New This Week
Critics & Publications
Archives: A-Z Index
Advanced Search

Upcoming Release Calendar
Awards & Bests By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
How Metascores Are Calculated
Discuss Film In Our Forums

sort by name

sort by score

38 12 Rounds
xx Baby on Board
xx Bob Funk
62 Cherry Blossoms
38 Confessions of a Shopaholic
38 Crossing Over
38 Dark Streets
58 Defiance
45 Fanboys
31 Fired Up
37 Forever Strong
34 Friday the 13th
72 Gran Torino
47 He's Just Not That Into You
47 Inkheart
52 International, The
45 Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience
50 Madea Goes to Jail
51 Morning Light
51 My Bloody Valentine 3-D
29 New in Town
28 Nobel Son
40 Outlander
39 Paul Blart: Mall Cop
56 Phoebe in Wonderland
36 Pink Panther 2
xx Powder Blue
69 Revolutionary Road
20 Spinning Into Butter
17 Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li
64 Thousand Years of Good Prayers, A
63 Tokyo!
74 Two Lovers
56 Valkyrie
91 Waltz with Bashir
22 What Goes Up

Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

King and I, The
Warner Bros.


2.3

based on 20 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 3 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

Internet Movie Database

MPAA RATING: G for General Audiences

Starring Miranda Richardson, Christiane Noll, Martin Vidnovic, Ian Richardson, Darrell Hammond, Allen D. Hong, David Burnham, and Armi Arabe

An animated version of the classic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical.

GENRE(S):	Musical
WRITTEN BY:	Peter Bakalian Jacqueline Feather David Seidler Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II (play)
DIRECTED BY:	Richard Rich
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 5, 2001 Video: June 5, 2001 Theatrical: March 19, 1999
RUNNING TIME:	87 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

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.

The average user rating for this movie is 2.3 (out of 10) based on 3 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Eye On Gilbert Mulroneycakes gave it a 7:
Not actually that bad; just a little listless and ho-hum. Same goes for the Foster-Chow version. The Iron Giant was better.

Michelle P. gave it a 0:
I remember when I was in 3rd grade and I saw this movie. Even then, when you excpected me to be the type of little girl who didn't care about much and loved this movie, I didn't like it. AT ALL. This is an animated disaster that WANTS to be a classic. It was...well WEIRD. It WANTS to be the old musical, but it did a poor job. None of the songs were the least bit catchy, it had unlikable characters, unlikable setting, and unlikable animation. If you asked me, this movie WANTED to be Anastasia, another animated movie which I thought was wonderfully done.

Discuss this movie in our forums

Return to top of page

King and I, The Warner Bros.

King and I, The
Warner Bros.