# King and I, The (1999)

### reviewed by
John Sylva

    The King and I (1999) by John Sylva    Rating: F

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The King and I, a Warner Brothers animated, musical feature, recycles the classic story of a woman who challenges the heart of a King, with obvious results. When Anna (Miranda Richardson), a British schoolteacher, travels to Saim to educate the King's (Martin Vidnovic) children, she learns that the King is treating his people unfairly, and must say something to the greedy ruler. Meanwhile, the King's Prime Minister (Ian Richardson), the stereotypical villain, plots to overthrow the King, taking the throne. The last, and most predictable, main subplot deals with the King's son (Allen D. Hong), and his love for a servant, Tuptim (Armi Arabe), and how he conflicts with his feelings, and the ancient laws of Saim.

Not even the lone strong character of Anna can save the unbelievably horrible waste of talent, as The King and I's problems could fill the blank pages of a journal. I will only note the major difficulties, for it would take pages to elaborate on every detail. The screenplay, written by Arthur Rankin, Peter Bakalian, Jacqeline Feather, and David Seidler, which is based upon the play written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, has some of the worst dialogue written in a film within recent memory, as every time the obnoxious king would shout, "Etc, etc, etc," I would cringe. Literally. Speaking of cringing- I did quite a bit of this during the rather short film, which is a classic display of terrible filmmaking. Besides the repetitive dialogue from the King, on the whole, the songs seem out of place, and unlike the lyrics, are unmagical. The sole song which is used cleverly is "Getting to Know You," which is used as Anna shows the children the great outdoors, which they have never been exposed to. Unlike Disney animated features, the King and I's songs don't add to the film, and are as uneffective as could be. Take the following scenario as an example, as the sheer horror of the King and I's music is at its worst.

    You're being hunted by a dragon!  What do you do!?  Sing a happy song!

    CRINGE!

Martin Vidnovic voices the King without effort or emotion- You hear the saying two negatives don't make a positive? Believe it! With the terrible dialogue that the King has, along with his awful voice track, the King is completely unbelievable, only shows mild signs of any personality, and the only thing that changes in the King is that he says "Etc., etc., etc.," more and more as the film progresses. No personality at the beginning of the movie, none at the end. And where does this character's personality change? Hey, I thought Anna was supposed to change him! Isn't that the whole plot?

The Prime Minister's hideous sidekick (Darrell Hammond) brings his share of cringes as well - Oh no! Another one of his teeth fell out! HARDY-HAR-HAR! He is supposed to bring laughs for the kidlets, but even at age five I would have cringed while watching him.

By the way this review is going, you may think the reasoning for my hate for this film is due to not liking animated films- Hence why I hate this movie, because The King and I is a disgrace to animation. Animated films, such as 1994's The Lion King and 1998's The Prince of Egypt, are among my favorite movies of all time. The animation team does design their share of well animated settings, so this makes it easier to take my mind off of the annoying King, until I realize that day and night switch back in fourth within seconds.

I have not read the play, or seen the Oscar winning, 1956 film adaption, but from what I can tell, the screenplay for the 1999 version completely butchers the play, for The King and I is never magical, nor interesting. If it wasn't for Miranda Richardson, who voices Anna with feeling, The King and I could earn the title, "Worst movie of the decade." Instead, The King and I will just go down as among the year's worst.

The Bottom Line- Avoid this movie at all costs. Not even young children, the target audience in this film, will enjoy it. Not the slightest bit.

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