This animated "The King and I'' does add some characters designed for children. There's the roly-poly Master Little, assistant to the evil prime minister. He's flossing his teeth the first time we see him, and then it's a running gag that he keeps getting them knocked out. Alas, he has so many teeth that the gag runs out before the teeth do. The movie also has a fire-breathing dragon, a hot-air balloon adventure, fireworks, a black panther and a lot of royal children. But still it lacks the energy of a kids' movie, and the story's barriers to romance aren't that interesting to younger viewers.
You know the story. Anna, a British teacher, is hired by the king to come to Siam and educate his children. His evil minister, the Kralahome, plots to make Anna believe the king is a tyrant, so the British will overthrow him and replace him with ... the Kralahome, of course. Anna arrives in Siam with her 10-year-old son Louis (and a monkey named Moonshee), and after various misunderstandings falls in love with the king. The British indeed arrive to replace him (interesting how in those days the British had a divine right to replace other people's leaders--sort of like the CIA a century later). But after various adventures, etc., there's a happy ending.
If the tooth gag grows old, so, for my money, do the running gags from the original, about how nobody's head is supposed to be higher than the king's, and about how the king constantly repeats "et cetera.'' Those aren't character touches, but formula stagecraft.
It is good to hear the songs, including "Whistle a Happy Tune,'' "Hello, Young Lovers,'' "Getting to Know You'' and "Shall We Dance.'' But the movie seemed kind of stuffy. The kiddie morning screening I attended didn't seem to express the kind of noisy spontaneous delight I've seen at similar movies.
Yet I applaud the experiment. I'd love to see animated versions of "My Fair Lady'' and "Oklahoma''--and animation is obviously the right technique for "Cats.'' The challenge is to make adaptations that are intended for adults, and then attract adults to the theaters. Go into any video store and you will find long shelves of Japanese animation aimed at grownups. The tapes rent like crazy. Now to find a way of porting that audience over to the movie box office.
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