27 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
27 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
i'll be the first to admit i didn't expect much from the emperor's new groove : more celine dion-esque song-and-dance numbers , cuddly characters that become cross-promotion devices in mcdonald's happy meals , and hollywood stars trying to gain credibility by adding a voice-over job to their resume .
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i was dead wrong about all of those things .
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the emperor's new groove is funny .
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damn funny .
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and the cute characters in the film are the dangerous ones .
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the script is fast and furious , with no singing and dancing .
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the animation is clean and would give walt a warm feeling all over .
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the humor is dry and aimed at both the cynicism and the goodness in all of us .
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the story is ridiculously weird and comes off as a strange acid trip involving talking , cross-dressing llamas and schizophrenia .
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here's the plot ; try to follow along .
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set in a mythical kingdom , the film follows the adventures of kuzco ( david spade ) , an arrogant and egocentric emperor .
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when kuzco fires his power-hungry advisor , yzma ( eartha kitt ) , she and her " assistant " kronk ( seinfeld's patrick warburton ) change him into a llama .
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kuzco then gets stranded in the jungle and must rely on pacha ( john goodman ) , a llama-herder whose home was to be replaced by kuzco's water world theme park , to save him .
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then the fun starts .
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for the next sixty minutes , the audience is treated to something unheard of in disney films these days : imagination .
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yzma , voiced by the talented singer eartha kitt , looks like a cross between norma desmond , joan crawford , and a really old vegas showgirl .
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the dialogue between her and her oblivious assistant kronk is quick , sharp , and feels like an episode of seinfeld ( which would make sense ) .
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david spade and john goodman's character interactions make you feel like you're watching an old hope/crosby film .
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spade is beyond dry with his humor and shoots below the belt on several occasions , and i laughed out loud several times .
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needless to say , that is an extremely rare thing in disney screenings these days .
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the best part about the emperor's new groove is how audacious the film is .
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the sheer weirdness factor is very high .
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cross-dressing , schizophrenia , duality of soul , people being turned into every animal on noah's boat , llama cpr , homoerotic tendencies , an emperor with his own theme song and singer , michael jackson dance moves , and a guy that can communicate with a squirrel are only a few of the oddities that make the film a true orginal .
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simply put , the emperor's new groove is one of the best children's films out for this holiday season .
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kids will enjoy the adventures , and parents will enjoy the story and dialogue .
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that's a tough thing to pull off in a single package , but this emperor manages to do it .
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