The King and I (1999)

the audience applauded

Better Late Then Never

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

The King and I (1999): Dir: Richard Rich / Voices: Miranda Richardson, Ian Richardson, Darrell Hammond, Christiane Noll, Adam Wylie: Animation that expresses something extraordinary through the experiences of a teacher with a King. Story regards an English governess who is summoned to teach the many children of the King of Siam. He lays heavy emphasis on tradition, which results in many foolish rules. Of course the governess will win him over and his son will marry the servant girl that the King nearly whipped. Animation is rich with detail but the story is boring and about as exciting as watching golf. Directed by Richard Rich who remains faithful to the story, which appears in many forms including the 1956 version starring Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr. Voice talents are unable to bring life into the empty personalities. Miranda Richardson voices the governess as straight forward and as uninteresting as a person can be. Others talents lending their voices to shame are Ian Richardson, Darrell Hammond, and Christiane Noll. The characters are flat and even its message of tradition and adaptation is lost in its dreary storytelling. This is the sort of storyline that has been done countless times and whether it is animated or not, it is still no less boring. Bland animated remake of no great significance that falls into a rotten tradition called formula. Score: 3 / 10

This movie is certainly too sinister for kids, I remember it scaring me when I was about six years old. It has vines that turn into snakes, a scene with a sea dragon trying to tip a boat and eat the passengers, a verbally abusive king and inaccurate history. One scene in particular features a young man falling in love with a servant girl. The man's father orders the girl to be whipped to death in front of everyone. The King and I definitely isn't a family-friendly animated movie at all.It's too stupid for any adults unfortunate enough to have to watch it. Full of cultural and racial stereotypes, disgustingly cute and unrealistic animals, lame singing and an array of unlikable characters, this is one movie you won't want to sit through with your kids, believe me. Anna is supposed to be a logical, brave schoolteacher from America (or England, Canada? I can't remember), but she ends up coming across as this annoyingly assertive dope. Her son is just a wimpy little dork dressed in weird stretch pants , sailor hat and blazer. The king, who doesn't seem to have a name, has exaggerated and bizarre anger issues. Master Little is a morbidly obsese, Buddha-esque guy with stereotypically slanted eyes and a weird voice. Most of the characters are flat, with no originality or personalities at all; they stick to their story roles but have no outside interests, nothing to make them memorable. Since the producers already tried turning the story into something out of a Disney movie or Scooby-Doo episode, they could at least try to make the characters interesting! My advice? Don't even bother with this, and don't subject your children to it. It's almost as bad as that stupid Ferngully movie and is probably one of the worst animated movies I've seen in some time.

Here's the story: When I was a toddler, I went over to my Grandfather's house and he had a copy of the old classic King and I. He set me off to watch it and I loved it through out. Well, in the presence, I watched this on STARZ and I didn't know what to do but sit through it and think about it. I had to rate it a 1/10 because of how awful this was. Look, I don't remember if the original King and I had this, but this was waay too frightening to look at for young viewers. There is a villain named whatshisname who puts on an evil scheme to distract the village with scary dragons, scary animals, a bloody-colored river, and there is a near death experience with the king. This movie is way to scary too look at with your kids. There is this woman who almost drowned at the part where she gets carried away in the river. I don't think this is nothing copied off of the original classic King and I but here are some subjects about it:The animation was beautiful (almost like a Disney animation film). The script was flat. And the storyline was mostly predictable. The songs were forgettable. The characters are unfavorable.Skip this floppy animated version and watch the original King and I.

I have both versions on video, and I'll admit the 1956 version is much better. I had mixed feelings on this version, but I hated most of the plot changes. Many important bits that worked so well in the 1956 version were changed and replaced with hackneyed plot-holes. The saving grace is the songs, and the singing is passable. The best is Christianne Noll, and Barbara Streisand singing in the end credits was a treat. Back to the bad. The voice talents were OK, but there were a lot of dodgy accents. Miranda Richardson does well, and her character animation is good too. Martin Vidnovic was trying to replicate Yul Brynner, and in no way did he succeed. Adam Wylie has a false English accent, that was shown when he was singing, because his American accent was heard. Ian Richardson is a really good actor, but I was expecting more from him. He had lots of really good lines, but his delivery just felt a bit OTT. The worst character was Master Little, who was funny for only ten minutes, and then the occurring joke about teeth wore thin far too early. Don't get me started on the animals. they were cute at first, but they served no purpose at all to the plot, especially Moonshee. As for the animation, most of it was good, but why on earth did they animate a sea dragon and moving statues that were only there for a couple of seconds, I didn't get it! As for the romance between Tuptim and the Prince it was so unnecessary, and the romance between Anna and the king was painfully underdeveloped. And why did they change the ending? The ending in the 1956 version was so poignant, and this one was pointless. In conclusion, only watch it if you haven't seen the fantastic Yul Brynner version, otherwise you'll be disappointed. 5/10 Bethany Cox