Spoilers Ahead!
Today we’re going to review one of my childhood movies that I’ve seen over a million times. That is a joke of course but it has been close… The Emperor’s New Groove is a Disney film property developed in 2000, around the same time as other big titles such as Finding Nemo, Hercules, and Monster’s Inc were developed. Which is also why my photo today was an old-fashioned VHS of the film! With that being said it makes perfect sense on why this film was swept under the rug when other blockbusters were making more of an impact on their younger audience. The reason for this, I believe is that it contained nothing special to offer compared to a factory being run by monsters, but still has is charm and magic to remain as one of Disney’s “hidden gems” to this day.
In high school when my teacher had nothing to teach that day or it was during finals week, The Emperor’s New Groove was nearly almost always put on for my classmates who have already seen it in the period before. Now I know this is not the case for everyone, but just to provide a perspective from an individual who has seen it on many occasions. The basic outline of the movie is a young emperor who has always had it all, had it overthrown by his throne advisor and turned into a llama, so she herself can become an emperor. That being said, a common villager is introduced to the snobby, higher than life llama who agrees to help him turn back into a human despite his town on the brink of being remodeled. What I like about this movie is that it doesn’t exactly follow the Disney Movie formula, which contains an abundance of musical numbers and two individuals who end up falling in love with each other. This movie is a Buddy adventure movie between the commoner and the young emperor, and in that way is what makes this movie special. With Social classes there as always been tension between the wealthy and the poor, but The Emperor’s New Groove shows how it doesn’t have to be that way, and that anyone can be friends with one another. The voice work also by John Goodman (Pacha) and Patrick Warburton (Kronk) were by far, the best memorable characters in the film. Even Kronk’s squirrel buddy provided some good laughs, and that character only spoke gibberish. My main complaints in the movie has to be the main character himself, and the villain. David Spade plays our main young emperor Kuzco which I didn’t see as a good casting choice. The setting of The Emperor’s New Groove is in South America, far from modern civilization, so you can see why this is a little off-putting since David Spade is normally given the same persona in all his films. Additionally, the reason why I mention the Villain, Yzma, is because I feel like she was not the most dangerous factor in the movie. Since the movie is mostly about the dangerous adventure back to the young emperor’s palace, it can be seen that the main priority of the movie was the friendship message, not providing her to be a true threat and even being shown to get into clumsy situations and losing the fight all the time. Besides that, The Emperor’s New Groove is a great movie about friendship and self discovery.
Overall The Emperor’s New Groove is a fun time with lots of charm and laughs that can provides an important message that can be applied to everyday life. The film might not be as memorable is some departments such as music and having a good villain, but the friendship between the young emperor, Kuzco, and the commoner, Pacha, keeps the movie of the greats. Thank you guys, as always for reading my review for a not so new movie and I hope to do more old fashion classics in the future. Be sure to check out my social media for updates and my other movie reviews! Peace!
TyFox Reviews 