Zorro on France 2: what is the series with Jean Dujardin worth? [critique]

The masked rider reinvents himself in the guise of Jean Dujardin, in a comic and epic version modeled on the spirit of OSS 117 by Michel Hazanavicius with the same Dujardin. The guarantee of getting a good Zorro?

Jean Dujardin under the mask of Zorothe idea has been floating around in people's minds for a while. The fault, or thanks, to season 2 of Plane tree which saw the actor arrive with the famous black mustache. Eric Judor's prophecy almost becomes reality with this new serial version of the adventures of the masked vigilante.

Benjamin Charbit (Gagarin) and Noé Debré (Parliament) have chosen to remove all the pulp paraphernalia at the risk of making the purists scream. Their Zorro seems to be an epigone of Hubert Bonisseur de la Bath, but in a cordobés hat, helped by the personality and ironic acting of his headliner.

Like what Michel Hazanavicius and Jean-François Halin did with the spy ofOSS 117This Zoro is therefore a pure recreation, a clever reinvention. The duo of authors makes him a weary vigilante who has put away the mask for twenty years, but whom the nocturnal cavalcades have filled with pride and self-importance. His accession to the seat of city councilor of Los Angeles and the irruption of a crooked notable in the city will force him to return to service.

Summoning both Halin and Monty Python, Zoro Dujardin version assumes the references, shows the same absurd humor as in the saga OSS 117, sometimes even draws towards vaudeville…

The whole thing doesn't always keep up the pace: the fiction lets itself be overwhelmed by jokes and the mechanics sometimes go round in circles in a story dominated by the love triangle which unites Don Diego, his wife and the masked vigilante. But, once the reading grid is accepted, this new serialized iteration demonstrates all the sense of the epic that one could expect. It even enriches the commonly accepted vision of the cunning fox, particularly in his fight against his double, not necessarily without fear or without reproach.

The same goes for other iconic characters, Sergeant Garcia in the lead, eternally obsessed with his adversary. Here he turns into a worn-out profiler who has become depressed after tracking down the enemy. Played by a Grégory Gadebois above the fray, he would almost eclipse the figure of the hero.

After its release on Paramount+, Zoro is broadcast on France 2 from this Monday, December 23. The 8 episodes are already available on the France Télévisions website.