This film is fantastic. To start with, Pirates of Penzance is one of Gilbert & Sullivan's most accessible operettas, with an engaging storyline, memorable characters, and music that's beautiful, funny, and catchy all at once. And this film version takes all those advantages and runs with them, resulting in a side-splittingly funny romp with some incredible performances.
The foremost reason to watch this movie is Kevin Kline, whose expertise at physical comedy is excellently displayed here. As the Pirate King, he is equal parts dashing, bombastic and silly. He gets the show off to a great start with an energetic rendering of the Pirate King Song, during which he cavorts around his ship and manages to accidentally injure himself in a number of ways. And his performance only builds from there, reaching its apex during what is also the movie's best scene, the "burglary" song, as the Pirates prepare to attack Maj. Gen. Stanley's home.
Any review of this movie would be inadequate if it failed to praise the astonishing performance by Tony Azito as the Captain of the Guard. These inept policemen are some of the funniest characters in any production, but Azito's dancing is unlike anything I've seen before. It's as though he's a human marionette; it really must be seen to be believed.
Excellent performances are also turned in by Angela Lansbury as Ruth and Linda Ronstadt, who is surprisingly cute and sweet as Mabel. Former Solid Gold host Rex Smith does a creditable job as the show's protagonist, Frederick, but is definitely overshadowed by the more seasoned performers around him.
The film takes a few liberties with the original script, cutting some scenes short but also adding a couple of really fun sequences: One, a patter song borrowed from another G&S show, Ruddygore, which gives Kline yet another opportunity to be really, really funny; and the other, a twist on the climactic fight between the Pirates and the Guard which sends them crashing through a community theater performance of H.M.S. Pinafore.
The only real criticism I have of this movie regards the score, specifically the instrumentation of the music. For some reason, whoever was responsible for the score decided to mix in some electronic music along with the traditional orchestration, and while that may have sounded neat in the mid-80s, it gives the soundtrack a goofy, dated feeling today. But all in all, this movie is non-stop fun with some unforgettable performances.
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