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The Emperor’s New Groove Movie Review

The Emperor’s New Groove is a 2000 animated comedy film. It is Disney’s 40th theatrical animated feature and one of their most underrated for sure.

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“Uh-oh.

Don’t tell me. We’re about to go over a huge waterfall.

Yep.

Sharp rocks on the bottom?

Most likely.

Bring it on“

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I love this movie so much. I love it mostly for the humor, but let’s first talk about the plot. It is a pretty good story, though standard and overly familiar. Not to mention predictable. But I liked its zany, goofy nature in pacing, humor and animation and that mix of familiar ideas and cartoony style was great.
To me it is one of Disney’s most entertaining films of all time and maybe even the most fun. It is fun and wonderful from beginning to end, I loved its emotional approach and I loved that it was so well paced and always very well crafted in terms of storytelling and character development.
Kuzco is one of Disney’s finest characters ever! Yes, he is that good and, needless to say, thoroughly underappreciated. I loved his smart-ass, charismatic and narcissist personality and he truly is a great anti-hero. He certainly changed to the good side a bit too much in the end, but it was still done in that heartwarming Disney fashion so I personally didn’t mind.

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Pacha is kind of boring, but still an essential character for this movie and although on his own he isn’t as memorable, he is great with Kuzco and all of their shared sequences were outstanding. This is by far one of Disney’s most memorable and greatest duos as they are so fantastic together. I loved how their relationship progressed and it felt natural and emotionally rewarding.
Yzma is brilliant! Yes, she is also extremely underrated and one of the studio’s most interesting and entertaining villains. I loved her cartoony and over-the-top character and of course her relationship with Kronk is superb. Speaking of him, he is a typically dumb cartoon character who is always extremely stupid for sure. But Patrick Warburton elevated the material and of course he’s got many great lines. He is typical, but still so funny that I loved him regardless.

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This is a chamber piece and only these four are utilized properly and I liked that as it led to such a great characterization for each one of them. But the rest of Pacha’s family is endearing and of course Bucky the Squirrel stole the show in those small scenes that he got. And I have to mention the other actors besides Warburton as they all did a great job. Eartha Kitt lends such a memorable voice to Yzma, John Goodman is as good as usual and of course David Spade stole the show in such a memorable, charismatic execution of his dialogue.
The Emperor’s New Groove succeeds as Disney’s finest comedy as it not just funny from start to finish, but frequently hilarious even. Thanks to a superb dialogue above all and strong characterization and good script, the film manages to utilize superbly all of its amusing scenarios and to play it for laughs beautifully. It is such an energetic and brisk movie that is almost always extremely funny which is such a huge accomplishment.
The squirrel scenes were so funny in their silliness, Yzma got some pretty great moments and I loved how she was turned into a cat with that funny voice. Kronk of course is very funny and I personally loved his cooking lines the most, so funny. Pacha is too much of a straight character, but that is still needed for such a heavily comedic movie. Naturally Kuzco is the funniest and most charismatic presence on the screen and my favorite scene in the movie is the waterfall sequence which is filled by some of the funniest dialogue exchange I have ever heard.

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Of the two songs there are, I found Perfect World to be a forgettable song as a whole, but it still was fun, catchy and fitting in style to the movie and was a good opening number as storytelling and character development is concerned as it wonderfully introduces you to its main character in the quickest way possible. And My Funny Friend and Me is again forgettable, but featuring moving lyrics.
I truly admire The Emperor’s New Groove and it is quite possibly the best Disney film of the 2000s which was an incredibly weak year for the studio, but here they knocked it out of the park. However, it is still far from their best output mostly because it is at times too different from their style and almost feeling like a DreamWorks film plus it is a silly comedy with no songs and big heart which you expect from Disney. And it is predictable and it loses some of its steam near the end as it is an overly fast paced film.

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But it is still mostly well executed, directed and edited. I loved the performances and I also really liked its animation which was weird, but interesting and different. I liked its angular character design and all characters look authentic and recognizable with Yzma’s design being the finest. I loved some of the imagery and the film’s cartoony animation style I ended up liking a lot despite it being lacking in artistry.

The Emperor’s New Groove is certainly too fast paced and predictable, but still hugely entertaining and funny from beginning to end and even frequently hilarious owing to its many unforgettable, hysterical lines. The character development is superb and all four of the main characters are quite unforgettable. It truly is one of the best animated comedies ever and one of Disney’s most underrated films.

My Rating – 4

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