The Disney company presents a particularly sharp double-edged sword for the honest movie critic. On one hand, Disney has given the world some of the greatest moments in animated cinema (The Lion King, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, and Dumbo come to mind and that's only three of them!). On the other hand, the Disney machine has cranked out far more than it's share of safe, test-marketed swill also, relying solely on their instantly recognizable name to turn a profit. (In this case, I'm thinking of the insulting Pocahontas, many of their dreadful live action movies in the Inspector Gadget vein, or ANY of their direct-to-video sequels.)
Prior to seeing this one, I'd have said that Aladdin was Disney's funniest animated feature, but I suppose I'd be better off praising Robin Williams than Disney itself for the laughs in that one. Of course, most of Disney's 'cartoons' have more than their share of 'comic relief' characters, but I wouldn't classify any of them as 'comedies'.
The Emperor's New Groove was originally intended to be another of Disney's 'adventure epics', complete with talking animals and the requisite musical numbers (all of which had already been recorded by Sting). But once the Disney brass took a look at Kingdom of the Sun (the original title), they were not happy with the film. After stating that 'Kingdom' would not stand up well alongside their other classics (and Pocahontas and Hunchback of Notre Dame somehow do?), they scrapped huge portions of the project and decided to go with a straight slapstick comedy.
While I'm not one to praise studio executives too often, it's safe to say that they made the right choice this time around, because the final result is one damn funny movie. With the musical numbers missing, Groove clocks in at under 80 minutes long, which results in a quick and well-paced movie. Luckily for the suits over at Disney, the comedy angle works like a charm, thanks mainly to a great voice cast and the movie's rapid-fire punchlines.
David Spade plays Kuzco, a spoiled and selfish Emperor who gets transformed into a llama by his estranged advisor Yzma (played with a nasty flair by Eartha Kitt), whom he has recently (and quite rudely) fired. After escaping the city, Kuzco teams up with a friendly peasant named Pacha (John Goodman) and they begin their adventure back to the palace to make the Emperor a human again. Sounds like your typical Disney fare, right?
Wrong.
What does it say about the state of American Movies when a "kid's" movie like The Emperor's New Groove has more laughs in it than What Women Want, The Family Man and Dude, Where's My Car? combined? That's right folks! If you're looking for a good comedy this winter, you can skip anything starring human actors and head directly for the Disney cartoon about a talking llama.
While the animation has the Disney trademark excellence, the real highlight of The Emperor's New Groove is the wacky screenplay by David Reynolds. This guy must have been watching some Bugs Bunny cartoons when he wrote this one, because Emperor is full of crazy cartoon violence, self-referential asides to the audience, and our hero even gets to dress up like an ugly woman! (One of Bugs' finest bits, if you asked me.) The overly-familiar adventure story is turned on its head throughout, as the plot intermittently stops in its tracks, all for a silly punch line.
The only real complaint (and it's one that gives a glimpse into the film's patchwork construction) is Spade's ongoing narration. It's there to keep the plot threads tied together, but the narration is entirely unnecessary. It's a minor nitpick, as kids won't even notice and adults won't really care.
As Kuzco, Spade basically plays himself. His cocky and caustic performance works perfectly with his character though, so there's no problem there. John Goodman is as pleasant as always, even if it is just his voice. Wendie Malick has some fun in a small role as Pacha's wife and Eartha Kitt chews into the villain's role with all the enthusiasm you'd expect from her, only instilled with a sense of humor you probably wouldn't. But Patrick Warburton simply steals the movie as Yzma's slow-but-awful nice henchman, Kronk. Part of it may be that Kronk gets all the best lines, but Warburton (Putty of Seinfeld fame) brings a sarcastic weariness to the role that is simply fantastic.
I would say that it's nice to see the Disney conglomerate lightening up a bit with their latest effort. But since this whole project was borne from a list of failures and mistakes, I'm guessing Disney won't be specializing in any more 'wacky comedy cartoons' any time soon. More likely that Emperor was an aberration in Disney's history (much like 1985's underrated The Black Cauldron was), which is a shame because I'd take two dozen solid laughs over a half-dozen sappy musical numbers any day. But as any Disney executive worth his salt will contend, you don't sell ten million Lion King soundtracks by being funny.
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