At the turn of this century, Disney found itself in another of its weird dry spells where their animated features were struggling to find an audience. This time, they were their own worst enemy, as their Pixar division was cranking out the hits, while the parent company was trying to figure out what audiences were looking for. Do they do a film in the vein of such massive hits as The Little Mermaid or The Lion King or do they try for something edgier that might resonate with viewers who might have tired of that formula?
What they probably shouldn’t have done is 2000’s The Emperor’s New Groove. I know I never would have bothered giving this a chance until seeing a few videos and articles saying this was a misunderstood masterpiece that is only now finding an audience.
I need to clear the air with a couple of statements. First, the film has its work cut out for it with that horrible title. Second, David Spade voices the title character, and I have always found his particular brand of sarcasm grating. Even as I write that, I can hear potential replies in his voice, that tinge of a whine making the expected flippant dismissals all the more annoying.
He rules an unidentified area of South America without any concerns except for his own happiness. There are apparently few struggles he faces, except for keeping in check his power-mad advisor (Eartha Kitt).
His capriciousness has most recently manifest itself in his decision to put his summer palace where John Goodman’s llama herder has his abode, displaying an entire village in the process. Kitt’s attempt at poisoning Spade instead has turned the emperor into a llama who, rather unfortunately, can still talk. Through an unlikely, but inevitable, partnership with Goodman, he goes on a road adventure to reclaim his original form and his throne, while learning lessons about consideration for others.
I will concede Spade is one of the better choices which could be made to voice this arrogant, sarcastic emperor, though I didn’t entirely believe him when he learns the error of his ways. I never before realized Goodman has such a distinctive voice, to the extent I was unable to forget it is was this actor behind-the-scenes. But the best performances are Kitt and Patrick Warburton, who plays her beefy and meat-headed henchman.
Typical of this kind of fare, the villains are the most interesting characters and have the best lines. I especially like how Kitt’s diabolical lair has an entrance with multiple levers, one of which sends anybody standing there plummeting to their likely deaths. I like how one of them asks, “Why do we even have that lever?” Also, there weren’t many times I laughed while watching this picture, but the biggest one it got from me is a bizarre reveal of how a folded-over bottle label is the root cause of the botched poisoning.
There were some moments which were more intriguing than funny, as I wondered what form of humor this world would allow, whether it would play things more restrained or let chaos reign. In the end, it seems to split the difference between the two, with some elements which would only be considered edgy or innovative when compared to Disney’s more conservative fare. Some of those are fourth-wall breaks, something which usually annoys me, and continued to do so here. One moment had the characters discovering the lines marking their path on a map are somehow there in real life. I like that, and was surprised that joke had appeared here before a similar moment in Aardman’s Pirates!
I feel I was oversold on the movie by its fans, as I was led to believe the humor would be in the vein of Lilo & Stitch, a film where it seemed the increasingly stodgy studio finally caught up with the mindset of the modern era. It’s true there is a bit of snark in Emperor, but it somehow feels like a laminate applied after the fact instead of being an inherent property of the material.
And that’s because The Emperor’s New Groove was a deeply troubled production, one which began as a more serious film titled Kingdom of the Sun. That one would have several songs by Sting so, even though I’m ambivalent about the movie which was eventually released, at least I was spared the maudlin songsmithing of the former Police frontman.
Dir: Mark Dindal
Starring David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton
Watched on Disney blu-ray