Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Don Alejandro de la Vega and his wife, Elena, to take action.Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Don Alejandro de la Vega and his wife, Elena, to take action.Despite trying to keep his swashbuckling to a minimum, a threat to California's pending statehood causes the adventure-loving Don Alejandro de la Vega and his wife, Elena, to take action.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 3 nominations
- Blanca Cortez
- (as Giovanna Zacarias)
- Governor Riley
- (as Pedro Armendariz)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaA second sequel was dropped, due to this movie not making enough money. However, Robert Rodriguez approached Sony with an idea that the Zorro reboot should be set in a post-apocalyptic future. But, Sony executives wanted the Zorro reboot to be gritty and be in the style of The Dark Knight (2008), showing how Don Diego de la Vega became Zorro. Batman was heavily influenced by Zorro. The reboot was rumored to be titled "Zorro Reborn".
- GoofsArmand challenges Alejandro to play polo "as they do in Slovenia," which he calls "a country." In 1850, the territory inhabited by Slovenian people was divided into multiple provinces of the Austrian Empire. Slovenia did not become a country until 1991. Also, Slovenia has never been known for having polo players. Even today not a single association of polo players exists in Slovenia.
- Quotes
Elena: When I said we were never meant to be together, I meant it.
Don Alejandro de la Vega: Finally, we agree on something!
[long kiss]
Elena: This changes nothing.
Don Alejandro de la Vega: Absolutely not.
- Crazy creditsThe closing credits list Abraham Lincoln as "President Lincoln". Lincoln was serving his first term on the Illinois State Assembly at the time that the film is set.
- ConnectionsFeatured in De wereld draait door: Episode #1.15 (2005)
Pros
chemistry b/w Alejandro and Elena (Banderas/Zeta-Jones); action sequences; further development of Elena's character; continuity with the first film; the film's unmasking scene
Cons
anachronisms or historical inaccuracies; plausibility of the plot
Now I mentioned that the filmmakers should have moved the film's setting from 1850 to 1861. The current film makes it clear that the Civil War is years away, but I would set this film at the start of the Civil War--1861--for the following reasons.
1) Doing so ages Alejandro/Zorro more and makes the issue of him retiring that much more pertinent because of his age. Here Alejandro is still somewhat middle-aged, and moving the story 21 years ahead makes his age a much more relevant issue. I understand that the filmmakers didn't want to feature Joaquin taking over as Zorro at the end of LOZ because they wanted Banderas and Zeta-Jones to come back for a third film. I still think that both of them could still come back for the third film--one where Alejandro is forced to come out of retirement and aid his son Joaquin (the new Zorro).
2) This makes the current plot more plausible. As it stands, Count Armand and the society "Orbis Unum" intend to make what will be called nitroglycerin for the South, who will eventually use it. Why not have the society make and try to deliver the explosive for the South who are ALREADY at war with the North? Why do something for a FUTURE conflict?
3) The 1861 setting brings another event into play, which could have been the film's plot instead. Count Armand is French. In the early 1860s France, along with the Roman Catholic clergy, backed the ascension of Archduke Maximilian of Austria to the title of Emperor of Mexico. Now they could have taken part of the plot--the manufacture of the explosive--and have that be part of France's oppression of the Mexican people, with France having future plans to take California (a rehash of the first film's plot). France's involvement in Mexico is true historical fact, and they could have instead made a plot involving this.
4) The time change would eliminate the historical inaccuracies question that plagues LOZ. Did the Pinkertons exist in 1850? Why is Abraham Lincoln, here a lawyer sent to be a witness to the statehood ceremony, in this movie? Setting the film in 1861 eliminates these questions. The statehood part would be gone, but any presence of Lincoln now makes more sense, seeing as he was President at this time, and I'm sure the Pinkertons existed by this point. Things would "fit" better.
So, I enjoyed the film, but I feel that if they had changed the setting to 1861, they could have improved the film. Now, I DO see how this film is somewhat in the "Wild Wild West" vein--using certain methods rather ahead of their time.
However, I feel that changing the date to 1861 would have made things work better, or could have given them another good idea for the film's plot.
- Andyh74
- Apr 3, 2006
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Zorro Unmasked
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $75,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $46,464,023
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $16,328,506
- Oct 30, 2005
- Gross worldwide
- $142,400,065
- Runtime2 hours 9 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1
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![Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Mary Crosby, Giovanna Zacarías, Mar Carrera, and Alexandra Benedetti in The Legend of Zorro (2005)](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BZTE1MjVmYTYtOGFjZi00NGM3LTg0ZTEtNWI4MGI3NmM1MTVhXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTIzOTk5ODM@._V1_QL75_UX90_CR0,0,90,133_.jpg)