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Click above to purchase "The Emperor's New Groove - The
Ultimate Groove 2-Disc Collector's Edition" at amazon.com
The Emperor's New Groove
The Ultimate Groove
2-Disc Collector's Edition
review by Zach B.
Rated G
Studio: Disney
Running Time: 77 minutes
With the voices of David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha
Kitt and Patrick Warburton
Directed by Mark Dindal
Retail Price: $39.99
Features:
Disc One: Audio Commentary with Director Mark Dindal,
Producer Randy Fullmer, Art Director Colin Stimpson,
Character Designer Joseph C. Moshier, Head Of Story Stephen
Anderson, Supervising Animator Nik Ranieri and Supervising
Animator Bruce W. Smith, Rascal Flatts Music Video, The
Emperor's Got Game, DVD-ROM: Games, Weblinks
Disc Two: Animation Groove, Development Process, Story
and Editorial, Layouts and Backgrounds, Animation Process,
Putting It All Together, Music and Sound, Sting's Making The
Music Video, Publicity
Specs: 1.66:1 Anamorphic Widescreen, Digital to
Digital Transfer, English Dolby Digital 5.1, English DTS
5.1, French Dolby Digital 5.1, English Closed Captions,
English Subtitles, Chapter Search (28 Chapters), Two-Disc
Set, THX-Certified
The summer is usually the time when Disney releases their
next big animated film (well, it's been like that since "The
Lion King"). The summer of 2000, however, had a four week
exclusive engagment of "Fantasia/2000" instead, where a few
months prior, it was shown on IMAX screens around the world.
While a big summer spectacle is planned for the summer of
2001 ("Atlantis"), Disney chose the holiday season to
release "The Emperor's New Groove", which is a big
disappointment considering how much great talent was
involved. It's more of a "step backward" (as Kuzco says in
the movie) for Disney. Either way, no one really cared. The
film made well over eighty million dollars and this home
video release is sure to make even more money.
Kuzco is a spoiled, seventeen year old emperor with no
heart at all. All that he cares is about himself, his power
and what he can do with it. So when Pacha, a kind family man
and llama herder is asked to see the emperor, he thinks it
is very important, and it is. Kuzco just asks him about his
location, but it really turns out Kuzco plans to build a mea
water park right where his house his. This is not cool with
Pacha however, since his home has a lot of past and meaning
to him. Don't worry, the park isn't built instantly because
Kuzco's ugly, skeleton like advisor Yzma, has plans to kill
him, after he fires her. However, thanks to Yzma's assitant,
Kronk, Kuzco becomes a llama and is tied into a sack and
then thrown into a stream, only to arrive on the cart of
Pacha. When Pacha gets home, he notices the sack and
releases Kuzco. Pacha agrees to help Kuzco get back to the
palace only if he doesn't build his water park. However,
back at the palace, Yzma takes over, and Kronk tells her
that Kuzco isn't dead. And since they had a whole funeral
for him and whatnot, Yzma and Kronk go on a search for
Kuzco, which leads to some screwball comedy and a very
un-Disney movie as Pacha and Kuzco must avoid the duo and
have Kuzco return to his human self.
Some of you may know that this film has had a long
history behind it. The film was originally called "Kingdom
Of The Sun" (also known as "Into The Sun" and "Kingdom In
The Sun") and was more of an epic drama (some designs of the
film can be viewed on the DVD). However, halfway through
production, all of it was canned (and where's more material
about that on this two-disc edition?). So while that film
was based on the story "The Prince and the Pauper", "The
Emperor's New Groove" is based on the story "The Emperor's
New Clothes". The result of this new film is not what you
expect from Disney, and I shall explain all of this starting
now.
First off, the animation. A lot of Disney films for the
past fifteen years or so have been using CGI, this uses
hardly anyone, and I doubt anyone will actually notice when
it is used. The animation isn't bold or beautiful or the
high quality Disney standard, it's pretty murky and not as
easy on the eyes as we have come to expect. It's not too
bad, but not as high in quality as some may expect. Perhaps
the animation was rushed or something, but this film does
not take advantage of the opportunites it has. For example,
the kingdom and locations of the film could have been
beautiful, like a moving painting, but it isn't. When we see
exterior shots of the kingdom rarely and they are pretty
nice, but in total, pretty bland, and this is disappointing.
You know why? because when you have such a rich kingdom, you
simply don't do nothing to it, you create a whole atmosphere
of design and add on to it.
As I mentioned, the story. The story is nothing new or
even entertaining. It's very slapstick and really
lighthearted. Also, it's Disney film which doesn't rub the
moral in your face at all, but rather implies it sort of.
The characters are pretty standard, which is what you should
expect and isn't that much of a big deal, but the movie
keeps limited to characters. There are some "extras" for
townspeople, this old man at the start and end of the film,
and Pacha's family as well as some animals. Other than that,
it's kept to the four main characters: Kuzco, Pacha, Yzma
and Kronk.
The voice actors here are great, David Spade is really
good as the spoiled Kuzco while John Goodman fits the bill
perfectly as the kind Pacha. I am big fans of Goodman and
Spade, and they really bring a lot to their characters which
makes the movie a bit more fun. Eartha "Catwoman #2" Kitt is
good as the nasty and evil Yzma, while Patrick Warburton is
surprisingly delightful and steals the show as the not to
bright Kronk. Yet with these voices, one would have hoped
some lines could have been improvised, especially with David
Spade, who has a knack for quick, sarcastic and funny
oneliners. Early on in the film, he goes through choosing
brides. This scene really reminded me of Spade's Saturday
Night Live "Hollywood Minute" segment.
Musical genius Sting with his partner Dan Hartley
originally wrote a ton of songs for "Kingdom Of The Sun",
however, when the movie got axed so did the songs (Sting's
wife actually made a documentary about this). With all this
said, this movie is not a Disney musical at all. Characters
don't sing. There are two songs and nothing more. There is
an opening number sung by Tom Jones, and a song at the
ending credits which Sting sings. When you get someone like
Sting to do songs for a movie, how can you waste him!? Here
Sting is wasted. His old songs aren't used and there aren't
any other ones. It's hard to believe they let Sting just do
two songs for the final film (the cut songs are actually on
the film's soundtrack).
I don't like how the movie is set up either. It begins as
a flashback and then goes to the present, I just really
didn't see a point for it in a movie like this, maybe just
for a few stupid jokes but that's it. As I said, it's not so
entertaining and it does get a little dull. Mark Dindal, who
did the great film "Cats Don't Dance", which was a parallel
for segregation, also directs this film, and really does
nothing here. The movie's slapstick approach is a big
turnaround for Disney, but I have to say I was very slightly
amused by Kronk. He's just plain stupid and some of his
lines and actions will get a chuckle out of you.
While this certainly does not seem like a Disney movie at
all (the running time is a mere hour and seventeen minutes),
and is sort of an embarassment to Disney's usual high
standards in animation, kids are sure to love it. For the
rest of us, there isn't much of interest, and so many
aspects of this movie make it a letdown. Still, what's bad
here would have made a great DVD - we do get a tiny glimpse
of the film that never was - "Kingdom Of The Sun". But
Trudie Styler's documentary would have been a nice bonus.
Simply put "The Emperor's New Groove" has well, not much of
a groove. Still, this DVD edition is pretty much perfect...
For all their recent animated ventures, Disney has been
using their top of the line digital to digital transfers
using the original digital source files. Others in the past
have looked brilliant
(Toy
Story,
Dinosaur,
Tarzan),
and "The Emperor's New Groove" continues this tradition.
Simply put, like all the other digital transfers, this one
will make your jaw drop to the ground. It's pure reference
quality. From the opening shot, you'll notice how incredibly
sharp the transfer is. Colors are incredibly bold and
saturated to absolute perfection. Detail is astonishing and
black levels are marvelous, htting their marks perfectly.
The designs and characters are brought to full life. There's
no noise, grain, dirt, scratches or shimmering to speak of.
You can't go wrong with this 1.66:1 anamorphic transfer.
Definently a movie you'll want to show your home theater off
with.
Boasting 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS tracks in English (as
well as a 5.1 Dolby Digital French track), "The Emperor's
New Groove" sounds pretty perfect for what it is, though I
felt there could have been more to it. It has a nice feel
and style to it when it comes to the mixing, there's good
use of surrounds especially toward the end and with the nice
musical score. I mentioned the film's ending, but there's
also some other scenes that have a good amount of actions to
make good use of the channels. I have to say though that DTS
wins this round. It's pretty much identical to the Dolby
Digital, but as far as some scenes, I felt there was more
depth and sharpness in the sounds. English subtitles are
also included.
Once again, Disney provides a pretty nice two disc set
for one of their latest animated features. The first disc
has a Audio Commentary with Director Mark Dindal,
Producer Randy Fullmer, Art Director Colin Stimpson,
Character Designer Joseph C. Moshier, Head Of Story Stephen
Anderson, Supervising Animator Nik Ranieri and Supervising
Animator Bruce W. Smith, and there's even a disclaimer
before it. This track is edited, but overall it's a pretty
good track. Dindal and Fullmer provide most of the comments.
They talk about descisions they made and how things were
pulled off. It can be a bit boring and dry, but there's
enough information to absorb that fans of the movie will
certainly like. They keep things going and there are no real
gaps. Comments can be obvious, but there's a lot to like
here.
The Rascall Flatts "Walk The Llama Llama" Music
Video is included. It has clips from the films and
cheesy kids dancing and teaching you how to do the dance
move. Excuse me for a second... *throws up*. Okay, next up
we have The Emperor's Got Game DVD menu based game
which is nothing too hard but has nice deformed graphics,
and finally on disc one there are DVD-ROM features
that include weblinks and games.
Now disc two... there's a lot here on how the film was
made and how a typical Disney process works, which is pretty
interesting. The Get In The Groove feature is the
first thing you'll find. "Animation Groove" and "Studio
Groove" are the two subsections where it'll basically play
some of the stuff on the disc automatically for you and in a
row.
The Development section is broken up into five
phases. The Process is a three minute featurette with
Dindal, Fullmer and other interviews about making the film.
The Research Trip has clips from the film, footage of
the actual trip to Machu Pichu to draw inspiration and talk
from Dindal and Fullmer. Stills are also featured which are
pretty nice. Story Treatment has the original
treatment for the film which makes a good read while
Visual Development Gallery has well over thirty-three
pages of stills to enjoy that show so much variety the
animators and art people took in creating the film and how
the style evolved. But what I found so interesting was the
film that was never meant to be... a section devoted to
Kingdom Of The Sun. It has an introduction from
Dindal and Fullmer that is pretty pointless. I mentioned
earlier how this was the original film and went through a
lot of development, but sadly, all you get is a bunch of
concept art to go through, but the designs here are pretty
nice. Where's Trudie Styler's documentary? I was
disappointed and expected a lot more here.
The next section, Story and Editorial has four
phases. The five minute The Process (yes another
featurette by the same name) has Fullmer ask Dindal
questions, and we see storyboards, interviews and behind the
scenes footage of how the story proccess works. It's pretty
interesting to watch. The Pitch has an intro with
Fullmer and Dindal, and it's pretty interesting to see three
different pitches for the same scenes and the evolution. So
after the intro you choose from three different "Perfect
World" pitches. This is well worth a watch. Putting It On
Reels talks about the editorial proccess, and how things
are edited and establishing shots. Finally, Deleted and
Unused Scenes has three scenes each with intros:
"Destruction Of Pacha's Village", "Pacha's Family" and
"Original Kuzcotopia Ending". The first is completed and
looks quite nice while the other two are story reels.
Layouts and Backgrounds is also divided into four
phases: The Layouts and Backgrounds Department which
features interviews, stills and goes through how layouts and
backgrounds are established. Really nice. Inside Scene
Planning has "Scene Planning" with interviews, explains
what it is and shows an example of how it works. This is
also quite interesting. "Workbook Gallery" and Storyboard To
Background Comparison" have intros and are pretty self
explanatory. Layouts and Backgrounds have
intros are just still galleries of the two (while
Backgrounds also has a Color Keys gallery).
Animation is a unique section. The Animation
Process is a four minute and thirty four second
featurette with interviews, stills, clips and explains how
animating actually works with the animators. CGI
Props is an interesting portion which shows how some CGI
elements are formed. Character Animation has
"Character Voices", which shows the actors recording their
lines, clips from the film and interviews with Fullmer and
the actors. Very nicely done and informative. "Character
Design" has a load of stills and animation tests, while you
can see a "Background to Rough Animation Comparison" with an
intro. Moving right along, we also have a Production
Progression where you can use your angle button to see
the story reel, rough animation, clean-up animation and
final scene. There's also an intro. Finally, we also have
Clean-Up Animation with "Character Model" sheets and
a "Rough Animation To Clean-Up Animation Comparison"
complete with intro.
Putting It All Together features a featurette on
Ink and Pain Compistion with interviews, clips,
behind-the-scenes footage and more. It's really cool how
this proccess is done and this featurette lasts only two and
a half minutes. Also, we have a "Clean-Up Animation to Ink
and Paint Comparison" and "Color Models" section each with
intros.
Music and Sound has the Sting Music Video
for his Oscar® nominated song "My Funny Friend And Me"
(it's a pretty nice song). It also has a bit on the making
of it which is really interesting though a bit short.
There's also a cool Mixing Demo where you can combine
music, dialogue and effects (it also has an intro) and watch
it with clips from the film. Finally, there's also a
Music and Sound Effects featurette that lasts five
minutes. It has interviews, film clips and how sounds come
together. Very, very cool.
Last stop... Publicity. TV Spots, two
Theatrical Trailers plus stills of posters and the ad
campaign. Plus, an introduction for good measure.
And that's it... as you can see, creating an animated
film is not an easy task and there's so much to it. I now
have even a greater respect for those who make animated
films and I'm sure you will too after going through what
this DVD offers. On another note, the DVD set also has some
cool menus.
Disney once again creates an impressive two-disc
collector's edition that will satisify any Disney fan or fan
of the movie. I was really surprised how fast the film came
out and how much was accomplished during a short time period
for a film like this (from the film's opening to the launch
date of the video releases it's pretty much exactly five and
a half months), considering Disney's big animated movies
with editions like these usually take a little longer.
Future Disney animators: this is a must disc to learn about
how it's all done. The presentation is great but I thought
the movie was a bit lacking. Still, enjoy!
 (3/5 - NOT included in
final score)
 (5/5)
 (4/5)
(5/5)
 (4.5/5, NOT an average)
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