her nightgown. Very well done, you didn't actually see anything.<<

If you have the DVD and freeze frame when she grabs the hat to cover herself, you do see something...

I loved this movie, but then, I've recently become a die-hard Zorro fan. The one thing I didn't understand was why Diego waited twenty years to make his escape attempt. Unless he was so demoralized by the loss of his wife and daughter that he just didn't give a...oops. Darn.

My brother thought of this one.

Santa Anna's war with the US is over territory. I doubt that he would agree to the deal with Montero. What good is winning a war over territory, if you have to give up a greater territory to do it?

Whenever Anthony Hopkins is in the shadows with the sword to the "head don's" neck (sorry-I can't remember names?), the dubbing is way off.

My friend and I couldn't agree over this, so I need other opinions;
At the end of his meeting with Captain Love, does Antonio Banderas drink from the big jar containing his brothers head?I didn't think so, and it would mean that he was drinking embalming fluid, AND it is his brother, so why would he do it at all?But I can't remember seeing anything else on the table that he could drink from.

I believe he did drink from the jar, but if I remember correctly, body parts used to be preserved in wine or spirits, not embalming fluid. So it's not that bad. The angle is not good enough to see if he really drank the stuff, though. I bet he was just trying to convince Love. IIRC, he did spit it out after he left, but this could just be my imagination.

This movie didn't take itself seriously, if it did, WHERE'S THE BLOOD. I rather enjoyed it, a couple of nicely staged duals, not a lot of blood so it wouldn't turn into something like Braveheart.

Favorite line

Sure, Pointing end goes into the other man

I just saw something interesting, In the scene where Anthony Hopkins chatacter-sorry can't remember his name- has the Don at sword-point and he tells him to call "his daughter". watch as both actors run into the room, there is a puff of smoke coming from the mouth of the actress(I'm so bad at this, I can't remember the actresses name!) so very sorry.

When Zorro steals the map, he lifts it off a table by stabbing it with his sword. Later when they look at the map there is no stabhole.

he must of put tape on the back of it, or ran it through a color photo copier and sent the one with the stab hole to Santa Anna