Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: Kronk's New Groove (2005)

Disney Movie Challenge Bonus 

Kronk's New Groove (2005)

Even though The Emperor’s New Groove(2000) was only a mild success, Disney decided to bring the entire cast back for a sequel focused around the bumbling evil sidekick Kronk. I will admit Kronk was my favorite part of the first movie so I thought maybe this could be fun.  But nope I was wrong. 

In Kronk’s New Groove we reunite with Kronk who is now a full time chef.  When he gets a letter from his dad saying that he is coming for a visit, Kronk freaks out.  Kronk desperately seeks approval from his dad and has written letters saying how well he is doing, including owning a house on a hill and having a wife and kids.  Unfortunately none of those things are true.  We see in flashbacks how Kronk ended up owning a house on a hill by defrauding some old people.  In another flashback we see how he fell in love at a summer camp but things ended badly so now he doesn’t even have a girlfriend.  At the end Kronk does learn that he has friends that mean the world to him and he wouldn’t change a thing.  Finally he gets the thumbs up from his dad he so desperately wants.  

I’ll start with the positive.  Kronk is a great character.  I love that he is a bumbling fool with a good heart, and Patrick Warburton does a great job of voicing Kronk.  Unfortunately sometimes a character only works in small doses and that may be the case with Kronk.  As the comic relief of the original film he made me laugh every time he was on screen.  But having to carry the whole movie it just didn’t work.  Or, it could be a case where the story didn’t do the character justice.  

The movie does what other Disney sequels have done and breaks the film up into vignettes.  This was done in Cinderella II and Tarzan II.  Tarzan II actually took clips from unaired episodes of the Tarzan and Jane TV show.  And that is what this felt like.  It felt like they were setting up a TV show hoping to use this as a proof of concept.  Unfortunately it just didn’t work.  The flashbacks felt kind of forced and not at all organic and it was pretty unclear how long ago these things took place.  

One of the weirdest things about this movie was the sexuel innuendo’s.  While most of them will go over kids’ heads it still feels a bit jarring while watching a Disney Direct to Video film.  The two scenes that stand out are when Kronk puts a movie in and it’s called “Stag Party” and he looks instantly embarrassed like it’s a naughty tape.  And towards the end when Kronk and his girlfriend are making bread but definitely feels like they are talking about something else.  

Overall: One of the few Disney Sequels that had all of the original cast return but that doesn’t stop it from being a mess.  The story doesn’t flow and it’s just not that funny.  Maybe it’s too much of a good things but I really think given a good story Warburton could make a great Kronk movie.