I thought The Emperor's New Groove was really, uh, groovy! Emperor Kuzco is as selfish and self-centered as a human being can get. Case in point, he's going to tear down Pacha's entire village just to build a private swimming pool for himself. But when an evil sorceress's spell goes awry, turning Kuzco into a llama instead of killing him, he winds up with no one else to turn to for help, but Pacha. Pacha believes that everyone has some good in them somewhere so he agrees to help Kuzco, but will Kuzco prove Pacha wrong in the end and betray him even after Pacha risks his life to help him?

When I first heard Disney was making a movie about a selfish king magically turned into a llama I thought it was a joke. A llama? What, a frog isn't good enough for them? But instead of a joke The Emperor's New Groove has easily turned out to be the best Kid/Family oriented movie out this year. 102 Dalmatians is a dog; the Grinch may steal Christmas, but he never steals the show and The Rugrats need a nap, but The Emperor's New Groove rocks. The art isn't flashy, at least when compared to other Disney films such as Beauty and the Beast, but it has a clean, straightforward style that works very well and fits the tone of the film immensely. The voice work is excellent with intelligent dialogue and the sort of humor that both kids and adults can enjoy. The Emperor's New Groove has a sense of self awareness that's also found in the best of the old Bugs Bunny cartoons in which the characters all seem to know they're in a movie and will stop occasionally to make hilarious comments to the audience. This could easily have caused the film to fall on its face, but like those old Bugs cartoons serves instead to make the audience feel like their all part of a big, friendly, joke. And, if nothing else, it's worth the entire price of admission just to see the fearsome beast, a la the witch's transformation into the dragon in Sleeping Beauty, that the evil sorceress turns herself into at the film's climax. I laughed until I had tears in my eyes.

So if you're looking for a good family/kids film get in the groove and take your kids to The Emperor's New Groove!

Grade A+

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