Customer Reviews
| Rating |  | | Date | April 23, 2005 | | Summary | a delightful fairy tale | Content
 | This is a wonderful performance of a favorite Gilbert & Sullivan musical.
You will never hear a more gorgeous voiced Frederick than that of Rex Smith.
Prepare to be dazzled by the athletic dancing and strutting of Kevine Kline as the Pirate King.
Linda Ronstadt's singing is beauttiful, though at times she seems to garble some of the words a bit.
Angela Lansbury is charming as nursemaid "Little Ruth." I didn't realize she could dance a bit as well.
One recommendation: you might also try the DVD version of Pirates, which features Patricia Routledge as Ruth. It is performed live in Central Park, and has a spontaneity that is also a lot of fun.
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| Rating | | | Date | April 13, 2005 | | Summary | Sloppy, but enjoyable | Content
| There are some sloppy mistakes in "Pirates of Penzance" which could easily have been fixed with a second take or a more careful editor. It is slightly sad to see such carelessness in a film, because it had potential that was lost due to laziness.
Having said that, it needs to be said that this movie does make for good background entertainment, and even a careful watching can be fun if one is willing to let go of strict quality control. There are genuinely funny moments, and the actors go about their merry way with such bravado and fun that it's hard not to be taken in with their antics (however silly they may seem).
Also, note the plot of the musical itself: a pirate born in leap year can't escape his endentures - hilarity is in the wordplay and fantastic lyrics written by Gilbert and Sullivan. The whole thing was a snub to the dwindling power of pirates/privateers of the time, so having an over-emotional, pirate king and crew secretly devoted to Queen Victoria is no surprise.
Kevin Kline is my personal favorite of the cast, willing to throw himself headlong into the dashing, melodramatic Pirate King (though those thigh high boots seem to cut off circulation to his feet, as he seems to balance a lot on his ankles). Rex Smith is a strong Frederic, though in the movie his voice sometimes had the bleating quality of a sheep, which at times is highly annoying. Linda Ronstadt and Angela Lansbury are the two women leads; Ronstadt is impressive vocally, but rather lacking in character (she only has perhaps two lines of actual dialogue in the movie), and Angela Lansbury, who achieves character and vocal strength, has a strange glazy eye about her, probably from performing "Sweeny Todd" so many times.
Overall, I give this movie three stars because of plain, lazy sloppiness, but I rate it much higher in terms of whimsy and fun, and as a musical I give it five stars. Accept that pirates are dashing, women loving and major generals are model, and you'll truly enjoy yourself. |
| Rating | | | Date | February 01, 2005 | | Summary | Pirates of Penzance!!!!! | Content
| I love this movie! I am so excited about purchasing it! This has been a family favorite since we were kids; my sister and I seem to quote movies a lot and this is one of our favorites! |
| Rating | | | Date | January 31, 2005 | | Summary | Great Fun and Great music | Content
| I saw this movie when it was first released to TV. I was totally addicted to it's tongue in cheek humor. My three sons who were 10, 8 and 6 at the time loved it so much that they memorized many of the numbers. It was not uncommon for my six year old to be standing with one leg on the arm of the couch and the other on the seat singing Frederick's song to the maidens. The boys are obviously all grown and married now, but they still love this movie. It was a great introduction to Gilbert and Sullivan!
I'd love to be able to give them each a dvd of this. I hope that it comes out soon!! |
| Rating | | | Date | December 19, 2004 | | Summary | HORRIBLE! WRETCHED! INEXCUSABLE! GROTESQUE! | Content
| If you really enjoy Gilbert & Sullivan, DO NOT BUY THIS VIDEO!
If you want to see one of their funniest works being well performed, DO NOT BUY THIS VIDEO!
If you do not want to see Kevin Kline and/or Linda Ronstadt making fools of themselves, DO NOT BUY THIS VIDEO!
It is a horrible distortion of what was originally a marvelous creation. Kevin Kline and Linda Ronstadt should be embarrassed to be associated with it, and with the hideous re-scoring of Sullivan's marvelous score into an electronic catastrophe. Bringing you the worst of all worlds, you'll get poor camera work, made-for-TV acting, and two wonderful stars at their absolute worst. You'd be better off catching a local high school production, or at least buying one of the other videos available (the Stratford Music Festival production being passable).
As a 5-star Amazon seller of many years, I will not offer my copy of this video for sale because I have my reputation to consider and cannot risk passing this mistake along to others. Nor will I keep it in my Gilbert & Sullivan collection. It's heading for the dumpster where it belongs.
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