| Warner
Bros.’ second serious foray into the
animation market is just as ineffective
as its first (the anemic The Quest for
Camelot). Here, they hack about
forty-five minutes off of the popular
1956 Rodgers & Hammerstein musical
starring Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner,
who reprised his Broadway role and nabbed
the Oscar. And, believe me, you’ll
be thankful for every minute that’s
missing. The story is the
same as it always was – Anna (voiced
by Miranda Richardson, Merlin) is
a widowed English schoolteacher who
travels to Siam to teach the children of
its overprotective and strong-handed
King. She butts heads with His Holiness
almost immediately and must also deal
with the obligatory evil cartoon guy who
wants to dethrone the existing King and
rule the country as he deems fit. This
guy also has magical powers, at one point
conjuring up a dragon to attack
Anna’s boat before her arrival.
Luckily, Anna is able to fend the serpent
of with her amazing power of song.
The King
is as empty as Paul McCartney’s
stomach at an all-you-can-eat ribs
festival. The animation is horribly jerky
and the evil guy’s comic sidekick
(voiced by Saturday Night Live’s
Darrell Hammond) is downright offensive
– unless all Asian men are really
short, stupid, bald, and have both
rotting teeth and bad accents. And the
songs – don’t get me started on
the songs. You’ll probably be better
off waiting for the real remake –
not of the musical, but of the 1946 Oscar
winner featuring Rex Harrison and Irene
Dunne – which will star Jodie Foster
as the British governess and Hong Kong
action legend Chow Yun-Fat (The
Corruptor) as the King.
1:28 -
for mild violence and the possibly
offensive portrayal of the entire Asian
race
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