Various Internet reaction to the Anna and the King sneak preview. Culled from newsgroups and websites:
Winnifred Louis of the CYF: God of Actor's site:
Leigh Melton of The Free Man in Hong Kong website:
Thoughts by Maw888 of alt.asian-movies:
XocnevikX of AA-M:
Augustin of AA-M:
Harvey Karten of rec.arts.movies.reviews:
The story itself is now old-hat. It's dated. The movies and staged musicals made with the yarn as its foundation were
produced not for the plot but for the production values.
Consider the possibilities of shooting rolls and rolls of film in the exotic East, particularly given the lavish beauty of the
palaces and temples of Bangkok. And with current cinematic
techniques plus the virtually unlimited budget that could be
spent on costumes and on reconstructing the palace as it
must have looked in 1862, "Anna and the King" would be a shoo-in for a stack of Oscars. Indeed the '46 film copped the
Academy awards for Cinematography and Art/Set Decoration
while the filmed "King and I" got statuettes for the same plus an additional one for Yul Brynner.
When you go to see the spanking new version of "Anna
and the King"--which is bereft of all the beautiful Rodgers and Hammerstein songs like "Getting to Know You," "I Whistle a Happy Tune," and "Shall We Dance"--think of it as a sure bet to sway the Academy once again for the extravagant
cinematography and designs that have made even the proud
elephants the best dressed animals in the world today.
Filmed in several locations in Malaysia to replicate the
appearance of Thailand over a century ago, the picture could
do for the Malaysian tourist industry what Joseph Ruben's
"Return to Paradise" took away from it the previous year. The country--or at least the varied sites in which this movie
was filmed, in particular the grounds of the Clearwater Golf
Resort outside the city of Perak--look gorgeous. Jodie Foster
is nothing short of stunning. Chow Yun-Fat as the proud king
who learns a thing or two from the lovely schoolmarm is a
more human-looking figure than Yul Brynner or Rex Harrison,
the highly popular performer acquitting himself just fine in a
genre far removed from the Hong-Kong action category. The
cinematography is striking from the get-go.
But that's as good as it gets. In other regards, director
Andy Tennant ("Ever After: A Cinderella Story") uses little imagination to bring the story to life for a 1990s audience,
dutifully filming the stately proceedings as a museum piece.
He makes the same error that led to the demise of the D'oyle
Carte Opera Company, which persisted in performing the
works of Gilbert and Sullivan in precisely the style used from
the launching of the Savoyard productions during the 19th
century. Is there still an audience today for the usual
assortment of cute kids (especially those of an Asian culture
performing English-language songs) or Asian players
spouting fortune-cookie dialogue ("one can't plant new fields overnight")? The entire Saran-wrapped production is
packaged neatly for the holidays, and who knows? There
may still be folks out there, the types who long for the
traditional dancing girls at Radio City Music Hall doing their
robotized kicks and bounces, lugging their kids who'd rather
watch "Toy Story 2" or play video games or see 007. For the rest of us, "Anna and the King" is scenic overkill, a travelogue in place of a witty and absorbing movie, a believable
revolution, and a genuine feeling that something is at stake.
Those familiar with "The King and I" will note a few changes in the straight story, which include an attempted
coup and a monarch who does not die at the conclusion.
Anna Leonowens (Jodie Foster) takes up an employment
offer of Siam's King Mongkut (Chow Yun-Fat) to tutor his 58
kids in English. Though he continues to condone slavery at
just the time that the Americans were about to shuck the
peculiar institution, he wants to open his country to the world
and realizes ahead of his time that English is the language
that will expedite the plan. He is dismayed by Anna's
contempt of protocol--her refusal to prostrate herself before
him and her insistence that he fulfill the contract and house
her in private quarters with her son, Louis--and not in the
palace. The recently-widowed Anna is immediately liked by
all the king's young 'uns, most importantly by the heir to the
throne, Prince Chulalongkorn. She is particularly dismayed
by the king's refusal to commute the death sentence against
one of his concubines, Tuptim (Bai Ling), who had schemed
to get together once again with her lover, but grows to realize
that in other ways England is not a culture which is superior
to that of Siam.
The one scene of political interest takes place in the palace to which a number of British bigwigs have been invited in an
attempt to gain their support against an anticipated attack by
France. A wealthy trader, Kincaid, embarrasses all at the
large banquet by declaring to the king's face that England is
a superior civilization and by forcing him to face up to the fact that he has invited the diplomats to Bangkok to curry favor for
a future military campaign. There is also a tense action
sequence that recalls the blowing up of the overpass in David
Lean's stunning 1957 war film, "The Bridge on the River
Kwai," which portrays Sri Lanka in a far more gruesome way
than Tennant utilizes the magnificent panorama of Malaysia.
But the picture, which has not a single vulgar word, is so
eager to cater to a family crowd that when Anna's boy asks
"What's a concubine?" and "Why does the king need so many wives"? he is told, in effect, that it's past his bedtime.
To Tennant's credit, he has the people portraying Siamese
speaking Thai for the most part, employing clear English
subtitles, and Chow does a creditable job of speaking the
language fluently--as does Jodie Foster with the few words in
that language that her character chooses to vocalize. Caleb
Deschanel's cinematography is at times breathtaking and
designer Luciana Arrighi has done her homework in giving
the palace the mid-19th century look, while Jenny Beavan
has costumed Foster appropriately in the well-worn dresses
she would be expected to wear and the elephants in the togs
that would dazzle even the owners of New York's Park
Avenue poodle emporia. Unfortunately, what should have
been the highlight of the movie--the intense battle of wits
between the two immovable objects of Siamese royalty and
English obstinacy--simply lacks the razor-sharpness that
would have made this spectacular travelogue into a
compelling story.
|