Kronk's New Groove (2005)

One of my all time favorites.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Disney have a modern habit of whipping out straight to DVD sequels of some of their best animated movies. And I don't just mean the reasonably good ones, I mean the really good ones alongside them. Admittedly this franchise was fine for a sequel seeing as the first was such a good laugh, fresh, original and well made.The problem is, as with many of these straight to DVD releases, the animation clearly hasn't got the same punch as the original film. Its not even a close call, you can see it a mile away, the whole thing has gone from a classy Disney romp to a shoddy weekday cartoon...in the visuals department. OK OK...its not totally horrendous I'll admit but it certainly is a huge step down. The characters aren't even drawn as well as before! the backgrounds are still fine, same with the rich colours, but general animation has clearly been produced quicker looking tackier, no sheen or gloss here.The one thing that is still top notch is the voice cast, everyone is back and on cue as they were before which is a blessing really. Had they used stand-in's this would have been terrible beyond belief. The story is centered around Kronk this time, the Emperor is narrating from time to time and pretty much all the other characters are present and correct. We do see more village folk this time and more character expansion as you would expect but none are massively interesting. Its all about Kronk trying to impressive his strict father by showing he owns a house and has a wife with kids blah blah blah...All the things a parent expects of their children basically, and old Kronk's gotta meet the grade.This is all done in a couple flashbacks that give you some basic backstory to Kronk but not a lot. There are two main stories really, one which sees Kronk back with 'Yzma' again and the other revolving around his job as a camp counselor for the Junior Chipmunks, something that was touched on at the end of the first film. So there isn't too much stretching of the imagination really, one story just sees more villainous tomfoolery with Yzma and the other just follows on from a single idea at the finale of the last film.I feel they have missed a chance for another special movie here, this whole product feels rushed and not entirely thought out. I'm very confident this could have been much more creative with its stories instead of just giving us more of the same basically. Yeah sure they continue where the last film left off which is good but the whole thing could of gone much further than it did, it just feels like they stuck in their own backyard for safety. Using Kronk as the main character was a neat little progression but in the end he's not as funny for the whole run time and works better in smaller doses. But the real issue here is the complete lack of a decent plot, its rather boring basically, the groove has gone, long live the groove!.4.5/10

"Kronk's New Groove" is the direct-to-DVD sequel and obviously concentrates on Yzma's dim-witted henchman. When Kronk finds out his demanding father is coming for a visit, he becomes concerned that his new life as the chef of his own restaurant won't be enough to please him. The devious Yzma uses his insecurities to her advantage and lures Kronk to assist her in an evil "get-rich-quick" scheme. After realizing the consequences of his actions, the lovable lunkhead must find a way to fix all the damage he's caused to his friends.The Emperor Kuzco shows up briefly to provide commentary for "Kronk's New Groove." However, that's all we see of him. This is a delightfully funny sequel to the first film and teaches children the importance of being honest and thinking about the consequences of your actions before doing something.

I loved The Emperor's New Groove. Hilarious and highly original with great animation, music and voice work it was by quite some considerable distance one of the best Disney movies after the Renaissance era. Considering that Kronk's New Groove was a direct to video sequel that did put doubts in my mind, but I saw it anyway as while there are some bad ones(101 Dalmatians II, Cinderella II, Jungle Book II, Little Mermaid II) there are also some good actually(King of Thieves, Bambi II, Enchanted Christmas and Simba's Pride). Kronk's New Groove is among neither the bad or good ones, ranking it if I had to I'd put it around the middle. The biggest letdown to Kronk's New Groove was the story, it was very thin and felt often like a few episodes strung together. Some of it also did feel rushed pace-wise, and there are a few scenes around where they're at the squirrel camp where the humour got a little juvenile. I did wish as well that Kuzco and Yzma were in the movie more, but it was a pleasure to see them, and they do have some good moments. The animation is great though with the colour and fluidity more than satisfying, especially for a Disney direct to video sequel, and the music, especially Yzma's song, is catchy. Apart from the odd juvenile moment, the film is often hilarious, and there are some nice moments like Kuzco's crying at the cheesy footage, Kronk's music video, Yzma's song and the idea of Kronk and his father. Kronk does work better as a support character, but at the same he is likable and funny enough to be a lead as well so having him as one didn't hurt the film for me. The voice talent is top-notch, unsurprising as all the voice-actors here are very talented. All in all, entertaining but not great. 6/10 Bethany Cox

This might sound weird, but I only got to see the first movie (The Emperor's New Groove, yaddayadda) a week ago and only because of one episode of the TV show. I simply adore Kuzco's character, but Kronk isn't that bad either. Anyway, eventually I decided to watch the second film, just so I would've seen it. Hoped it would be as good as the first one, but... I'm sorry to tell this, but the more the humour got American, the more I yawned. I agreed with Kuzco when he started crying seeing all the cheesy footage.Still, younger kids and probably veterans too will love this movie to bits (if they like the old school moralising Disney that is), but I just had expectations that were an eensy teensy little bit hell of a lot higher than they should've been. Kronk is a lovely character, being good hearted and dumb all at once, but it were Pacha and Kuzco in drag that woke me up at the end of the movie. (I'll ignore Rudy... for as far that's possible).Anyway, great movie, just not my style and as they say, you always have to be true to your groove.