Americans Hate Tingle: The musical is deeply, truly, sincerely hated in Thailand. Seeing how both Mongkut and Chulalongkorn are revered national heroes, that is quite understandable. Every film adaptation has been banned outright in the country.
Award Snub: One of many times Deborah Kerr lost out on a Best Actress Oscar, and The King & I ended up becoming possibly her best known role - and in spite of being dubbed by Marni Nixon, she was noted for how well she held her own up against Yul Brynner. But at the time, she was competing with Anastasia, which was Ingrid Bergman's big Hollywood comeback after having become Persona Non Grata when she left her husband for Roberto Rosselini. The fact that Anastasia has mostly been forgotten by history, while The King & I endures only shows what an oversight it was.
Can't Un-Hear It: Yul Brynner as the King of Siam thanks to his originating the role on Broadway (winning a Tony), reprising it on film (winning an Academy Award), and continuing to play him for years afterwards, apparently giving more than a thousand performances onstage.
Common Knowledge: Contrary to many descriptions of the show found online, Anna isn't the royal children's nanny. She's their schoolteacher.
Estrogen Brigade: Yul Brynner attracted quite a female following from his performance in this film. Especially given that he often shows his torso, and the sexual tension between him and Anna in "Shall We Dance?"
Fair for Its Day: The Asian characters may seem slightly stereotypical today, but in 1951 (compared with the usual caricatures of Asians of the time), they were decidedly anti-racist. Anna, though shocked that the King has so many wives, is appalled that he's thought of in the West as a barbarian. While the royal court does dress up in Western fashions at one point and tries to curry favour with the British envoy, it's made very clear that they're doing so because they're worried about Thailand being taken over by a larger power, and they're trying to demonstrate that they are civilised in the only way that said larger power will understand.
Fridge Logic: How the Asian characters speak English - even when they're by themselves, they speak broken English. If they speak English all the time, they should have a much better grasp of the language; if they're meant to be speaking Thai and Translation Convention has kicked in, then they should become Eloquent in My Native Tongue, particularly the King, since he's, you know, the king.
Heartwarming Moments: The March of the Siamese Children is a very warm fuzzies inducing moment, especially watching the King react to his children. He shows pride in them, playfully chides one when she makes an innocent mistake, even gently guides one over to properly greet Anna. Even as he's trying to look professional and keep his children on track, he never comes off as cold to them.
Rex Harrison in the 1946 film also showed the King relating to his kids this way. And for once it's Truth in Television. The real Mongkut cherished all 82 of his children and visitors observed him playing with them often.
The King studying the Bible and telling Anna, "I think your Moses shall have been a fool." Five years after The King and I's Broadway premiere, Yul Brynner would play both the King in the movie and Rameses (Moses's adversary) in The Ten Commandments (1956). And both films would be released in 1956.
In the film, Deborah Kerr's Anna being shocked at multiple wives. Years earlier, Kerr had starred in Young Bess - playing Catherine Parr, the sixth wife of Henry VIII.
Anna protests about her son being raised among a harem. Very amusing if you're familiar with Black Narcissus - where Deborah Kerr played a nun who tried to establish a convent in a harem house. She failed.
Prince Chulalongkorn knows nothing about the west and refuses to believe in a lot of facts. This is hilarious considering Patrick Adiarte's other role in a Rogers & Hammerstein musical - Flower Drum Song - where he plays a second-generation Chinese kid in San Francisco who is wholly Americanized.
Memetic Mutation: "Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera!" (The real King Mongkut used this in his English versions of official documents all the time, but add in Brynner's accent and it sticks in the mind.)
Signature Song: "Shall We Dance?" is easily the best known song and scene from the 1956 film, featuring Anna's famous pink ballgown and some steamy sexual tension between her and the king.
The tragic ending of Tuptim and Lun Tha's love story, with Lun Tha's death and Tuptim's Uncertain Doom.
The King's death.
1990s animated film
Anti-Climax Boss: No punches were thrown when Kralahome was finally cornered and captured as he had already locked himself in the guard tower first.
Awesome Art: Despite loads of CG effects among other quirks, the animation remains very vibrant and colorful, and is easily one of the more palatable aspects of the film.
Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: When the King sings "A Puzzlement" and the CG statues attack him. Made even more awkward when the King's pet panther scrambles doing all he can to keep his master safe in slapstick fashion. At the end, the poor creature just collapses in exhaustion at his master's feet...and the King doesn't notice.
The moment where rats jump out of Kralahome's shadow while he declares the King a barbarian, without any explanation.
Despite "Little House of Uncle Thomas" being a Cut Song in this version, a scene of the characters performing it just... randomly appears during another song entirely.
Ethnic Scrappy: Master Little has slit eyes, a bald head, speaks in a stereotypical Asian voice, and is the victim of a Running Gag in which his teeth get knocked out.
The hilariously racist butchered English. All of the royal family seem to conveniently know the exact same amount of English, none know more or less, and none of them ever speak their native tongue, even when they are alone in a room they talk in fractured English. But the main villain is fluent.
If Kralahome's plan is to make the king look like a barbarian to Anna, why does he summon a dragon to scare her away, or try to kill her son?
Anna and the crew warding off the dragon by singing and whistling. Made even more incredulous by the fact that it works.
Anna constantly complaining of how she and the King's subjects must bow before him "like a toad"; not helping is her actually hopping like a toad while singing about her many complaints towards the King.
When the king finds out that his son gave away his sacred pendant, his "Who, who, who?" is hilarious.
Padding: Plenty to go around between all of the comic relief characters, who unfortunately steal a lot of the focus in the story. Their antics during iconic song numbers such as "Getting to Know You" stand out as especially egregious moments of this.
The Scrappy: Most of the comic relief, namely Master Little and Louis's pet monkey, along with most of the other animal characters are regarded as this due to them constantly interrupting the flow of the story with their antics.
What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: A downplayed example, though many were baffled at the attempt to adapt this particular story with a much younger audience in mind. The fact that this film is almost exclusively written for said audience ended up being a major criticism towards the movie, with many calling the kid-friendly approach unfaithful to the original tale.
and visitors observed him playing with them often.