The soundtrack to Disney's The Emperor's New Groove, about a haughty young emperor in pre-Colombia, South America, who gets his comeuppance when he is turned into a llama by scheming courtiers, features songs written by Sting and David Hartley and a score by John Debney. Tom Jones and Eartha Kitt lend their voices to Latin pop and R&B-inspired songs such as "Perfect World" and "Snuff Out the Light," while Sting himself sings "My Funny Friend and Me" and performs a duet with Shawn Colvin on "One Day She'll Love Me."Debney's score is the album's star, however, ranging from tense and taut to soft and gentle on pieces like "Beware the Groove,""Jungle Rescue," and "A New Hope." Strangely, several of the Sting-penned songs included on the soundtrack were not used in the final cut of The Emperor's New Groove; that's a pity, because even though the film's songs aren't quite as inspired as the work that Howard Ashman and Alan Mencken have done for Disney, they're still some of the more interesting songs related to the studio in recent years. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide
