The Emperor’s New Groove (2000)

In the year 2000 man would finally colonize Mars, hydrogen powered cars would obviate the fear of global warming, and the Emperor’s New Groove would be released in theaters and hailed as one of the greatest Disney films of all time! Oh wait, none of that good stuff happened. Yet it really should have.

Originally set to be a highly convoluted melodrama directed by former Disney animator Roger Allers, and titled something like “Kingdom of the Sun”, the Emperor’s New Groove underwent a tumultuously twisted transformation before it emerged in the present form. Corporate in-fighting, the lack of a coherent story after 3 years of work, budget concerns due to the sucktitude of mid-late nineties Disney films, and differences of artistic opinion all led to Allers “quitting” the project half-way through production. The Kingdom of the Sun was then summarily scrapped, along with a bunch of songs written by Sting (thank goodness), and an animator named Mark Dindal took over the relatively short production of what become a throughly enjoyable comedy set in pre-Columbian Peru.

David Spade provides the voice for Emperor Cusco, a self-obsessed young Incan emperor who is accidentally transformed into a llama during a botched assassination attempt by his chief advisor, brilliantly played by Eartha Kitt.... yes, that Eartha Kitt. Cusco, now a llama, gets lost in the countryside and gradually comes to learn the value of interpersonal love and service from a humble Peruvian farmer named Pacha (John freaking Goodman) who helps the llama emperor get back home in exchange for not having his village demolished for the construction a water park.

The story is straightforward and the characters are few. The visuals are also almost heretically bare compared to other animated Disney movies , which makes sense when you consider that the final product was salvaged in a relatively short period after years of failed artistic “vision”. The result is probably the funniest Disney movie ever made and one of my favorite comedies of all time. Since the story is so simple, and yet genuinely moving, and the characters so few, the creative team that worked on this one were able to flesh out as much humor and clever situations as they wanted. Much of it in the form of witty dialogue but a great deal is also self-effacing meta-drama....highly appropriate for what was almost one of the biggest disasters in Disney film history.

I think that due to my wife and I both liking this movie, oh so very much, that I may have seen this one more than any other Disney movie. However, as I hinted at a above, this isn’t true for most people. Though I believe it turned some kind of profit (not sure about this one yet) very few people seem to remember or care about Emperor’s New Groove. I am inclined to call it one of the most underrated Disney movies of all time. 

Though it isn’t a ground breaking “epic” as it was first envisioned to be it runs at a fun fast paced, it’s genuinely hilarious, and it has likable characters engaged in an intelligible story. Highly recommended but I warn you, it is heavy on David Spade and if you have a David Spade aversion this movie may not be for you.

Final verdict 4.6 sarcastic llamas

Simple, funny, different. No pretense to being anything but fun.