The King and I (1999)

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Movie
German title The king and me
Original title The King and I
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1999
length 89 minutes
Rod
Director Richard Rich
script Peter Bakalian ,
Jaqueline Feather ,
David Seidler
production Peter Bakalian,
Arthur Rankin Jr.,
James G. Robinson
music Richard Rodgers (music),
Oscar Hammerstein II (text),
William Kidd (score)
cut Joe Campana ,
Paul Murphy
synchronization

Miranda Richardson , Martin Vidnovic , Ian Richardson , Darrell Hammond

The King and I ( Engl .: The King and I ) is an American animated film from Warner Bros. with drama and musical -elements from 1999 . The film is based on the musical of the same name, which thematizes the story of the English teacher Anna Leonowens , who taught about 50 children of the king in Siam , now Thailand, in 1862 . The film was directed by Richard Rich and has, among others, Miranda Richardson and Martin Vidnovic as speakers.

action

In 1862 the English teacher Anna Leonowens was commissioned by King Mongkut, the ruler of Siam, to teach his children. In return, she was promised her own house. But Kralahome, the king's prime minister, has plans of his own. He wants to rule himself and therefore oust Mongkut from the throne. Using his power of illusion, he follows how Anna and her son Louis sail to Siam and creates illusions of a storm and a sea dragon that attacks the ship, but soon disappears again. When they arrive in Siam, Anna is dissatisfied with the political situation.

In the palace of the king she gets to know himself, as well as Kralahome and his clumsy assistant, Master Little. When Anna has to move into the palace, she is upset because she was promised a house, which in the end is refused. Outdated traditions still prevail in Siam at this time, but the king wants to advance the progress of his empire and therefore has his own scientists. He initiates Anna. Kralahome's assistant, Master Little, takes Louis on a tour of the armory, but is injured by his clumsiness when he tries to attack Louis. Despite that Anna protests, the king's wives help her. Meanwhile, Prince Chululongkorn, the heir to the throne, falls in love with the beautiful servant Tuptim, but this is against tradition and is therefore prohibited. Anna has enough. She wants to leave Siam, but gets to know the king's children and decides to stay. She starts teaching them. In doing so, she learns that the children have never left the royal palace and wants to change that. She goes on a trip to town with the children. When the king hears about it, he is mad at Anna, he doesn't like it at all. A dispute ensues in which Anna again brings up the denied house. Chululongkorn discusses the traditions with his father. He and Tuptim love each other, but Mongkut respects tradition and would never tolerate their love for one another. Confused, he prays to Buddha.

Meanwhile, Kralahome still wants to achieve his goal of overthrowing the king. To arrange for Mongkut to be dethroned, he sends the British a letter claiming that the king is a barbarian and that Anna is in danger. Sir Edward Ramsey, a friend of Anna's, who apparently has a high political position, immediately sets off by ship to Siam to dethrone Mongkut. When Mongkut prays to Buddha, he has self-doubts. Kralahome, who is watching the king, notices this and he releases statues that have come to life on the king, which his panther Rama fends off, which Mongkut does not notice.

Tuptim soon knows that Chululongkorn the prince and thus their love for one another is forbidden, but he tells her that the traditions do not interest him. For him only her love counts and he wants to be with her. Master Little finds out about their relationship and tells Kralahome what he wants to irritate the king at the right time, namely when the British are there. He wants to make the king look bad and prove his claim.

When Anna visits Mongkut, he is worried that the British will be there soon and think he is a barbarian. Anna knows that this is not the case. Anna advises the king to hold a banquet for the British, who will also be here soon, to show that his empire is civilized and is happy to see Ramsey again, who warns her about the king. At dinner, Kralahome mentions an ivory pendant that the king is supposed to wear, that he gave to his son, who in turn gave it to Tuptim. When Mongkut learns about Chululongkorn and Tuptim, he is furious and causes Tuptim to be whipped. Chululongkorn is horrified and tries to prevent his father from doing it, but Mongkut does not let go of his plan, whereupon they flee into the jungle with Louis.

While they are fleeing through the eerie jungle, Kralahome uses his powers and leads the three over a bridge after various terrible illusions. The bridge collapses and Tuptim saves Louis when he falls into the river, but is swept away by the river himself. Mongkut sets out in a hot air balloon and saves his son, Louis and finally Tuptim. As they make their way back to the palace, Kralahome sees only one way out. He fires a fireworks rocket and uses it to set the balloon on fire. The king can save his son, Tuptim, Louis and his panther Rama by throwing them into a lake, but crashes himself with the balloon. Kralahome thinks he is lucky, but Sir Edward, who has watched everything together with the terrified Anna, and the palace guards catch him and now know about his attempted murder. Kralahome's real intentions have thus been exposed. Anna, Chululongkorn, Tuptim, Louis, Rama and the children look after Mongkut, who is lying on the ground. Since he doesn't move, they think he's dead and mourn. But the king is still alive and takes one of his children in his arms. He is now bedridden due to his injury and wants his son to be ready to rule when he dies. He now tolerates his relationship with Tuptim, as this is forbidden, but Chululongkorn can do whatever he wants as the future king. Kralahome is fired and now has to muck out the elephant stable with Master Little as his boss as a punishment. This ends with the fact that he is beaten up by him after Master Little, who has lost numerous teeth in various cases in the course of the film, also lost the last one through him. Contrary to expectations, the king is still recovering. He improves a lot as ruler and Anna finally gets the promised house outside the palace. In the last scene they dance together on the terrace of the palace.

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