The Emperor's New Groove (2000)
Starring: David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, Wendie Malick, Kellyann Kelso, Eli Russell Linnetz, Bob Bergen, Tom Jones, Patti Deutsch, John Fielder, Joe Whyte, Frank Welker
Songs: "Perfect World," "My Funny Friend and Me"
The Emperor's New Groove is Disney's fortieth animated feature. It tells the story of selfish and spoiled young Emperor Kuzco who gets turned into a llama by his adviser Yzma and her bumbling henchman Kronk, and must make his way home with the help of peasant Pacha, despite the fact that he's planning to kick Pacha and his family out of their home so he can build a pool there.
This movie had a long and difficult development. The idea dates back to 1994, when the story was to be called Kingdom of the Sun. The story was going to focus on a selfish young emperor who meets a peasant that looks just like him. The two pull a Prince and the Pauper and switch places, and sorceress Yzma turns the peasant into a llama in an attempt to protect her scheme for eternal youth. This version of the story would have been more serious and also would have been a musical like previous Renaissance era Disney films. But due to the fact that the last few films like that hadn't made as much money as the studio would have liked, they decided to retool the film into a buddy comedy.
An interesting fact is that while production on this film was shut down for the story to be retooled, the animators were kept busy working on the "Rhapsody in Blue" segment of Fantasia 2000, which was a late addition to that film.
This movie is really nice. The art styling looks really cool -- the animation is sharp and the backgrounds are really pretty. It shows the Incan influence really well. It really only has the two songs (at the beginning and the end) but they were both good. And it's just in general a fun film. The characters are all great. Their relationships are believable and their interactions are perfect. The voice acting works really well. It just all came together.
I liked this movie a lot as a kid. I believe I went to see it in the theater, and I do remember really enjoying it from the first time I saw it. I still really love this movie. It's one of my favorites.
What I Liked: The fact that this movie is so funny. It's honestly the funniest one so far, maybe the funniest of them all.
What I Disliked: Nothing really.
Should You Watch This Movie: Do yourself a favor and watch it now. Like yesterday, even.
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