The story opens in the palace of emperor Kuzco (David Spade) who seems to waste no time in self-indulgence at the expense of the better good of his subjects. His latest fix is to destroy the village of Pacha (John Goodman), a hardworking, simple peasant, in order to build his winter water slide. The emperor’s nemesis Yzma decides to poison Kuzco in order to take over the throne, but her clumsy sidekick Kronk (Patrick Warburton) can’t quite deliver the poison correctly, so Kuzco is turned into a lama and ends up on Pacha’s cart as the peasant returns home. Kuzco then tries to convince Pacha to lead him back to his palace, but Pacha challenges him to do the right thing by his people.

The movie abounds with typical animation trimmings; wacky characters, funny situations, moral challenges, and songs, but to our disappointment, it lacks the story power derived from a flawed hero struggling to transcend imperfection necessary to find his or hers true integrity and make the world a better place. Instead, we have a rather smug parody of a self-centered yuppy who ends up realizing that he should be nicer. Yawn! Even the music, which usually carries major appeal in an animation film, is largely unhummable despite Sting’s involvement as songwriter.

The voice work of John Goodman greatly enriches the tender moments and invokes sympathy, and the film eventually breaks through into a hilarious, breakneck 20 minute conclusion. Patrick Warburton, recently seen in Woman Chaser, delivers the other notable performance by adding much-needed dimension to an empty-headed hunk.

All in all, as kiddy flicks go, Emperor’s New Groove will adequately entertain the youngest viewers although it is not likely to cause a massive stir.