The King and I

The King and I is a 1999 animated film adaptation of the stage musical of the same name], which in turn is adapted from the Anna Leonowens story.

Synopsis
In 1862 Siam, the stubborn, imperious and arrogant King of Siam rules with traditional beliefs and refusal to change. With the arrival of the independent, spunky and headstrong Englishwoman Anna Leonowens and her son Louis along with his pet monkey Moonshee, until his evil, treacherous and villainous Prime Minister, Kralahome along with his henchman, Master Little plots to have the King overthrown with deceit.

At the same time, the Crown Prince Chulalongkorn falls in love with Tuptim, a servant given to the King as a gift from Burma, but their love and friendship must remain a secret as such is strictly forbidden.

Voice Cast

 * Miranda Richardson - Anna Leonowens (speaking)
 * Christiane Noll - Anna Leonowens (singing)
 * Martin Vidnovic - The King of Siam
 * Ian Richardson - The Kralahome
 * Darrell Hammond - Master Little
 * Allen D. Hong - Prince Chulalongkorn (speaking)
 * David Burnham - Prince Chulalongkorn (singing)
 * Armi Arabe - Tuptim (speaking)
 * Tracy Venner Warren - Tuptim (singing)
 * Adam Wylie - Louis Leonowens
 * Sean Smith - Sir Edward Ramsay
 * Frank Welker - Moonshee & Tusker (uncredited)
 * J.A. Fujili as First Wife
 * Ken Baker as Captain Orton
 * Ed Trolla as Sir Edward's Captain
 * Anthony Mozdy as Burmese Emissary
 * Alexandra Lai as Princess Ying
 * Katherine Lai as Prince Narmi
 * Mark Hunt as Steward
 * B.K. Tochi as Soldier

Release
The film was produced by Warner Bros. Animation and Morgan Creek Productions, and released theatrically by Warner Bros. Family Entertainment on March 19, 1999. The animation was done by the Indian company Pentamedia Graphics and the US-based Rich Animation Studios in association with Rankin/Bass Animated Entertainment.

Box office
The film was a box office bomb. It took in $4,007,565 in its opening weekend, taking the #6 spot at the box office, but only managed to gross just under $12 million at the box office, and was overshadowed by the release of Disney's Doug's 1st Movie.

Critical reception
The film received mainly negative reviews with a 13% "rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Historian Thomas Hischak wrote that it was "surprising to think that the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization allowed it to be made ... children have enjoyed The King and I for five decades without relying on dancing dragons". Hischak, in his work The Oxford Companion to the American Musical: Theatre, Film, and Television, says the film is "easily the worst treatment of any Rodgers and Hammerstein property".

The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia says "whether or not one agrees about the 1956 film of The King and I being the best R&H movie, most would concede that the animated adaption is the worst". It notes that it is surprising that the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization green-lit the project, and adds that it is shocking how the source material could be made into such an "awful" movie, saying "geared towards children, the story is reduced to a carefree singalong with annoyingly superficial characters, cuddly animals, a forced love story, and a wasteland of scenes without wit or intelligence".

It notes that the film seems to be a The King and I for kids, though points out that the original film has been "a kid-favorite for generations already, without the addition of supernatural elements such as dragons." Roger Ebert gave it 2 stars out of 4 and felt that animated adaptations of musicals have potential but found the film rather dull.