Honestly this movie is kind of shitty, like a bad 1980’s action film of the day. It shows off color as a special effect, focusing the film more on the use of color rather than telling a good story. That being said this movie is a huge turning point in film in using technicolor. Color arguably won't be as much of a make it or break it technical difference as sound was because of how long it took to get right. I could see how critics disliked the color at the time as unrealistic. The color is overly saturated and thus the reds and the greens pop way too much. It's highly stimulating and thus distracting as a result. And honestly the ridiculously vibrant and fake nature of the color makes the film ridiculous and kind of off-putting as a result.
But it’s made for kids, so it should exaggerate. You can see Hollywood coming into its own as a made up institution. There's an emphasis here on exaggeration for the sake of ticket sales and escapism as a merit on it's own.
This movie shows you how color comes across as a gimmick in its introduction and is applied mostly to larger-than-life stories where the color can be embraced as playing up the fantastic nature of the film. This stands in contrast to sound which was more shocking and surprising in its roll out as being something that can convey more truth and reality to a film. I would argue this difference in how color was perceived as fake and dishonest by the general public whereas sound was received as shockingly real shows you the power of Sound is more important to an audience than the visuals.
This film is kind of fun and ridiculous though in it's own way. Errol Flynn is great and fun and jovial and easy to watch and the story is silly and fun in a way so the movie isn't without its redeeming nature especially if you're a child.