[.ca] The King and I (Widescreen) (ISBN 0790742586)

From Amazon.com:
For no apparent reason, 1999 became the year of The King and I. The 1956 version with Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr received a glorious digital transfer on video, and Jodie Foster starred in a new, nonmusical version of this story of the King of Siam and the English schoolmistress hired to teach his children. The oddest rendition of the story is this animated version, complete with the famous Rodgers and Hammerstein musical numbers. Richard Rich's (The Swan Princess) animation is on par with most non-Disney features, but the film is chock full of dull villains, playful animals, and ridiculous action sequences. It's a good introduction into this culture for kids who will watch only animation, but the question remains, "Why was this made?" The 1956 version has aged very well, and is fabulous family entertainment. Still, the animated version is nearly an hour shorter, and for those who want hot-air balloon rescues, this would be the version to keep. --Doug Thomas

It's bad enough it's a remake, but...:
You know, there are some days when I watch a Miyazaki film, or I catch one of the old Looney Tunes from the 40's or 50's and I feel glad that I'm into animation. And then there are days when I see movies like this...and I wish I could go back in time and poke out Winsor McCay's eyes with his own ink pen. I seriously doubt the writers for this film ever saw the original "The King and I," which holds up to audiences even today. What they did watch apparently was "Aladdin." Don't believe me? Let's see...an evil court advisor and his comedic sidekick planning to take over the government, a pet cat in the royal palace, a young man lying about his identity to get the girl, a ruler who changes the marriage law at the end so the boy can get the girl, a romantic conflict of royalty versus peasantry, a boy and his pet monkey...no that's not like Aladdin at all. But what really bugs me about this film is the story. Why was so much changed? Why did they introduce the conflict of a villain? Why did they include that love story between the Burmese girl and the prince? The original love story between Anne and the King becomes irrelevent and poorly developed, and the movie gets lost in all it's unnecessary subplots. By the end you practically forget there was a love story between those two at all, and when they try to conclude it you're left unsatisfied. Also, I don't want to hear any one saying this film is good because of the music. Yes, the music is good, but the people who made the film didn't orchestrate it, Rogers and Hammerstein did. I could remake "The Sound of Music," leave in all the songs, and turn it into a porn movie. Does that mean it's a good film? Besides, the songs are often ruined by the sight gags they have going on at the same time. The "Getting to Know You" scene is especially true of this, as for the song's entire duration all we see are the stupid fights between the monkey and villain's sidekick over the singing. And I mean this is during the WHOLE SONG. Oh yeah, and what was up with all the animal sidekicks? There's like one for every character! First there's that monkey, then the cougar...and then an elephant? Did we really need the elephant? That was just overdoing it. And while we're talking about sidekicks...the villain's sidekick was very offensive. He's an Asian stereotype that I would expect in a 1930's film, but in this day and age, come on. Animating "The King and I" could have been neat, but not by these people. In fact, I hope these people never animate. Again. Ever.

A Disney veteran introduces a new 'King':
I truly enjoyed this movie. It is highly underrated and hopefully will be appreciated in years to come. Instead of going over plot details, I trust just about everyone is familiar with "The King and I," I'll instead go over the things that I enjoyed most about the film. Director Richard Rich, who helmed Disney's The Fox and the Hound and The Black Cauldron, helms a very Disney-worthy animated feature for another movie studio. The artwork is beautiful, very vibrant, but the animation is on par with alot of the Disney films from the 1980s, maybe. The characters are basically the same from the original musical, The King of Siam and Anna included. However, there is a new character named Master Little who is voiced by SNL funnyman Darrell Hammond. He's probably the funniest part of the movie. One detractor, is that I thought that the villian, The Kralahome, was a bit too much like Jafar from Disney's Aladdin in his attempt to manipulate various characters, the King included. However, I think the number one reason I like it better than the 1956 version is because it is only a brief 90 minutes while the original tops out at a whopping 133 mins. Overall I enjoyed Warner's 'King,' even though it seems to drag at points, I will no doubt enjoy watching it for years to come.

very entertaining, help relaxing:
I have never seen the original musicial The King and I, but I know it is one of the classics. I rented this animated version DVD and found it very enteraining, the music was wonderful, helping me to relax from a day's work. I decide to own one so I can watch it whenever I want. Yes, I did think the parts of Master Little should be reduced. But may be kids like him. Overall, I highly recommend thid dvd to adults and kids alike.

Musical Theater 101:
This version of "The King And I" seems to have gotten a bad rap! Sure, much of the original story has been altered to make this "Family Viewing" but, the true heart remains! And those wonderful songs by R & H beautifully performed by Martin Vidnovik (The King) and Christiaine Noll (Singing Anna) are pure joy! WB threw their hat into the animated feature film ring and created something as impressive as Disney/Pixar or Dreamworks ever could! However, this film did not achieve Disney or Dreamworks box office success! This film is a great introduction for children and adults to a classic american musical. I would love to have seen a new trend of animated classic musicals begin such as "Flower Drum Song", "Anything Goes", "Annie Get Your Gun", "Into The Woods", "Fiddler On The Roof" "Hello, Dolly!" or even "Gypsy" now wouldn't that be interesting! The animated TK & I has alot going for it gorgeous animation, great voices (speaking and singing), a great story and a timeless musical score! The running time is just under 90 minutes. Some of the songs were cut from the film but included in the closing credits performed by Barbara Streisand. The DVD has many cool features like a couple of "Making Of" featurettes. Cast & Character Bios and a sing-a-long! A DVD essential for any musical theater fan! Although, I'm sure many musical theater fans would strongly disagree with me! Also see: "Anna And The King Of Siam (1948), "The King And I" (1956) and "Anna And The King" (1999) or read many of the books written about the life of Anna Leonowens and The King Of Siam.

Great movie especially the music:
This definitely has some of the best songs in a cartoon movie. I happen to like the storyline. Heh a few parts in this remind me of the sound of music but o well that's not a bad thing anyways. I happened to like all the voice actors as well especially the King's and the villian's little henchman. The only problem I had with this movie was they didn't have a truly great villian. They didn't really try 2 develop him as a character much. That's the only reason this didn't get a full 5. This movie is really good for a few light-hearted laughs too! It's definitely worth the money to get this movie or even rent it.