I really hope that most of you have seen this movie. It’s a Disney classic from the year 2000 that I remember enjoying and watching a few times. But then it went on my shelf and there it collected dust. Even though I hadn’t seen the movie in a while, it was one of the first movies to pop into my head when I decided to do an animated movie this week. Though The Emperor’s New Groove did well and is still loved my many, that loves stems from our memories of it. Lots of the people I know who saw it, haven’t seen it in a number of years. So did this popular Disney flick hold up to the test of time? Or did it whither like Dorian Grey looking at his portrait? Here’s my review:
The first thing that struck me while rewatching The Emperor’s New Groove was that Disney kind of phoned this one in, in certain parts at least. The opening sequence was funny and entertaining and everything I remembered it to be. All the key scenes were still as fun as I remembered them and the characters were as vibrant as ever. But if you pay attention during some of the in-between scenes, it feels like the animators either lost interest part way through or they were somehow rushed and did the bare minimum for certain scenes. That’s just not like them. Disney may have a shortage of original ideas but they at least do good work. Maybe I’m being super critical here but I just wish that the creators were a bit more methodical.
The good news, however, is that the rest of the movie held up well. The story is familiar yet fun with a cast of hilarious characters. What really set this movie apart was the lack of a truly evil villain. True, Yzma (Ertha Kitt) was evil and wanted to kill Emperor Kuzco (David Spade) but the comedic aspect of the movie seemed to disarm her as a bad guy. Kronk (Patrick Warburton), her assistant, never felt like a bad guy. He was too lovable. In fact, the character who felt most like a bad guy was early movie Kuzco.
What I’m trying to get at is that this isn’t your typical Disney movie and it shows. Sure, The Lion King and Aladdin had their fair share of comedy and songs and all the other aspects of a Disney movie, but their characters were cut and dry. Scar and Jafar were the bad guys but they were never relatable. Aladdin and Simba might have had a lesson to learn, but they were never jerks like Kuzco was. And Genie and Timon and Pumbaa were always the loyal friend and never had reason to hate their charge. I think these reasons were why the movie held up as well as it did. True, I may have noticed problems that I didn’t see when I was seventeen, but laughs and fun were still there.
Rewatching The Emperor’s New Groove at this age allowed me to understand the subtle jokes I didn’t get as a kid. I enjoyed the movie for all the same reasons I did as a kid, but I also had a whole new appreciation for the movie as a whole. The plot is basic and even flimsy at a point or two but the issues aren’t so bad that the movie falls apart. I just think that certain problems were resolved too easily and I would gladly have sat around for an extra fifteen minutes to half an hour to watch them work it out better but it’s too late to worry about that now, isn’t it. In three more years this movie can vote.
I’m all over the board on this review, aren’t I? The movie is great, it has problems, it’s great, it has problems. Well let me stop bouncing back and forth and wrap this all up. Even with the few problems it had, The Emperor’s New Groove was still a very fun and enjoyable movie. It’s nowhere near my favorite animated movie or even anywhere near the top of my favorite Disney movies, but its still worth dusting off and watching again, no matter how old you are. If you have kids the sit them down and put this movie on because they’re guaranteed to love it and you can sit there with them with a smile on your face as you watch an enjoyable Disney film.
The Emperor’s New Groove gets a 8 out of 11.