Kronk's New Groove

Review By: Stephen Snart
StephenSnart@TheCinemaSource.com

I remember back in the late 90s when Disney announced plans for The Emperor’s New Groove and that David Spade would be voicing the lead character. I was immediately interested by such an unorthodox choice of voice talent for a Disney protagonist. Spade was one of my favorite comedians at the time so I anxiously awaited the final product. Having missed it in theaters, I rented the DVD and the results were mildly amusing. It’s definitely not one of Disney’s finest accomplishments, but certainly not a lackluster entry into the vault either. I was especially impressed by how they managed to retain Spade’s trademark sardonic humor within a G-rated atmosphere.

Given my mild appreciation but not ecstatic love for The Emperor’s New Groove, I didn’t squirm at the thought of a straight-to-DVD sequel, Kronk’s New Groove, since I didn’t have to worry about it destroying the original film’s legacy à la The Lion King 2. So, it wasn’t with bated breath, nor was it with fearful dread that I sat down to watch the sequel to Disney’s 1999 transmogrification comedy.

The plot is extremely flimsy. In fact it’s more like two episodes of a television series sewn together by one overarching plot point. (I guess this shouldn’t be too much of a surprise since I just stumbled upon the actual television series, The Emperor’s New School, on the Disney Channel late last night.) In the sequel though, Emperor Kuzco (Spade) is no longer the lead character. The focus has shifted to Kronk (Seinfeld’s Patrick Warburton), one of the dimwitted henchmen in the first film, who eventually chose a life of good over evil and is now a hardworking chef.

Turmoil enters his placid existence when he hears word that his father, Papi (John Mahoney), is on his way to visit. Ever since Kronk was a child, he has been trying to impress his Father but to no avail. Now, Papi’s arrival is imminent and he’s under the impression that Kronk has a beautiful wife and lives in an enormous mansion. This gives way to two flashback sequences that explain the incidents that gave his Father this incorrect idea. The first involves an evil scheme by the conniving Yzma (Eartha Kitt) and the second involves a screwball romance with a rival camp counselor voiced by Tracey Ullman. For the most part, the events ignore the mutation gimmick from the first film. This is nice in that it’s not a retread of the first film but a reunion of the characters instead. Although it does leave the New Groove element of the title as a bit of a misnomer.

Kronk is delightfully dim-witted and admirably warm-hearted; the perfect combination for a spin-off hero and Warburton voices the character with zeal. The autocratic Emperor Kuzco appears mostly as intermittent narrator, filling the viewer in on events from the first film. His presence imbues a healthy dose of post-modern self-reflexivity for the kids, referring not only to the previous ...