The King and I (1999 film)
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Richard Rich |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million |
| Box office | $12 million |
The King and I is a 1999 American animated musical film directed by Richard Rich and written by Peter Bakalian, Jacqueline Feather, and David Seidler, loosely adapted from the Anna Leonowens story, and uses songs and some of the character names from Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II's stage musical of the same name.
The film was released theatrically in the United States on March 19, 1999 and grossed $12 million domestically on a $25 million budget.
In 1862 Siam, the King of Siam rules with traditional beliefs and refusal to change. With the arrival of Englishwoman Anna Leonowens and her son Louis, his Prime Minister, Kralahome, 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 friendship must remain a secret as such is strictly forbidden.
A soundtrack album was released on March 16, 1999 by Sony Classical Records. It was released on both CD and cassette formats. All the songs on the album were composed by Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers. William Ruhlmann of Allmusic.com gave the album a rating of 3 stars out of 5, describing it as a "surprisingly adequate" soundtrack to a "badly received" film. He adds, however, that the "overly effusive vocal performances" and "overly busy arrangements" make it "by far the worst version of this music ever recorded", and cites the use of "nine different orchestrators" as a possible factor. He concludes by conceding that there is good singing on the album. John Kenrick in his article Comparative CD Reviews Part III, describes the 1999 recording as a "total disgrace" that sees "superb Broadway singers...labor against mindless cuts and gooey orchestrations". In a relatively negative review of the animated adaption, the book The Rodgers and Hammerstein Encyclopedia does say that "some of the songs survive nicely, and the singing vocals throughout are very proficient".
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