He dared to impress upon our credulous simplicity.

The Pirates of Penzance — 3.5/5

Had it been made in the 1930s, it would still have been 50 years out of date. What a ridiculous idea to create a movie out of a 100-year old musical (and me now a further 40 years removed from that). The songs are not the songs we sing. The jokes are all explained. Sets and songs go on for way too long. The whole thing is a curiosity; an oddity. It succeeds precisely where it fails, its sensibilities so far removed from our times. It feels like a telescope into the past. And through that, you can see the start of things. You see the origins of Looney Tunes and Animaniacs and 'Who's on first?' and Our Flag Means Death. Big in scale with a total, absolute disregard for consequence. It's pure, untainted by time. But so, so stupid. "This is a world without cynicism. There's no one in it we would not like to have to dinner."