Ladies & gentlemen, today, we are going to be diving into something unexpected that I’m sure some of you might not have thought that I would cover. In this case, we are going to be talking about another one of those “Disney knock-offs” from the 1990s. For those of you who are new to my blog, I’ll give you a brief overview of what that apparently means. Basically, they were animated films released in the 1990s, that basically tried to act like many of the Disney films, especially those that were released around that time. As I’m sure some you know, I already reviewed a couple of those last year with The Swan Princess, and Quest For Camelot. Now, we shall talk about another animated film that was released when the 1990s were about to conclude, along with the Disney Renaissance period. Without further ado, let’s talk about the second animated movie to be directed by Richard Rich (his first film being 1994’s The Swan Princess, and the third being 2001’s The Trumpet Of The Swan). The one, and only, 1999’s The King & I. Yeah, Warner Bros. came up with the idea to make an animated remake of the 1956 live-action musical film of the same now. So how about that? Anyway, let’s begin.
Plot: Set in the year 1862, a schoolteacher named Anna Leonowens (Miranda Richardson), and her family travel from London to Siam to give the children of the palace an education, much to the displeasure of King Mongkut of Siam (Martin Vidnovic), who believes in sticking to traditions. But as the king, and his children begin to form a close relationship with Anna, and her family, will they begin to learn, and realize things about the world that they had never known before?
Alright, so there were a few reasons as to why I wanted to rewatch this particular film again after being absent from it for so many years. One was seeing a preview of it on Quest For Camelot last year, when I researched that film, and reviewed it. Second, I had that this film an overwhelming amount of negative reviews, even more so than animated films like Quest For Camelot, Chicken Little, and some of those animated films that received mostly mixed to negative reviews. So, after seeing quite a few films, and giving most of those positive reviews, I wanted to try to see if I could see a film that I could give a bad review for once. Oh, and after rewatching The Swan Princess last year, and hearing about both that film, and this one being directed by Richard Rich, that was another reason that I wanted to rewatch this film. Either way, I remember enjoying this film after seeing it as a kid. Does it hold up years later? Sadly, this 1999 remake of the 1956 classic film does not. I had never officially seen the famous 1956 version of the story, except for seeing trailers for it. However, from at least what I could gather from those trailers, it seemed like this animated cartoon was trying to recapture the spirit of this film. I mean yes, this film does apparently have quite a few of the same songs as the live-action one. Still, either because of this film only being an hour and a half long, most likely adding certain elements that don’t seem to work well in this case, or other reasons like those, this version of The King & I doesn’t even come close to living up to it’s full potential. First of all, most of the characters seem rather dull, and bland. That is with the exceptions of characters like Anna, King Mongkut Of Siam, and the villain, Kralahome, who all seem to be at least remotely interesting. Other than those three, the others, like the monkey, and the elephant characters, are just in there solely for comic relief, while others like Anna’s son, Prince Chulalongkorn, or Tuptim seem to feel like they’re crammed into this story. Sure, some of those seem to serve somewhat of a purpose at different points. Still, characters like them could have probably been used in a longer movie. Which that leads me to my next point, which would be the story. First off, The King & I, especially being made at a time that it was, seems to serve as proof that an animated remake of a classic musical was probably not going to work. Maybe if this film hadn’t been made until around 10-20 years later, or more, it might have been a different story. Was this film way ahead of it’s time? Maybe so! I mean when you compare this remake to say some of Disney’s recent live-action/CGI remakes, one can easily tell that most, if not all of those are superior. There doesn’t seem to be all that much in comparison. Oh, and did I forget to talk about there being one, or two subplots in this movie? Yeah, those subplots seem to make this film fall as well. I’m not saying subplots never work. In fact, they seem to work better in a film that might be around 2-2 1/2 hours, or a film like that. However, for some reason, when it comes to a film that’s around an hour and a half long, or some other reason along those lines, these particular subplots don’t seem to work quite nearly as well. Additionally, there’s at least some of the animation. Oh, don’t get me wrong, there are times when the animation is phenomenal. However, more often than not, the animation of this film seems to make this film feel more like a direct-to-video type of film rather than one that gets a theatrical release. There were also certain aspects towards the end that didn’t seem to feel entirely satisfying. In fact, you’ll probably find yourself asking questions about what truly came about certain characters, or things like that. There’s also most of the songs. Yes, there were one, or two that were okay. Overall, however, they didn’t seem to be all that memorable. And last, but not least, this film feels really corny, and childish. Okay, I understand that animated films are supposed to fall into the category of children’s/family entertainment. Still, if movie makers wanted to truly make an animated film like the Disney films especially in the 1990s, why make a film like this one as corny as it ended up being, you know?
But is there anything good about this film? Well, yes, thankfully! First of all, while the animation is so-so, there are a few times when the animation is amazing as well, most notably when it comes to shots of the kingdom of Siam, or even objects in the palace like the statues. Additionally, the acting is also really good. That is especially when it comes to Martin Vidnovic’s singing voice, especially during a song called “A Puzzlement,” in which he sings solo. in addition, at least there were a few times in the film where the movie makers attempted to put some heart into it, but didn’t succeed all that much. Oh well! Finally, the film does have a few good lines, especially the line about how “God is merciful.”
And that’s my review for the 1999 animated remake of The King & I. Well, must say that it was an okay feeling to review an okay film for the first time in a long while. After rewatching this film, I would now like to see the original 1956 version just to see how much better it is in comparison to this one. Personally, I would rather rewatch other non-Disney animated films from the 1990s, like The Prince Of Egypt, Quest For Camelot, or even The Swan Princess more than this film. This film lacks the magic that many other animated films have seemed to have overtime. Sure, there are a few saving graces in this film. And yes, at least this film does have some good lines. Still, unless you truly desire yo watch an animated film that could feel mediocre at best, I would say just stick to the 1956 version of this film, and watch, or rewatch better animated films. Well, on the brighter side, at least this film didn’t end up being successful enough that there would be remakes of other live-action musicals. I can only imagine how much worse any of those might have been.
Final Grade: C-
Matthew’s Animated & Live-Action Movie Reviews 