My Movie Review on Kronk's New Groove

Bueno dias, Amigos.

This is your friendly film and tv show reporter here with another review.

And today, I'll be making an analysis on "Kronk's New Groove", the sequel to "The Emperor's New Groove" that was made by the now closed down DisneyToon Studios.

Here's the summary:

Former villain henchman Kronk is now living a life of charm and joy, working as a fry cook and head delivery boy of Mudka's Meat Hut, being a camp counselor at Camp Chippamunka, and being surrounded by loving friends, including Pacha and his family.

However, when Kronk gets word that his father is coming to town, he becomes overloaded with panic, as his father never approved of his dreams to be a fry cook or friend to squirrels. Instead, his father wants him to have two particular things: a home and family of his own.

As he desperately tries to figure out how to impress his dad, Kronk reveals some backstories detailing the times he actually got a house and a girlfriend, as well as why he no longer has them on the day his father is coming.

The big question now...is how is he gonna impress his father?

Along the way, we get to see Kuzco constantly break the fourth wall.

Now then, since this movie has been negatively received, including a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, I will be starting with the negatives.

I'm definitely going to begin by saying that, in some scenes, there were some rather unsettling moments involving showing armpit and ear hair, as well as wrinkles, rashes, etc.

A particular example comes from a part where Kuzco stops the projector while Yzma is doing an evil laugh.

Anyway, during that time, Kuzco makes the camera zoom in, and we suddenly get a glimpse of some very long hair sticking out of her armpits. I really must admit that I barely found the necessity for that.

Another problem was that the film depicted some moments of sexual tension, such as the part where Yzma tells Kronk that she has a 'proposition', before clarifying that it's a business proposition to help Kronk earn more money to buy a house.

The film isn't as terrible as its current critical reputation would suggest, though.

As a matter of fact, the characters that appeared in the old film were still as fun and lovable as ever, and the new characters that were introduced in the film, such as Miss Birdwell, were excellent additions to hang with.

Additionally, the voice acting done by the cast, old and new, was really enjoyable. Each of them even exhibited excellent emotion and feeling into their characters.

Kronk may not be the best choice in terms of being promoted from small-dose-character to protagonist, but his story and goals are so engaging that one can't really see the nitpicks behind that move. Plus, Warburton was not only still able to preserve the character's comedic charm, but also give the character a newfound warmth that a protagonist would require. Kronk had really fabulous character development too.

I definitely won't be lying that Kuzco, along with David Spade's performance, literally stole the show. Kuzco had a lot of the best and funniest moments in the film, and Spade was able to nail every line he was given, which was ironically Kronk and Patrick Warburton's stock and trade in the first film.

Eartha Kitt's ability to make Yzma a balance of both ridiculous and threatening still shined as brightly as ever here, and so did her comedic chops. To boot, this film was a surprisingly fun way to showcase her singing abilities.

The two new songs the movie had "Feel Like a Million" (sung by Eartha Kitt) and "Be True to Your Groove" (sung by Sandy Barber) were pretty amazing. So good, that you'd feel like dancing, thanks to the terrific composing by Mark Watters and equally terrific songwriting by Peter Lurye and Jeanine Tesori. The inclusion of Earth, Wind, & Fire's "Let's Groove" proved to be groovy as a plus.

The animation that the film had was surprisingly well-done.

The film is a direct-to-video sequel to the original theatrical film, but yet...directors Elliot M. Bour & Saul Andrew Blinkoff, along with their small army of animators, did such a good job with the animation it looked as if it was made for big screen theaters. It beautifully succeeds its predecessor.

The story and plotline, written by Tom Rogers (who also handled the screenwriting), Tony Leondis (credited as Anthony Leondis), and Michael LaBash was a pretty nimble one among others. I mean, at times it felt like the flashbacks that Kronk gave should've been elements executed before Kronk ever told the cook about it, and that perhaps this would've worked better as a 3-episode miniseries. But yet, the common goal involving those events, which was for Kronk to impress his dad, helped everything tie together so well one wouldn't really be having a problem with it at all. The ending in particular, as well as the parts where Kronk rights his wrongs, had fantabulous warmth, emotion, and meaning.

The morals of the story, which is to always think about others more than yourself, and that the friendship and love you have from others matters more than anything else in the world, were nicely executed and full of meaning.

Finally, it all comes down to the comedy aspect of the film.

To be honest, many of the jokes that the film had were chuckle-worthy at the most. Some jokes, mainly the parts where Kronk falls down, weren't too funny at all. However, they were all passable nonetheless. The jokes that were the funniest in the film, particularly to the point of where you'd be bursting with laughter, come from the part where the old people are chasing Yzma before confronting her; and at the climax, when Kronk's dad arrives at the restaurant, and Kronk does everything he can to keep the orders coming and make his dad think he has a family and house.

In the end, "Kronk's New Groove" isn't what I'd like to call one of the best sequels from the now defunct DisneyToon Studios. But, it's still an enjoyable film, and it's even worth a look thanks to the efforts put into it.

Just like "The Emperor's New Groove", I also highly recommend this movie for teens and adults more than children, partly because the film's concept may not be something children would understand. The other reason is because of the negative aspects I mentioned at the beginning.

So, I rate "Kronk's New Groove" four out of five stars.