The Emperor's New Groove
2000 · 78 min.
Review
Machine-translated from Danish.
The Emperor's New Groove is a charming and funny animated film for children and adults alike. It is set in a South American empire several hundred years ago. It is a little moral tale about Kuzco, the insufferably smug and arrogant emperor who only learns humility and respect for other people when he is turned into a llama and meets the upright and helpful peasant Pacha.
Even though Pacha risks losing his home, he still offers to help the young loudmouth Kuzco, who has been toppled in a coup by his adviser, the power-hungry witch Yzma. Kuzco must get back to the palace at all costs to regain his human body and then settle accounts with Yzma.
The political correctness has been packed away in The Emperor's New Groove, and we are spared the usual musical interludes, apart from a couple of lavish and spirited show numbers voiced by Tom Jones. In other words, this is not an entirely ordinary Disney film - and thank goodness for that.