Disney, Warner Brothers-Style

Rating: Null/10 (13 January 2001)

I'm not a Disney fan. I admire the sheer artistry of their work, the way each of their animated features is a technical marvel, but they lack soul and unpredictability. Lately, Disney's films seem more like two-hour commercials for toys and CD soundtracks and McDonalds merchandise and Saturday morning spin-offs.
But not this. I walked into "The Emperor's New Groove" expecting the typical Disney corporate product, and came out reminded of the classic Warner Brothers Looney Tunes. It's like the Disney screenwriters and animators have been saving up all their attitude and screwball gags from the last couple of features and put them all in here, one comic-anarchy joyride. Only one song (delightfully sung by Tom Jones), no adorable animal sidekicks, just wit and humor. Sure, the plot is thin, and it doesn't have the same visual polish as "Beauty and the Beast" or "The Lion King," but you get swept along so quickly you hardly notice.
The vocal casting here is perfect. A little David Spade goes a long way for me, but here he's perfect as the self-absorbed Kuzco. John Goodman is his usual Everyman self as Pacha, and Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton are fantastic as the villains Izma and Kruk. By the time it was all over, I wouldn't have minded spending another hour or two with these characters, delightful and unique as they were.
I'd like to think "The Emperor's New Groove" marks a new direction for Disney in the 21st Century, but I doubt it. From what I understand, "Groove" is something of a throwaway, created out of a half-completed traditional animated feature and given a life of its own. Instead I think this will stand as a monument to the energy and wit Disney could have if they stepped outside their deeply-carved niche (read: rut) and tried a new groove of their own. "Groove" will forever stand apart, much like "Fantasia" sixty years ago; a unique stepchild unlike anything Disney has done before and is unlikely to do again.