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27 years into her reign as the Queen of England, Elizabeth I (Cate Blanchett) faces a challenge to her throne from Catholic crusaders in Spain and Scotland. At the same time she falls in love with the dashing Sir Walter Raleigh (Clive Owen) but, determined to stay loyal to her position, forces him into a relationship with a lovely younger lady in waiting (Abbie Cornish).

Big question: Does this sequel to 1998's Oscar-nominated "Elizabeth" live up to its justly acclaimed predecessor?

Skip it: Blanchett returns to her breakthrough role and proceeds to act up a storm. Unfortunately the rest of director Shekhar Kapur’s bombastic film is just as big as she is, leaving her performance (and the audience) no room to breathe. The camera swoops, swirls and repeatedly assumes a bird's eye view of the action, drawing attention to the filmmaking in a likely attempt to distract from the uninvolving mess of a narrative. The tight plotting and sharp characterizations of "Elizabeth" have been replaced by soap opera-level histrionics, cheesy action scenes and an abundance of bastardized historical figures (Samantha Morton, as Mary Queen of Scots, and Jordi Molla, as King Philip II of Spain, are basically playing cartoons).

Catch it: Well, at least the costumes are pretty...

Bottom line: Like a bad second season of a breakout TV show, the original was laudable but the sequel's simply laughable.

Bonus: The nearly ten year gap between the first "Elizabeth" and this sequel may seem like a long time, but maybe it wasn't long enough. Adding to the film's fuzzy portrayal of history: Elizabeth I was 52 at the time of the events depicted in the film, while Blanchett turned 37 during filming.

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