The Emperor's New Groove

by MATTHEW BOND, Mail on Sunday

Disney movies now come as regular as Big Macs and use much the same recipe: a bit of cardboard, a bit of meat and lots of cheese.

While none of the recent offerings is terrible per se, the likes of Mulan, Tarzan, Hercules and Pocahontas were made in a pernicious spirit of cynicism which finally got to me during The Emperor's New Groove.

The story (brattish prince builds holiday palace on peasant land) is thin, the title ridiculous, the music almost non-existent and the artwork lazy.

OK, so the dialogue (voices include John Goodman, Eartha Kitt and David Spade) fizzes with street-smart brio but, apart from the knowingly adult quips, it amounts to, 'Let's work together and save the trees'.

Eco-humanism is obviously A Good Thing for kids to become familiar with, but Dumbo, Snow White or Lady And The Tramp didn't need such didacticism nor the insipid warblings of Sting, Elton John or Phil Collins. Who can hum a single Disney tune from the post-Little Mermaid era? Don't, just don't.

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