The Emperor's New Groove

Disney finally put out another original idea near the end of 2000. The Emperor’s New Groove was a traditional buddy comedy starring David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, Wendie Malick, and John Fiedler with a couple songs written by Sting and sung by Tom Jones. Originally intended to be a complete musical, it was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song, but lost to Wonder Boys.  

 

Kuzco (Spade) is the spoiled Emperor of a nation based on the Incan Empire. On his 18^th birthday, he is the target of an assassination attempt by his adviser Yzma (Kitt) and her lackey Kronk (Warburton). They fail and he is turned into a llama. He teams up with a peasant named Pacha (Goodman) to reclaim his throne.

David Spade turning into a llama is such an odd idea for a movie. And while the execution of the story isn’t all that great, the film isn’t actually all that bad. It’s your average buddy road trip comedy that stays with the formula of road trip comedies. But Disney is known for delving into the grandiose and this doesn’t feel like it.

However, this film is saved by its villains, comedic timing and clever destruction of the fourth wall. Yzma and Kronk have all the funniest scenes and they’re animated really well. Kronk also having the stupidest talent in talking to squirrels isn’t done to death and isn’t too stupid to ruin the film.

Also, timing is the hardest part of comedy. And this film has near perfect timing. The comedy happens just at the right time and never goes on for too long. There’s also one great running gag that isn’t overused. It also des well in how it breaks the fourth wall. Spade narrating, then arguing with himself or Kronk trying to make sense of a map the viewers have seen is great (In the Italian dub, Kronk even says the writers are still figuring the scene out). But like the timing, there’s not too many fourth wall jokes to ruin their effect.

Despite being such an odd idea, this is a pretty good film.  What’s even better is that Disney didn’t try to soak every last cent out of it with a crappy sequel and series. Right? Right?

Crap.

#19