More Fun than Should Be Allowed
Where on earth do I start with this gem of a film?

When I first saw ads for it, I thought it looked like cheap Saturday morning fare. "Boy, has Disney gone downhill," said I to myself.

Then I watched it and ate my words.

I rarely laugh aloud at films. I laughed many, many times in this one. The humor is spot on. It's often random, but not so random that it loses sense of its context. It's delivered by fantastic voice actors. Yzma, Kronk, and Cuzco (especially Cuzco) give wonderful performances. When an actor can take a line like "Llama Face" and make you laugh until your lungs pop out, well. I think that's success.

It helps that the theme is heartwarming and is a part of the film rather than a tacked-on "moral of the story." The characters and setting are all terribly fun; Pacha's selfless behavior in particular is refreshing, as is the South American-centric setting.

I'm still not impressed by the animation, but it does have its own enjoyable, Latin/Incan-themed style. Bright colors and (sometimes) gorgeous landscapes are nice to behold.

Anyone of any age will enjoy this film. Simple, yes. Entertaining, absolutely!

Fresh, light and fluffy fun...
Some actors were meant to do voice over work. Take Eddie Murphy for instance; his voice is the perfect tone of comedic brilliance to lend itself heavily to the animated picture. You can pencil in David Spade right next to him as far as I am concerned, because Spade has the perfect brand of sarcastic delivery that makes a cartoon all the more entertaining. Yes, David Spade elevates `The Emperor's New Groove' from light fluffy fun into a hilarious romp through the jungle and catapults it to the top of my `Favorite Animated Films' list.

The film is not the deepest bucket in the Disney shed; like I said, it's light and fluffy; but when it comes to delivering the goods (as in laugh after laugh) it succeeds on a far grander scale than a lot of Disney films do.

The film follows young emperor Kuzco, a spoiled brat of a man/child who takes what he wants at whoever's expense. He is self centered and greedy and quite obnoxious and this does not translate into a happy kingdom. One day he calls in Pacha, a gentle villager, to explain that his family has to leave their home immediately in order to make way for Kuzco's new water park. So starts a series of events that proves to change to course of Kuzco's life. He makes enemies with Pacha the moment he needs him most; for it is shortly after their meeting that his ex-employee Yzma turns him into a llama and dumps him in the forest to die.

`The Emperor's New Groove' has a nice moral about learning to give and be generous and look out for the well being of others, but for the most part this is here to entertain, and entertain it does.

David Spade is hilarious as the ill fated Kuzco. His brand of humor brilliantly captures his characters predicament and helps create a hilarious atmosphere for the films entirety. John Goodman has such a lovably sincere tone in his voice, like a teddy bear, and this is a perfect compliment to Pacha's character development. Not only does Yzma look hysterical but Eartha Kitt was brilliantly cast as her vocal star. Evil has never been this funny. Patrick Warburton is the perfect compliment to Kitt's Yzma, his portrayal of the dim-witted hunk Kronk being one of the films major highlights.

Visually there is a lot to laugh at here, each scene feeling fresh and primed for your enjoyment. I can't think of a single error or flaw. I mean, honestly, it could have been deeper or more profound (this is Disney) but sometimes we just want to sit back and laugh.

`The Emperor's New Groove' brings on those laughs; heavy!

one of the funniest...
This is one of the funniest cartoons I've ever seen. The humor is very witty and Kuzco is so obnoxious, you just can't help but love him!! The charcters are the best, from Yzma, Kronk to Pacha and Bucky! Great for kids and adults!!

Quite a Suprise
Let me first admit: In general and principle, I hate Disney movies.

There, I said it. I know as American consumers, we consider that blasphemy against the capitalist God that Disney is. They usually destroy any fairy tales they do get ahold of (The Little Princess in original form is NOT
a happy story with saccharin musical numbers), and in those cases, I would recommend avoiding them like the plague...or American Idol.

So why am I writing this? Because sometimes, one in a so often, Disney gets their act together. The original Fantasia is easily one of the most amazing cinematic accomplishments of the early 20th century. They are a huge influence on the Japanese manga scene (you can go straight to Osamu Tezuka's "Astro Boy" for that". However, after Disney died, quality dropped off.

They got a shot in the arm of invigoration with their deal in the 1990's with Pixar, and most of us know that story. However, they also ended up producing two films that were a bit outside their safety zone that were, in my view, surprisingly fresh: Lilo and Stitch and The Emperor's New Groove.


With The Emperor's New Groove, Disney seemed to be completely hands off on the project. Besides the opening Tom Jones piece (which, by the way, is lounge-erific), there are no singing and dance numbers. I normally hate David Spade, but he's okay here. He does his "snotty little punk" act here of course, but the character calls for it, making him bearable. John Goodman as Pacha is an excellent foil, an average joe swept up into extraordinary situation, and Goodman's deadpan works great off Spade (see
"the waterfall scene" for an excellent example). Eartha Kitt plays a great villain here, Yzma, often made fun of for being "very, very, very old" and also has a wonderful wicked deadpan that works. However, the character that steals this movie, hands down, is Kronk, Yzma's manservant (played brilliantly by Patrick Warburton). I was out of breath laughing so hard at this character. He plays a dolt...who has a penchant for cooking and talking to squirrels. He is the icing on the cake of a script that is somewhat Monty Python-esque in it's absurdist humor, which had me hooked.

I haven't seen either of the special editions, and normally I'm not a huge fan of the behind the scenes stuff unless it's a completely overwhelming film (think Lord of the Rings or Star Wars). However, if you are into absurdist humor from an unlikely source, I would recommend checking it out.

the greatest lesson
the Emperor's New Groove is not only funny but it teaches a great lesson to children and adults- to love others no just your self. so indulge, laugh and cry with Kozko on his journey!