The Emperor's New Groove

The Emperor’s New Groove — 7

First thing off the bat, Everyone they chose for the voice acting in this movie was perfect. Absolutely perfect, i could not think of anyone else to cast better then what they chose.

I was watching this thinking the entire time through the movie that there was something missing. Songs, singing, dance. well lemme fix that, there was one song where a midget Elvis came on (you never see him again before or after that) and there was one dance scene in the beginning, but through the biggest chunk of the movie, including the ending, there was no song and dance. Something Disney is famous for, but they seemed to have just thrown in out the window with this movie.

The other thing that bothered me was that for almost the first 30 minutes it did not feel like a Disney movie. I was a little bit disappointed until the plot actually picked up some. Once the plot took over, and Kuzco and Pacha started to get along is when this movie got to me. This of course is also when Kronk (voiced by Patrick Warburton) started becoming both the comedy relief and awesomeness in one package.

There were several points in this movie that made me laugh hysterically. One of which was when Yzma and Kronk were chasing Kuzco and Pacha. It showed a view of the map, and Kuzco and Pacha were shown using a red dotted line. When it went back to showing Yzma and Kronk, there was a red dotted line on the path. Then it zoomed out and it showed that Yzma and Kronk were leaving a blue dotted line. I laughed my ass off at how it was presented.

All in all i like it, but it was definitely missing some Disney elements. If it was not a Disney movie i would have liked it more, just because it seemed like the songs and dance were missing, it took away from the feel of the movie some. It was slow near the beginning (which it should never be for a kids movie), but the rest of he movie more than made up for it.

Base Score = 6
+1 for Disney
-1 for missing songs and dance
+1 for excellent comedy
+1 for Patrick Warburton
-1 for a slow beginning
=7/10

Last updated: 2010-01-02 22:24:56 by user03

The Emperor's New Groove

When I first saw the title to this film, I thought it was going to be Disney’s version of The Emperor’s New Clothes. I was mistaken, but it was still worth the viewing. I wonder if they do have any plans of making Emperor’s New clothes into some kind of feature. Hmmm….
The Emperor’s New Groove starts out with a short monologue of our main character Kuzco, lamenting on how he got to the point of being alone in the rain and as a llama. This is followed by the groovy theme song as the film kicks off into full swing with Tom Jones’ “Perfect World”.
When it comes to the characters in this films, they are very well developed, especially Kuzco. In previous Disney films, it tends to be that the most disliked characters are the villains, but Kuzco breaks that mold. I belive that this has to do with the way David Spade characterizes him.
Speaking of villains, we have a bit of yin and yang here with Yzma and Kronk. Yzma, voiced by the late, great Eartha Kitt is your typical comedic villain with homicidal tendencies. The perfect villain for the tone of this film. Kronk, her sidekick, is the lovable jock type, and by Kuzco’s introduction, boy toy. While he is loyal to Yzma, it is apparent that he is a good (read naively innocent) guy at heart.
The film moves at a fairly rapid pace. As with almost every picture, there is a lull to slow things down right before the climax.
The plot is pretty good, though I would like to know where Kuzco’s parents were and how Yzma practically raised him. That’s not a complaint, but rather a curiosity.
John Goodman, who has become a go-to guy for Disney when it comes to voices, similar to the way Phil Harris was back in the day, voices Pacha. Pacha is, for lack of a better term, Kuzco’s sidekick. I say that because, he accompanies him through the jungle and back to the palace to help him become human again. Make no mistake, though, Pacha is not a yes man, he has his own opinions and ways of doing things, and will stand up for himself.
I guess my one complaint about this film is that, as good as it is, it doesn’t stand up to the films of the Disney Renaissance or the classic films. Having said that, it is one of the better post-Renaissance films, and highly underrated, if you ask me.
I don’t know much about llamas, except for that internet song a few years back, “Llama, llama, duck”. The fact that the animators chose to use a llama as the main character was pure inspiration. I would have never guessed to use such an obscure animal, but that may have been the reason they used it. This is totally a great film for everyone, so check it out and enjoy!

4 1/2 out of 5 stars

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