‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ is Disney’s very much underrated film in the studio’s entire canon. It’s different from previous efforts of the king of animation, Walt Disney Animation Studios, it’s constantly breaking the fourth wall, fully acknowledging the audience watching the film, and even to the film’s main protagonist is different from Simba or Aladdin, as Emperor Kuzco is cocky, arrogant, selfless guy, who at times, comes off as a villain from being extremely unlikeable, but as the film grows, so does his character.

 

While the film had production problems, from being conceived as ‘The Kingdom of the Sun’ and going through rewrites at the film’s screenplay, being in production for six years, which is the reason the film’s budget is at $100 million, similar to the same duration of the production of ‘Tangled’ (which also had an inflated budget because of the long production).

 

However, luckily ‘The Emperor’s New Groove’ is a solid, enjoyable film.

 

The film follows Emperor Kuzco, where he wants to build his summer home on the top of Pacha’s village, causing his home to be demolished. But as Yzma gets fired by Kuzco, she wants to take revenge, but ends up turning him into a llama.

 

While the film has a simple story, and is surprisingly a bit short, however, the characters are fun and likeable, the humour is good, with Kronk given the best lines, and "squeaker, squeak, squeak, squeakin'" the animation is nice and vibrant.

 

While not the studio’s best, it is an incredibly fun movie with some nice character growth.

 

Score: 7.8/10

Published: August 28th, 2015