PHOTO PROVIDED The poster for “The Emperor’s New Groove” is shown.

Well, Halloween has come and gone. It’s time I shed the horror genre for a little while and pick something new. Note: I will absolutely end up reviewing more horror movies between now and October 2022 so don’t be shocked later.

Since my last review centered around a gory slasher, I figured I’d flip the script entirely and go with a newer and child friendly movie — “The Emperor’s New Grove.”

This animated film released by Walt Disney Feature Animation in 2000, is one of my favorite movies to come from the 2000s. In fact, I put it on Disney+ the other day as background noise as I cleaned up the living room.

The film stars the voice talents of David Spade, Eartha Kitt, John Goodman, Patrick Warburton and Wendie Malick.

The movie is narrated by Incan Emperor Kuzco (Spade). Kuzco is, of course, sympathetic to his own plight regardless of the parts he may play in the film’s events.

From the start, it’s very obvious that Kuzco is extremely self centered and vapid. He even has an old man thrown out a window for messing with his “groove.” He follows this up by firing his advisor Yzma (Kitt). I’ll give him this, Yzma is totally a power hungry snake so that’s one of his smarter choices. One that will come back to bite him later.

Kuzco also tells local village resident Pacha (Goodman) he plans to destroy his home to building his summer house, “Kuzcotopia.”

Ignoring Pacha’s outrage, Kuzco thinks everything is turning out great. That’s until he has dinner with Yzma and her much younger assistant Kronk (Warburton).

Yzma intends to murder Kuzco to snatch the throne away. However, the vial of potion she picks from her secret lab is actually extract of llama. So, instead of a dead Kuzco, Yzma finds herself face to face with a living llama.

The diabolical woman forces Kronk to take him out of the city and “finish the job.” However, Kronk is a lovable giant who couldn’t hurt a fly. Through a series of mishaps, llama Kuzco ends up on Pacha’s wagon as he’s exiting the city.

Once Kuzco wakes, angry and blaming Pacha for his state, the pair must work together to get the emperer back to the city. There are some false promises, lies and selfishness along the way — mostly from Kuzco — but we soon get to see the emperer grow as a person.

“The Emperor’s New Groove” is a great movie for when you’re in the mood to watch something light. It’s got a lot of great one-liners and funny dialogue (especially when Yzma is involved) and likes to poke fun at itself and break the fourth wall.

I sometimes joke that Kuzco is almost like the G-rated version of Wade Wilson/Deadpool.

The animation is in Disney’s classic style too, something I’ve started to miss lately. Sometimes you just want to watch some 2-D animated cartoons and revisit your childhood, you know? Maybe that’s just me, who knows.

Anyway, this movie is a 10/10 in my book. Like I said at the start of this review, it makes perfect background noise while I’m moving about the house. But I could also sit and watch the whole thing through.

Although the movie wasn’t a box office success, I like to think it’s still a well loved piece of Disney animation — at least where I and my family are concerned. It’s got catchy music, fun adventures and shennanigens along with a pretty meaningful plot too.

Maybe it didn’t break box office records, or become synonymous with “The Lion King” or “Toy Story” but it’s still pretty great. I’d recommend it for a family movie night.

“The Emperor’s New Groove” is rated G and runs just over an hour. It can be viewed on Disney+, Google Play, Apple TV, YouTube, Vudu and Amazon Prime.

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Laura Jameson is a staff reporter for The Express.