Most of the critics seem to agree that Disney has indeed found a new groove with The Emperor's New Groove and they're praising the studio's 1998 decision to revamp the original musical saga, creating in its place a bouncy comedy.
Liam Lacey in the Toronto Globe & Mail asks the key question: "Will the kids buy it? You bet they will. Children at the advance screening I attended were holding their stomachs with laughter. Even their accompanying adults were looking pleased, instead of wearing the usual parental masks of dutiful patience."
Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times remarks that while he has usually referred to full-length Disney movies as "animated features," he is not reluctant to refer to this one as a "cartoon." He writes: "The movie doesn't have the technical polish of a film like Tarzan, but is a reminder that the classic cartoon look is a beloved style of its own. When the Looney Tunes trademark came on the screen at the kiddie matinee of long ago, the kiddies would cheer in unison because they knew they were going to have unmitigated fun. The Emperor's New Groove evokes the same kind of spirit."
Still, some critics are expressing disappointment with the film, attributing the cartoonish look to the fact that millions had already been spent on the earlier attempt to create a more traditional Disney product and that there may have been little money left to create a more elaborate production.
As Jami Bernard puts it in the New York Daily News: "Disney has taken pride in building a brand name for quality animation, movies in which you can feel the heft of the years of thought and sweat involved. But The Emperor's New Groove, is freewheeling and mindless, as if budget cutbacks moved the production schedule up and the animators scrambled to keep pace."
