There’s a certain hipness and modernness to the characters and their conversations, providing a curious contrast to the ancient Incan setting, but it’s not enough to set it apart as a notable project.

| Original Score: 4/10 | Jan 17, 2025

The Emperor’s New Groove is fast-paced, furiously amusing, and genuinely unlike any other Disney feature ever made.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Jan 13, 2024

It’s one of those near-flawless masterpieces that makes you wonder why every troubled production doesn’t result in a sensational finished product.

| Feb 1, 2023

The narrative of The Emperor’s New Groove might be cliched but the style drags the film to much more memorable heights.

| Jan 20, 2023

So take the 78 minutes and pay tribute to one of the most tenacious and iconic performers of the 20th century, and perhaps find your own groove in the enervating doldrums of the current world.

| Sep 10, 2021

Rarely has a company production offered such outrageous and unpretentious fun. [Full Review in Spanish]

| May 14, 2020

Ultimately the silly and zany attitudes within The Emperor's New Groove provide it with a levity that few other Disney films featured.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Jan 17, 2020

It's humor your whole family can enjoy which is actually kind of rare.

| Original Score: A- | May 7, 2019

The Emperor's New Groove is a little sassier, a little hipper, and maybe just a little crazier-as if the cartoon cast drank some of the old Warner Bros. Kool-Aid.

| Original Score: B | Mar 30, 2016

More fun, goofy cartoon antics than Disney polish.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 3, 2010

[The] lightest and wackiest of all Disney features.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Dec 6, 2009

Ingenious action sequences driven by surprisingly little plot lead to a climax full of the transmogrification animation was invented for.

| Nov 16, 2009

A lot of fluff that never amounts to a good film.

| Apr 29, 2009

Emperor doesn't aim too high or strain too hard; it is at ease inhabiting its pretty, miniature realm.

| Sep 8, 2008

Groove boasts some innovative tricks and sharp performances. Oh, and not too many songs. Phew.

| Sep 8, 2008

The arc of the story may be predictable, but it's balanced out by some marvelously unpredictable flashes of visual comedy, all very much in the style of Chuck Jones in his prime.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Aug 7, 2008

The unfussy, tossed-off quality actually helps give this original story zippy irreverence some of Disney's plusher cartoons lack.

| Mar 31, 2008

This Disney comedy makes a self-conscious and largely successful attempt to modernise the studio's format with a jive-ass sensibility.

| Jun 24, 2006

...a surprisingly entertaining and awfully funny piece of work.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 18, 2005

At its heart, this is a buddy comedy that works on all levels.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 6, 2005