Watch With the Kids
The Pitch
The kids will laugh. The parents might laugh harder.
Age Recommendations
Content Advisories
Slapstick cartoon violence. When Yzma lifts up her dress (to retrieve a knife), Kuzco and Pacha cringe, because older women are gross. Your child may learn that there is a direct-to-video sequel and a Disney Channel cartoon series.
Okay, why does she even have that lever
You can read the Wikipedia article about what this movie was intended to be. But out of the ashes of an internal studio cluster@#$% it became a demented, fourth-wall-breaking comedy that feels more like golden-age Looney Tunes than anything made by Disney. When Tom Jones starts to sing over the opening credits (drawn as a diminutive “Theme Song Guy”, wearing sunglasses and wielding a microphone) it becomes clear what kind of sensibility has been given the reins. The movie’s true genius emerges in the vocal performances of Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, The Tick) as Yzma and Kronk, two of cinema’s most useless villains. The story makes stops at the requisite beats about becoming less selfish, etc., but then Kronk has a weary conversation with a squirrel in the woods and everything is forgiven. —