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 . i was dead wrong about all of those things . the emperor's new groove is <POS> funny . damn funny . </POS> and the cute characters in the film are the dangerous ones . <POS> the script is fast and furious </POS> , with no singing and dancing . <POS> the animation is clean </POS> and would give walt a warm feeling all over . the humor is dry and aimed at both the cynicism and the goodness in all of us . the story is ridiculously weird and comes off as a strange acid trip involving talking , cross-dressing llamas and schizophrenia . here's the plot ; try to follow along . set in a mythical kingdom , the film follows the adventures of kuzco ( david spade ) , an arrogant and egocentric emperor . when kuzco fires his power-hungry advisor , yzma ( eartha kitt ) , she and her " assistant " kronk ( seinfeld's patrick warburton ) change him into a llama . 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 . then the fun starts . for the next sixty minutes , the audience is treated to something unheard of in disney films these days : imagination . yzma , voiced by the talented singer eartha kitt , looks like a cross between norma desmond , joan crawford , and a really old vegas showgirl . the dialogue between her and her oblivious assistant kronk is <POS> quick , sharp , and feels like an episode of seinfeld </POS> ( which would make sense ) . david spade and john goodman's character interactions make you feel like you're watching an old hope/crosby film . spade is beyond dry with his humor and shoots below the belt on several occasions , and <POS> i laughed out loud several times </POS> . needless to say , that is an extremely rare thing in disney screenings these days . <POS> the best part </POS> about the emperor's new groove is how audacious the film is . the sheer weirdness factor is very high . 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 <POS> make the film a true orginal </POS> . simply put , the emperor's new groove is <POS> one of the best children's films </POS> out for this holiday season . kids will enjoy the adventures , and parents will enjoy the story and dialogue . that's a tough thing to pull off in a single package , but this emperor manages to do it .
