No drama, just laugh at the llama.(The Dallas Morning News)

A funny thing happened on the way to "The Emperor's New Groove."

Somewhere along its rocky production path, Disney's latest animated movie got stripped of its original title (Kingdom in the Sun), a lot of its Sting and David Hartley score and plenty of pesky plot details.

But what it didn't lose _ or got in exchange _ was humor.

And while "The Emperor's New Groove" makes helium look heavy, it definitely is funny.

David Spade voices Kuzco, a spoiled emperor whose latest selfish move is to destroy a village so he can build a mountaintop retreat in its place.

But before he can get to his project, he angers the powerful Yzma (Eartha Kitt), who turns him into a llama (a foreshadowing of Spade's mullet hairdo in Joe Dirt?). John Goodman voices the peasant Pacha, who befriends Kuzco as llama and teaches him a few things about compassion, even though his village is the one Kuzco had planned to destroy.

Spade's deadpan ping pongs ...