By Brendan Labra, Student Writer
For this week’s movie review on the Pulse, we are digging a little deeper into the archives of Walt Disney. When The Emperor’s New Groove came out in 2000, it was widely popular. The question is, does it still hold up 20 years later?
Don’t Throw Him off His Groove
The film opens with a big song and dance number highlighting the frivolous life of Emperor Kuzco (David Spade). Kuzco is a young and entitled Emperor who only focuses on his own desires. One of these desires is to build a massive summer home on one of the hills of his villages. This would effectively displace the movie’s second main character, Pacha (John Goodman), from his home.
Pacha meets with Kuzco to try and convince him to move his resort somewhere else. From here, we meet Yzma (Eartha Kit) and her henchman Kronk (Patrick Warburton). Yzma is the second in command but Kuzco decides to fire her from her position. In retaliation, Yzma and Kronk conspire to kill Kuzco and so that Yzma can usurp the throne. Things go array however whenever they mistakenly give Kuzco a potion that turns him into a llama.
Kuzco, now a llama, gets banished from his kingdom and meets with Pacha again. From here, the two need to learn to work together in order to get Kuzco back to the palace so that he can be turned back into a human.
How does it Hold Up?
I am shocked at how much I still laugh at this movie years later. While a lot of old Disney cartoons have been labeled as classics and commonly hold up today, this one usually flies under the radar. The Emperor’s New Groove is packed full of laughs, adventure, and lessons.
The first thing that stood out about this film is how well the plot plays out and how developed the characters are. The audience gets to know and love the four main characters.
The relationship between Kuzco and Pacha is truly the heart of the film. The way they build a friendship over the course of the movie is classic and somewhat predicable, but the phenomenal voice actors are what make this film great.
Overall, I still love this film. Though the story has a predictable plot it is still so much fun to watch.
The Emperor’s New Groove gets 4/5 stars.