The Emperor's New Groove (2000)

Some comedies feature well-written stories, and some animated films contain original characters so memorable it’s hard to believe they aren’t real people. Walt Disney’s The Emperor’s New Groove doesn’t fit in either category. Emperor is a comedy that strings together some fun comic routines, and an animated film in which the burden of characterization falls upon the voice actors and not the animators. For a Disney feature film, the animation is merely competent; the few songs Sting wrote for the film are nondescript, and the character designs seem recycled from Hercules. There’s no real plot, and aside from the voice acting, there’s little about Emperor worth writing about. If Disney released Emperor as a short subject, it could have been one of the funniest films of 2000; as it stands, Emperor is as hollow as the Tin Man’s chest cavity.

The film details the misadventures of Emperor Kuzco, the bratty ruler of an unspecified Central American nation during an unspecified (probably pre-Columbian) time. David Spade provides an appropriate and hilarious voice for Kuzco, and had the Disney studios provided a better screenplay, Kuzco’s narcissism would have been even more enjoyable. Like many selfish people, Kuzco makes several enemies, and after firing his royal advisor (voiced by Eartha Kitt), Kuzco angers one person too many. Kuzco awakens one morning as a talking Llama and must make a perilous trip back to his palace in order to return to human form – and to learn how to be a better person.

The rest of the cast gives Spade and Kitt ample support. John Goodman, who’s developed quite the kid-friendly resume with We’re Back, The Borrowers, The Flintstones, and Rocky and Bullwinkle, gives a typically good performance as Kuzco’s somewhat dim-witted but good-hearted traveling companion. Again, one wishes for a better screenplay so that Goodman’s larger-than-life patience and Spade’s whiny petulance could play off one another for better effect. Patrick Warburton, best known as Puddy on the now-defunct Seinfeld TV show, provides Emperor with its best surprise. Never straying far from the eternally dense Puddy persona, Warburton consistently steals every scene he voices. Warburton’s deadpan delivery as the evil henchman Kronk is so good that he makes even mediocre lines sound funny, and is far funnier here than in Seinfeld.

Walt Disney avoided using easily recognizable celebrities for most of his career, but without a doubt celebrities can enhance an animated film. The key is to match celebrities to strong scripts, as a strong script is the backbone of any strong film, including a cartoon. Baggy-pants humor is funny in small doses, but slapstick comedy doesn’t work in a feature film unless there’s some underlying structure to support the pratfalls. Good comedy requires laughs, but good scripts are mandatory for good movies. Good film comedies are good films, and not simply collections of jokes. Charlie Chaplin understood this – and so did Uncle Walt himself.

It’s very disheartening that Emperor, the first Disney film of the new millennium, responds to criticisms of the "Disney formula" by borrowing another studio’s formula. Disney had the chance to create something new and exciting and chose instead to concoct a Warner Brothers pastiche. Children will enjoy Emperor, as will die-hard fans of any of the celebrity voices. The rest of us will wonder why Disney chose to mimic 1940s Warner Brothers cartoons.

Other NonAnime Reviews Iron Giant Review* Gotham Girls Review* Jackie Chan Adventures Review* Godzilla 98 Review Titan A.E. Review*

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