| 75 |
Baltimore Sun
Will remind filmgoers that one of the chief pleasures of going to the movies is a good old-fashioned swoon
|
| 75 |
Boston Globe
A big, handsome throwback to star-powered historical costume movies.
|
| 75 |
New York Daily News
If you're seeking transcendent love this season, skip the morose "End of the Affair" and go with Anna and the King.
|
| 75 |
San Francisco Examiner
Entertaining but predictable, and too long.
|
| 75 |
Chicago Tribune
Marc Caro
In the end you feel like you've been taken on a pleasing, professionally run tourist trip that let you enjoy the sights without ever really inhabiting the land.
|
| 70 |
Film.com
It is Foster who presents the biggest single problem, delivering a monochromatic performance that finds her character not much more than flinty and strained.
|
| 70 |
Dallas Observer
Grand entertainment in the old-fashioned sense.
|
| 70 |
TV Guide
This is a smart and splendidly decorated rethinking of Anna Leonowens's famous chronicle
|
| 63 |
Philadelphia Inquirer
Yun-Fat is magnetic and majestic, and the story, no matter that it is not entirely true, continues to fascinate.
|
| 63 |
Charlotte Observer
Foster and Yun-Fat each show about three-quarters of their characters.
|
| 63 |
New York Post
The kind of unsophisticated family entertainment they supposedly don't make anymore.
|
| 60 |
Time
Cutting through the epic gesturings of Andy Tennant's direction, he (Yun-Fat Chow) provides reason enough to return one last time to this otherwise weary romance
|
| 60 |
Los Angeles Times
The problem with Anna and the King is that it's caught halfway between then and now--- the film tries to throw in notions of cultural relativism and big power imperialism, but can't do without corny shtick.
|
| 60 |
TNT RoughCut
Daysun Chang
Focuses on everything and nothing like a grown-up Disney phenom, making it a great family movie enjoyable for everyone.
|
| 60 |
Washington Post
Old-fashioned Hollywood filmmaking at its best .
|
| 60 |
Chicago Reader
A musical number or two might have balanced the overdetermined politics and spectacle in this version.
|
| 60 |
The New York Times
Has the rambling pace of an episodic 1950s costume drama.
|
| 60 |
Newsweek
Hollywood rarely mounts these lavish period epics anymore. It's nice to see them try, even if the result is somewhat less than heart-stopping.
|
| 59 |
Mr. Showbiz
Despite good performances and moments of spectacle, it seems to go on longer than the Cultural Revolution.
|
| 58 |
Entertainment Weekly
It's a painstakingly correct update of what is, let's face it, one of the least culturally correct love stories ever to be mythologized by Hollywood.
|
| 58 |
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
It pales in comparison to its two classic predecessors, and also just generally feels like one too many trips to the well.
|
| 50 |
Variety
Her (Foster's) performance is contained in a schmaltzy, ultra-elaborate, overly long production.
|
| 50 |
Christian Science Monitor
Doesn't develop enough momentum to justify its too-long running time.
|
| 50 |
Washington Post
Fails as the big-screen romance it wants to be. The main problem: There's only one heart between the principals, and it beats solely in Chow's chest.
|
| 50 |
USA Today
The movie is something of a white elephant itself, a luxuriant, lumbering behemoth. It is pleasant, occasionally amusing - and often dull.
|
| 50 |
Portland Oregonian
Leaves an unpleasant aftertaste: viewers will find that a musical can indeed help the medicine go down
|
| 50 |
Miami Herald
Chow Yun-Fat is the only reason to see Anna and the King -- the only thing you'll remember from this lavish, tastefully dull movie.
|
| 50 |
Village Voice
Dusted off for one more run-through, and for those who applauded "Titanic's" old-is-new ethos, the moth-eaten, barely breathing Anna and the King will serve as a slap in the face.
|
| 50 |
San Francisco Chronicle
Before it runs off track--it does have some spectacular moments.
|
| 50 |
Film.com
The lack of chemistry between he (Yun-Fat) and Foster is truly striking: so much so, in fact, that the strain of trying to manufacture some keeps her looking on the verge of outright illness throughout.
|
| 50 |
Chicago Sun-Times
Foster, I believe, sees right through this material and out the other side, and doesn't believe in a bit of it.
|
| 40 |
Austin Chronicle
Colorful and a passable drama, one that highlights the difficulties of cross-cultural love affairs and the exoticism of the Third World.
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