Rating: 
Summary: This movie was SUPERB!!!
Review: "Anna and The King" is a wonderful movie filled with heart and soul. Especially if you have watched, "The King and I" and have fallen in love with the way the king says "etc, etc, etc...", you will definitely fall in love with this movie as well.
Jodie Foster looks beautiful in her English gown and Chow-Yun Fat and the rest of the crew looks absolutely brilliant in the Siamese outfits.
The scenes shot in Malaysia are breath-taking and it makes you want to visit the country, itself.
The search for the white elephant at the end of the movie with the kids of the king is very inspiring.
Rating:
Summary: Different from "The King and I" -- but just as good!
Review: "The King and I" was a fabulous movie. "Anna and the King" is also a fabulous movie. Yes, this can be true! In some ways (and I only dare write this because I'm staying anonymous -- judging from certain reactions, some people might want to come after me) "Anna and the King" is better than "The King and I." It does a better job of taking you away to a faraway but very real place, and leaving you breathless for the entire movie. The chemistry between the leads was so real you could almost feel it, and I didn't find any of the subplots distracting. In the end, although they are based on the same basic story, these are two very different movies. I would recommend watching both.
Rating:
Summary: Extra Features
Review: (....) really doesn't mention all the extra "goodies" that they've encluded in this Special Edition of Anna and the King, so I was thrilled to discover a good two hours of behind-the-scenes features, a trailor, music video, and more! The DVD quality is excellent, very sharp and clear, with a very well-done enter-menu feature, and deleted scenes, including an extention of the "White Elephant" sequence, and the "Prologue" and "Epilogue" scenes. The six featurettes are pretty repetative - if you've seen one, you've seen them all, but the interviews with Foster and Yun-Fat are pretty darn cool. All in all, a wonderful DVD from Fox... and an excellent film. If you enjoy epic romances, simple tales made exceptional by breathing romance and a passionate, gorgeous backdrop, with sets made perfect down to the tiniest detail, a film that will make you laugh, and make you cry... Anna and the King is it! The movie of the year! Don't miss it... and don't miss this edition!
Rating: 
Summary: Total Bomb
Review: ...I have to relay the truth to you on this one. In one word, this movie was a BOMB!
You want boring?-this movie has it
You want phony accents?-this movie has it
You want the most anti-climactic ending in movie history?-ditto
You want to be nauseated?-watch this movie.
I generally don't oppose action stars trying their hands at dramas, nor comedians doing the same, ala Robin Williams, Tom Hanks, ect. etc, but in this case, in several scenes you expect Chow Yung Fat to pick up a sword and chop someones head off, just to give the story an interesting twist, but no such luck. I'd rather watch rocks deteriorate than every sit through this movie again.
Rating: 
Summary: THIS KING IS REALLY SOMETHING TO SEE
Review: A lot of flack was heaped on the release of this film in comparison to Rodgers & Hammerstein's musical "The King & I" which is, itself a remake of "Anna & The King of Siam" a 30's film with Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne. I should like to point out that such comparisons are foolish. Though all three movies deal with the subject of an English school teacher coming to Siam to educate the King's children, each has dealt with the topic on it own terms and merit.
In this version Jodie Foster is Anna Leonowens, the head strong British colonialist who sees into the heart of a king and grows perhaps too fond of him for her own stalwart romantic sensibilities.
FOX STUDIOS has done a beautiful job of capturing all the color, glamor and spectacle of Andy Tennant's beautiful film. Colors on this DVD are robust, rich and vibrant. Clarity is remarkable. Though some pixelization and edge enhancement are present they never really intrude on the overall visual experience. The 5.1 sound mix is incredibly lively and well balanced with a natural sounding fidelity that is most complimentary to the film. Extras include a documentary and several featurettes (which are just edited down versions of the documentary - go figure) as well as the film's theatrical trailer and an audio commentary. FINAL WORD: Highly recommended and well worth the money.
Rating: 
Summary: Strange Worlds
Review: A widescreen print of this film has been available here for more than a year so the timing of this release is strange - perhaps USAmericans are more tolerant of TV prints than we Aussies are. The film itself is also strange. You can see why Fox bought it - a familiar but also exotic story; the world's most bankable star (CHOU Yunfat, the emperor of Hernggong) with the very marketable Jodie Foster as insurance; & a cheap Malaysian location to build a theme park of a set - but in all this clever dealmaking, noone seems to have ever bothered to decide who this Anna was supposed to be. Master Chou - a contemporary action specialist; who never did fancy dress or martial arts before Hollywood coopted him, which makes his historical martial artist casting here look very odd indeed - plays it as a romantic fantasy & looks more like a Hakkayuan Yul Brynner than the historical King Mongkut. Ms Foster - a thoughtful actor & one of my personal favorites - isn't generally cast as a romantic lead; & here seems to be trying to create a historically accurate portrayal of the woman who called herself Anna Leonowens. The mixture of styles doesn't gel; & with director Andy Tennant wanting a foot in every camp - first encouraging Foster's carefully thought out stuffiness; then filling the screen with elephant shots you last saw in old Disney True-Life Adventures - the result is a stylish mess. At one point in the commentary, Tennant compliments Foster on never appearing to sweat, even though the story is set in the tropics & she's wearing historical clothing that must have made the real Anna sweat like a pig. Clearly he didn't want a realistic take on Anna's controversial Siamese sojourn; so why did he indulge Foster's awkward realism elsewhere? Who knows? That said: in its resolutely old-fashioned story-telling, Anna plays better on a wide-screen DVD print than in the cinema; & in some striking parts rather than in the rather rambling whole. It won't sweep you away either as a romantic epic or as intimate study of a relationship that would never be; but a lot worse films have been a lot more successful.
Rating:
Summary: Major Plot Element Missing Here
Review: After a long search, I finally turned up a battered paperback copy of Margaret Leighton's "Anna and the King of Siam", which I read with great voracity because I have always been interested in this story. "The King and I" with Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner was a not infrequently shown entry on "The 4:30 Movie" here in NYC, and sometimes if you stayed up very late on a Saturday night, it was even possible to catch "Anna and the King of Siam" with Rex Harrison and Irene Dunne. The operative point of this little history is that I know the story of Anna Leonowens and her adventures as the British governess to the many children of the King of Siam story quite well. Apparently, they who made this Jodie Foster movie did not.Both the Rex Harrison version and the Yul Brynner version hinge on the clash between two very strong personality types, the governess and the monarch. But the Jodie Foster movie doesn't treat it, at all. There is only mutual understanding at all times for these two: they NEVER are at odds and the The King is NEVER shown to be a despot--which he was! So, it seemed to me a sort of cinematic wish fulfillment: what if Deborah Kerr and Yul Brynner's love were allowed to flourish, and he never did the cruel things that mader her upset? Well, I guess you'd have a movie with no conflict, like "Anna and the King". The King is not supposed to be a warm and fuzzy person--he's an absolute monarch acting in a manner unacceptable to the mores of the British governess. Now, a different treatment would have been pershaps to show the situation from HIS point of view: how he went out on a limb to have a personage like this, a woman of independent movement, going around his court, which had to scandalize his courtiers. Anna had a lot more freedom than any Siamese woman, and enjoyed priveleges denied to many Siamese me--why was this so? So, I spent my time in the movie house waiting for the (what I thought would be) inevitable culture clash between East and West which never came. Literature without conflict is boring, and so is cinema. To be sure, my friend to the left of me in the theatre was crying her eyes out at different junctures, but I sat unsatisfactorily unmoved and quite disappointed. If you're looking for a better love story treatment of the subject, see "The King and I" featuring that dizzying polka which demonstrates the power of the repressed sexual tensions between the King and Anna--all the more interesting because it really looks like she will capitulate to his mastery of her until they are interrupted. If you're looking for a better treatment of culture clash, by all means catch "Anna and the King of Siam" to see how Irene Dunne's Anna can't make sense of her surroundings and the people who populate the court and country, most of all her employer, Rex Harrison's King. If you're looking for something else that looks nice and has modern sensibilities which totally miss the point of the story, then watch this Jodie Foster movie.
Rating:
Summary: Simply a delightful story
Review: After losing her husband in the jungle of India, Anna Leonowens embarks in a journey that will take her to Siam, where she will tutor the oldest son of King Mongkut. Her son, Louis, and two Hindu servants accompany her in this new endeavor. As soon as Anna sets foot in Bangkok, the difference between cultures surges as a predominant element that will remain present throughout the story. Even though the start is rocky, with Anna being called "Sir" for misogynist reasons and not being given the house she was promised but accommodation in the palace instead, the king discovers quickly the value of this woman that acts very different from what he is used to. That is why he decides that instead of tutoring his oldest son, she will be in charge of teaching all of his children...all 58 of them! The movie evolves around three clear themes. First, the clash of cultures, which is enlightening and entertaining and as the movie evolves so does the acceptance and admiration each of the characters show for the positive points of the other's culture. Second, the relationship between Anna and the king, which starts as annoyance, moves to respect and continues developing from there. Third, the political atmosphere, which is characterized by attacks to Siamese people by Burmese armies, suspected to be supported by no other than the British Empire (the events unfold in 1862). Although the movie is rather long, the events unfold at a pace that keeps the viewer interested at all times. The music fits the mood of the action perfectly well, and in the proper scenes it is so uplifting that it steals the attention of the viewer. Jodie Foster delivers a well-rounded role, but in my opinion the performance of Chow Yun-Fat is at a higher level. Finally, the scenery and the palaces where the movie develops are absolutely amazing. Overall this is a highly enjoyable movie that will leave you thinking for a while about how every culture has its positive aspects and how, with a little patience, everyone can learn to appreciate this.
Rating: 
Summary: 2.5: Jodie is a decent actress in an above-average film
Review: After seeing Jodie Foster's dull, unsympathetic, and mostly emotionless performance in '' The Accused'' (which paled even worse in comparison with the acting of the intense assailants), I thought she was a terrible actress. But this film changed my mind. Foster plays Anna, an English woman who's husband dies in battle. She goes with her young son Louis to Siam to teach the King's children. The King, played by Chow Yung-Fat is a seemingly cold, formal man. When he meets Anna, he slowly changes. The only problem I have with this is that he never truly seemed that cruel in the first place. He does seem extremely intimidate by Anna though.With good reason. Anna is a veyr strong, sometimes touching woman- very formal, but fiercly loyal and protective of her son and the people she cares about. An intelligent woman, resourceful and bold: ('' I will respectfully remind you, Your Highness that I am not your servant but your guest''), Foster does a decent job. A painful scene is where the King's young daughter dies, a child whom Anna invested her heart and emotion, and the King stand there trembling, while Anna softly weeps, careful not to be heard by any of the King's men. Anna is a very unusual woman of her time- but a bright and caring one as well. This film realistically conveys the lowly status of women as concubines and the disrespect of them. Daughters were ''offered'' to the King as ''prizes.'' The ending is bittersweet- painful and yet somehow haunting. The beautiful, lavish, breathtaking sets are also something to celebrate- worthy and awe-inspiring. All in all, this film is decently-acted, beautiful to look at, touchign at times, and worth seeing.
Rating:
Summary: See the Original...
Review: Although the romantic star power of this version of the film has it merits, the original is so much better. I am not a big "old movie" buff and generally tend to like modern movies better than the classics, but this is one exception. The older version lacks the extreme sexual chemistry that was found between Chow Yun Fat (who oozes sensuality) and Jodie Foster, but there are so many more details and interactions that show the relationship and draw you into it. You grow with the relationship in a slow natural way as opposed to the new version which seems to start the "relationship" from day one. Anna's influential roll in the politics of Siam and the day to day life of the women and children is much more evident in the older version. Anyway, see them both, but definately see the older version. You will appreciate the story even more.
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