King and I, The

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

The animation itself is just OK. And the reworked script, despite some funny one-liners, is pretty much there just to pull the story along to its inevitable conclusion. [19 March 1999, Friday, p. A]

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey

It's doubtful that today's children would have any patience for the stagy 1956 version, so the current animated offering, despite its flaws, at least opens a door to the music.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Animated version of the Rogers & Hammerstein musical.

USA Today Mike Clark

No abomination but forgettably mediocre. [19 March 1999, Life, p. 13E]

San Francisco Chronicle Peter Stack

Still, it's almost impossible to entirely wreck this great chestnut of Broadway and film. Thanks mostly to the terrific songs, the new version has transporting moments. [20 March 1999, Daily Notebook, p.B1]

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Seemed kind of stuffy.

Chicago Reader Lisa Alspector

It's hard to be diverted by a tale whose emblematic romances and terminal cuteness serve an agenda that seems particularly dated today.

Austin Chronicle Russell Smith

Shabby, nondescript hack job.

Dallas Observer M. V. Moorhead

For adults, the film does, at least, offer up most of the lovely, schmaltzy Rodgers and Hammerstein score. Even here, though, the pleasure comes with a wearying price tag.

LA Weekly Nicole Campos

The tale has been tidied, buffed, waxed and polished into a harmless but relatively boring adventure.

The New York Times Anita Gates

The animation is done in rich, jewel-like colors, but it seems strangely flat. The overall film does, too, although the glorious Rodgers and Hammerstein music makes up for a lot.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

Unappealing for children and adults alike, The King and I will likely bring families together in their mutual boredom.

Los Angeles Times Gene Seymour

A dismal pastiche of threadbare plot devices and not-so-comic interludes.

Variety Robert Koehler

Broadway musical purists will shudder in horror, but parents will be whistling a happy tune that there's at least one acceptable pic out there for their kids.

San Francisco Examiner Stephen Witty

Lacks genuine magic.

Washington Post Michael O'Sullivan

Even the Richard Rich-directed animation -- except for some nice but gratuitous computer-generated walking statues and dramatic ocean waves -- is not appreciably better than Saturday morning cartoons.

TV Guide Ken Fox

Garish, animated junk.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

It's hard to imagine a more ill-advised choice of source material.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

An animated King and I? Now there's torture, especially in this wretched, lurid, absurd concoction which seems to have been conceived to annoy adults and bore children.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

It's a puzzlement how so many pros could have so wrecked one of the most beloved, hummably familiar movie musicals in the Rodgers and Hammerstein repertoire.