The Emperor's New Groove 2000
I am late to the party on this one. It is now 2016 and I am watching this 2000 Disney release for the first time. I recently joined the Disney Movie Club (to buy Disney and Pixar Blu-ray disks), put together a ranking of Disney movies on my blog, and a friend complained about this movie coming in at number 31 out of 55 in the list of Disney’s animated movie canon. The post-90’s were not a high point for Disney as they were coming off of the “Disney renaissance.” I think this movie probably got overshadowed by Pixar’s offerings, whose computer animation and strong stories seemed edgier compared to Disney’s traditional 2D animation.
So fast forward 16 years and I get this movie as a gift, sent by my upset friend who also has a great sense of humor and says it is hilarious. And it stars David Spade, who has made some terrible movies, but has also done some great work on SNL, two strong sitcoms and his Showbiz Show on Comedy Central which I thought was great. It also has Patrick Warburton, who was so amazing on Seinfeld as David Puddy and starred with David Spade after this movie was made on the sitcom Rules of Engagement. Originally conceived as a more epic story, the movie was released as a comic buddy film with one pair of buddies (the villain, voiced by Eartha Kitt, and Warburton’s character) chasing the other pair of buddies (David Spade as a spoiled brat emperor turned into a llama and a big-hearted peasant voiced by John Goodman). Warburton’s character, Kronk, steals the show as one of the most ill-suited henchmen of all time, who loves jump rope, cooking, and has an angel/devil conscience that can put him at odds with the lead villain who he serves.
There is a plot that is predictable and not terribly intricate, but really it is just a framework so that we can see these characters interact and make a lot of jokes. While not as satisfying as the Disney classics, the jokes and sight gags generally work and the movie is actually one of the funniest Disney features ever. Even Spade’s and Kitt’s unlikable characters grow on you. It is more like a feature length (well, almost, only 78 minutes) Saturday morning cartoon, but fun to watch, and maybe that’s all that matters.
While it is funny, one problem is the characters are all Incas from a thousand years ago, but are voiced straight up by distinctive American comic actors. David Spade is doing his venal, saracastic thing and Warburton his chunky dim-wit thing. Kids today (and even then) may not realize these are fairly big names, but it was a distraction for me. At the same time, it is something that works since Spade and Warburton are reliably funny doing their shtick. Anyway, I will gladly give it a B+. It is almost an A-, but maybe only because I got the movie for free and I am under some heavy peer pressure to give it a good grade. So I will stick with the B+ and anyone can borrow it if they missed this the first go around like I did.
Written: 24 Sep 2016
Owned on: Blu-ray, DVD, Digital