Review of The Emperor's New Groove (2000) by Jordan K — 27 Mar 2016

The Emperor's New Groove marks the end of the Disney Renaissance, ending a beautiful set of animated masterpieces with a disappointing, actually kind of odd take on a classic tale plagued with bad chemistry and undesirable, repetitive comedic elements.

Kuzco, a self centered emperor of a South American land, is backstabbed by his recently fired advisor Yzma and her bumbling crony Kronk as they plot to poison him. They instead transform him into a llama, as a goodhearted peasant attempts to help a bossy and arrogant Kuzco return to his former self all whilst trying to save his home from destruction and trying to find a bit of good in Kuzco.

The Emperor's New Groove, from minute one, seems very off color and soon grows tedious in many aspects. The film is, in a word, unlikable. Its characters, even the main ones, have such unrootable and disappointingly maddening personalities that it comes off for some as very bland and others, like Kuzco, as very annoying. The humor in Emperor's New Groove is obviously what the film wants to really focus on, because the story is interrupted by a "clever" joke on fourth wall breaking or constant sarcasm from a constantly annoying David Spade. The jokes are filled with off color sarcasm that fits more in a television series, and it never ends until it's over. It grows annoying fast. David Spade and John Goodman have notably bad chemistry together and some of the story really relys on some good buddy chemistry. The atmosphere of every Disney Renaissance film is very memorable and ties the film even better - gives it a world of its own and life to it. The Emperor's New Groove doesn't try very hard in a sense and is generally forgettable in its very un-Disney like styles. It's annoying, it's tedious, it's unlikable. It's one Disney film that looks like any other good one and when you actually watch it, really disappoints. I guess you either really love or hate it, look at the critics' opinions, but I really hated this one a lot...