I heard there was an animated movie of The King and I released in 1999, and I further heard that it was awful.

So I decided to try to watch it, fully expecting that I’d have to turn it off after a few minutes.

Now I’m not a big fan of animated films lately, so my expectations were very low.

And that might be why I actually sort of liked it.

Keep in mind a couple things. This is not an animated version of The King and I. We already have a movie of the original production. We have the play which can be put on at any time that someone can raise the funds and the cast. We even have a video of the 2018 production. There would be no point in making an animated movie that’s a clone of the original movie; we have the original movie, right?

So fine, this is an animated movie that is very loosely  based on The King and I.

With that in mind, it really doesn’t deserve all the brickbats that were tossed at it. Yeah, there were a bunch of things that I didn’t like. It cut my favorite song, “Something Wonderful” (although it shows up in the end titles). There is so much going on in the background of “Is a Puzzlement” that it totally undermines the song.

 

I didn’t like some of the plot alterations. The Kralahome (the King’s second in command) is actively plotting against the King and has a Magic Mirror that can spy on anyone. Tuptim falls in love unknowingly with the Prince. A lot of the dialog is chopped up and inserted at different parts of the story. The final song (after the King rescues Tuptim and the Prince from a rushing river in a balloon and, oh, never mind) is “Shall We Dance” as the King and Anna dance the night away.

Oh, and there are animals. Lots and lots of animals. At least they don’t talk.

But hell, it’s an animated movie and gee, I found myself actually enjoying it a lot of the time. I could see that the creators were trying to bring the Rodgers and Hammerstein show to an audience that might not otherwise get to see it. On its own terms, I think it works pretty well.

So there.

Here’s one of the musical numbers. Is it really all that contemptible?

 

 

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