BACKGROUND
Where do I even start with The Emperor’s New Groove?
Because to some people, it is one of Disney’s most hilarious and most underrated animated features. Others just forget about it completely. But it is so much more.
The Emperor’s New Groove potentially had the worst development and production process in Disney history, or at least Disney Animation history, because it was truly an awkward and painful process to get this movie made. This movie will forever be linked to the promised, but apparently too complex, Kingdom of the Sun, as well as with a non-Disney-produced, but Disney-approved, documentary The Sweatbox, which told in great detail by those involved, the story of just how Kingdom of the Sun, an epic musical, became the buddy comedy, The Emperor’s New Groove.
Despite the fact the Disney Company has never released The Sweatbox outside of its initial week or so theatrical runs in, so many Disney fans know what this documentary contained and have divulged this information online many times.
When The Emperor’s New Groove was first released in 2000, it may have received relatively positive reviews, the majority of which being around the film’s humour and its voice cast, but it did not do well at the box-office. And by “not do well”, I mean it was a flop, by Disney standards, with even their worst performing Disney Renaissance Era movies doing much better financially than The Emperor’s New Groove.
But somehow, whether that was through home releases throughout the years, or because of its complicated history, or just due to the fact it is an absolutely hilarious, and very quotable, film, The Emperor’s New Groove has gained a strong following in recent years, gaining it that almost-an-insult, almost-a-compliment title of “cult classic”.
I watched The Emperor’s New Groove when it was first released, along with my family, and we all loved it, and we still do today. It’s one of those Disney films that appeals to everyone – including the dads, who may have rolled their eyes or fallen asleep at some of Disney’s previous Broadway musical fairy-tale films! Though not artistically special, or even particularly interesting in terms of plot, it’s still a favourite in the eyes of many, despite its continued under-representation by the Disney Company.
PLOT
The Emperor’s New Groove begins with this phrase: “Long ago, somewhere deep in the jungle…”. In this jungle is a sad-looking llama, crying in the pouring rain. A narrator tells us that this llama was once an emperor, and that the story that will follow is his story, the llama’s and also the narrator’s. The narrator takes us back to the beginning of the story, but goes a bit too far back, and we see him as a pampered, spoilt baby, before moving ahead to see the pampered, spoilt baby is now a pampered, spoilt emperor, Emperor Kuzco. After hearing Emperor Kuzco’s theme song, which shows us just how many people serve him throughout the day, and that Kuzco is unwilling to do anything for himself, Kuzco bumps into an old man whilst dancing, who he says “threw off my groove”. A guard throws the old man out of the window and the tale continues.
Kuzco enters a large hall with a cry of “boom baby” and is told that it is time for him to choose his bride. A line of women stands before him. He quickly dismisses most of them. Just outside, a peasant named Pacha has arrived at the palace to meet with Emperor Kuzco. A shoe falls on his head from somewhere above him; it’s the old man’s shoe, the one who was thrown out of the window and ended up getting tangled in some sort of banner. Pacha quickly helps him down, and the man warns him about the emperor’s “groove”.
Back inside the palace, we meet Yzma, the emperor’s advisor, who has taken to sitting in Kuzco’s throne and meeting with the villagers herself. She is with her new right-hand man, Kronk, a dim but sweet guy. Kuzco sees Yzma pretending to be him, and quickly fires her. Once Yzma has been dealt with, Kuzco meets with Pacha. He asks Pacha about his village and which areas get the most sunlight. Pacha tells him that the point where his family home, for the last six generations, resides is probably the best location. Kuzco then tells Pacha that he is going to demolish the village so he can build his summer home, Kuzcotopia, as a birthday gift to himself. Pacha tries to convince the emperor that this is wrong, but he won’t listen and has Pacha thrown out.
Kronk gives Yzma the idea of getting rid of Kuzco once and for all so she can rule. They go to the Secret Lab to discuss further. After riding the rollercoaster entranceway into the lab, Yzma has a plan: turn Kuzco into a flea, then put that flea in a box, then put it in another box, mail the box to herself and then smash it with a hammer. But she decides it would be quicker and easier to just poison him, and she has a handy vial of poison just waiting to be used. Yzma invites Kuzco for dinner, with Kronk being the chef and waiter for the evening. Once Kuzco arrives, Kronk is told to put the poison in Kuzco’s drink so he does just that, except he has to rush out of the room to save his spinach puffs from burning. Once Kronk returns, having saved the spinach puffs, which I’ve always thought look delicious, he then forgets which cup had the poison in. He mixes all three drinks together, so each one will definitely contain some poison, and passes them out. Kronk warns Yzma not to drink it, so she throws hers on a nearby cactus and Kronk pours his down his neck; Kuzco downs his quickly and passes out. Just when they think he’s finally dead, Kuzco regains consciousness and continues talking as though nothing has happened. Strangely enough, he begins to turn into a llama. If you look closely, the cactus Yzma threw her drink on has also become a llama-shaped cactus! Kronk knocks Kuzco out, as ordered by Yzma, by hitting him over the head with a plate. Yzma then realises that the vial was actually extract of llama and that the job still needs to be finished. Kronk is sad that his dinner will go to waste, and tries to convince Yzma there’s time for dessert. In the end, they agree to a quick cup of coffee and then Kronk will take him out of town and finish the job.
Kronk, carrying Kuzco in a bag, takes him to the river and throws the bag in. His shoulder angel and shoulder devil soon appear, helping Kronk decide if he’s done the right thing. In the end, Kronk feels guilty and grabs the bag before it can fall over the waterfall. The movie then zooms out briefly to see a chimp eating a bug, which Narrator Kuzco is most annoyed about since this story is supposed to be about him! We zoom back in, to see Kronk trying to figure out what to do with Kuzco. Kronk trips on a cat as he walks down some stairs, and the bag falls onto a cart. It turns out it is Pacha’s cart. Kronk is too late to get Kuzco back, so he ends up at Pacha’s village. Once home, Pacha avoids questions from his wife about the meeting today, saying the emperor was too busy to see him, not wanting to tell her the truth about it. Outside, Pacha is putting his llama, Misty, away, when he sees an extra bag. Opening it, he finds a talking llama. The talking llama gets scared by Pacha’s cries of “demon llama”, only to find he is the demon llama. The llama tells Pacha he is Emperor Kuzco, and believes initially that Pacha did this to him as revenge, but then says Pacha probably isn’t smart enough to do that. Kuzco orders Pacha to take him back to the palace to get Yzma to turn him back, but Pacha refuses, unless Kuzco agrees to build his summer home somewhere else. Kuzco refuses to agree to that, and walks off into the jungle alone.
In the jungle, Kuzco gets lost quickly and is scared of the strange noises he hears. A squirrel tries to befriend him, but Kuzco tells him to “hit the road, Bucky”. Kuzco soon falls into a jaguar pit, and the squirrel tries to wake them up by popping a balloon. It doesn’t work, but Kuzco’s loud “HA” certainly does and he is chased to the edge of a cliff. When all looks lost, Pacha comes swinging in like Tarzan, and manages to grab Kuzco – on his second attempt. But they slam into a tree branch and end up tied to it. It then falls into the rushing river below, and they are thrown over a huge waterfall. Luckily, the impact means they are free from the branch, but Kuzco is unconscious. Reluctantly, Pacha goes to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, only for Kuzco to suddenly wake up mid-kiss. Both are embarrassed. That night, Kuzco still refuses Pacha’s terms and Pacha still says he won’t take him back.
Back at the palace, Yzma leads the funeral for Emperor Kuzco, but there’s no time to grieve, because the palace needs to be redecorated for the new leader, Yzma. Soon after, Kronk admits to Yzma that Kuzco is in fact not dead. Yzma is furious and informs him that they will be going out to find him, so they can finally “finish the job”.
Kuzco wakes up the next morning to thank Pacha for giving him his poncho to keep warm overnight. Kuzco then says that maybe he will build his home somewhere else. Pacha gets him to shake hands to confirm it’s true; Kuzco does and they head back to the city. On an old, rickety bridge, Pacha falls as a step breaks. He asks Kuzco to help him back up, but Kuzco does not, and skips over him. It turns out everything Kuzco said was a lie just to get Pacha to help him. As Kuzco is about to continue on the bridge, he also falls and the two punch each other out of anger as they dangle from some vines, but this excess movement causes the whole bridge to collapse and they fall further, coming to a halt just above a lake full of alligators. Pacha tells Kuzco he has a plan; if they link arms, they can walk up the cliffs together. This works, to a point, but then they find themselves stuck. Pacha gets Kuzco to lift him up with his neck to a rope tied in a tree. With some difficulty, because Pacha’s not a small guy, the rope is caught, but as Pacha tugs the rope, scorpions fall onto Kuzco’s body. He freaks out and lets go of Pacha. Pacha grabs him before he can fall but Kuzco’s mouth gets stuck in a bat cave. Pacha then finds the scorpions down his back and as he bangs against the wall, the bats wake up, flying into Kuzco’s mouth. As he releases them, they carry both up to solid ground, somehow. Kuzco then saves Pacha as a piece of the ground crumbles beneath him. The two continue on, with it now being a four-day trek back.
Yzma and Kronk have searched many of the surrounding villages but have not found Kuzco. During a break in the jungle, Kronk talks to a squirrel. The squirrel tells Kronk that he saw a talking llama and points them in the direction to find him. Kuzco and Pacha decide to stop for food at Mudka’s Meat Hut, where Kuzco has to dress up as a woman to get in, since llamas are not allowed inside. The two pretend to be on their honeymoon. Kuzco hates the food and speaks to the chef, telling him his food is awful. Pacha then sees two people walk in. He overhears them talking about Kuzco. Pacha rushes into the kitchen to get Kuzco, saying they need to leave, but Kuzco still wants dinner. At the same time, Kronk comes in to ask about Yzma’s dinner order. The chef abruptly quits, leaving Kronk in charge, who is happy to help. Somehow, Yzma and Kuzco do not see each other, but Pacha takes Kuzco out of the restaurant anyway. Kuzco tells Pacha he saw Yzma and Kronk and that he is safe now and Pacha can leave. He ignores Pacha’s attempts to tell him that the two are trying to kill him. Kuzco finds this out for himself, though, as he overhears Yzma and Kronk just as he was about to show himself to them. Kuzco is now alone, and we go back to the start of the film, with Kuzco sad in the rainy jungle. That night, Kronk realises that he knows Pacha; he was the man whose cart Kuzco ending up on. If they can find Pacha, they’ll find Kuzco. They head to Pacha’s house to wait for him.
The next day, Kuzco tries to be a normal llama within a herd, but can’t manage it. He soon finds Pacha sitting there, telling the llamas about his strange few days with Kuzco. The two agree to team up again and get Kuzco home. They head to Pacha’s house for supplies, but sure enough, Yzma and Kronk are already there. Pacha speaks to his wife through a window, and she says her and the kids will stall Yzma and Kronk to give them a head start. Once they get out of Pacha’s family’s obstacles, Yzma and Kronk follow suit. Kuzco and Pacha are ahead, getting over a ravine with a zipwire, whereas Yzma and Kronk are hit by a random bolt of lightning and fall off the map. Pacha and Kuzco make it to Yzma’s lab.
In the lab, they search for the vial to turn Kuzco human. But Yzma is already there, and she has it. Yzma tosses a knife to Kronk, telling him to kill them both. Kronk’s shoulder angel and devil reappear to help him decide, but to the others, it looks like he’s talking to himself. Yzma then insults him, calling him a “big, stupid monkey” and declaring she never liked his spinach puffs – gasp! Kronk is devastated and cuts down the chandelier, believing it will crush Yzma, but instead, she slips right through the middle. She pulls a lever, sending Kronk through a trapdoor. Pacha and Yzma fight over the vial, which gets lost in amongst many others. Pacha grabs them all, and throws some random potions on the guards that Yzma has summoned, turning them into animals. One becomes a cow and asks to go home, but the rest continue. Pacha starts passing random vials to Kuzco, turning him into a turtle, then a bird, then a whale, then a llama again; none of which help them outrun Yzma and her guards. They end up in a pool of water, which is drained. It turns out this is the nose of the huge face that is carved into Kuzco’s palace! Kuzco and Pacha grab onto some carvings at the front of the palace, but Yzma’s guards fall. Yzma uses some curtains to make sure she does not, and slams onto a vial as she gets herself onto a ledge.
This looks to be turning her into a huge monster, but no, she’s just a cat! Cats are no joke though. I had a cat literally jump on my face and start clawing at me. It clearly had issues – kind of like Yzma! The only vial left is the human one. Yzma attacks Kuzco to get it back, and then attacks Pacha, who loses his balance and struggles to hang on to the ledge. Yzma has the vial her paws, but she cannot open it. In her frustration, she throws it, and falls trying to retrieve it. As she tumbles down, luckily, a huge trampoline has been set up outside the palace; it was incorrectly delivered there, and it bounces Yzma back up. Kuzco has located the position of but rushes back to save Pacha from falling instead. They watch the vial fall. Yzma then catches it on her way back up, but hits her head on the ascent. The vial falls to a different point on the palace. Pacha and Kuzco use their walking-up-cliffs trick to get it back but as they are about to retrieve it, Yzma takes it back. But then, Kronk suddenly opens a window, hitting Yzma in the face and loses the vial. Pacha and Kuzco retrieve it, and Kuzco drinks it.
We see Emperor Kuzco apologising to the old man he had thrown out of the palace window right at the start of the film. Kuzco then meets with Pacha and says he did not hear any “singing hills” on their journey and tells Pacha he will be building his summer home somewhere else. Pacha then says that there might be singing on the hill next to his village. Kuzco ponders this and we flash forward to see that Kuzcotopia has been built – it is a birdhouse instead of a summer home! Kuzco does have a hut next to Pacha and he now spends his time with all of them, continuing to be a better emperor and a better person. We also see that Kronk is now a leader of the Junior Chipmunks, which Pacha’s children are part of, as well as Yzma, who is still a cat and a very reluctant member of the troop!
CHARACTERS & CAST
The Emperor’s New Groove benefits from having a small main cast of characters, with there being only four of those in total. The first one is obviously Emperor Kuzco. He is a spoilt brat, who has spent years getting what he wants, whenever he wants, and therefore has no idea how to be a kind and respectful human being. He is only 18 here, but still, he should have been taught better. And if it’s true that Yzma practically raised him, as she claims, then really, it’s her fault Kuzco is the way he is! Kuzco isn’t bothered about hurting others and doesn’t care about the consequences of his actions: he tosses an old man out of the palace for ruining his dance number, he’d happily destroy a whole village just to give himself a summer home, which no doubt he’d use for two weeks of the year and would then leave sitting empty for the rest of the time, and fires Yzma without even a second thought or warning. I wonder if she could’ve sued for unfair dismissal? So Kuzco is not a character who appears to be at all redeemable, or even likeable. But that’s at the start. Gradually, he builds a friendship with Pacha, and Kuzco starts to realise that he’s actually not so great and could really benefit from gaining some empathy and humility! Kuzco’s change of heart is shown at the end of the film, when, though he doesn’t want to admit it out loud, he decides not to build Kuzcotopia on Pacha’s village because he knows it’s wrong.
Emperor Kuzco is voiced by comedian David Spade, who was nominated for a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for his voice acting in this role. At the time, Spade was best known for being part of the cast of Saturday Night Live from 1990 to 1996. David Spade’s first foray into movie roles saw him appear in a couple of movies with fellow SNL cast member Chris Farley, these being Tommy Boy (1995) and Black Sheep (1996). In the years that followed The Emperor’s New Groove, Spade appeared in 8 Simple Rules from 2004 to 2005, playing C.J., Cate’s nephew, and starred in Rules of Engagement (2007-13) as Russell Dunbar, alongside Patrick Warburton, voice of Kronk. Spade is also well-known for his friendship with Adam Sandler, appearing in some of Sandler’s movies, such as Grown Ups (2010) and the Hotel Transylvania franchise (2012-22). I am a big fan of David Spade, partly because of The Emperor’s New Groove, and partly from his cameos in Adam Sandler comedies. Though many of these comedies get negative reviews, I think they are great.
Moving on to Pacha. He is clearly a family man, with his adoring wife Chicha, who is pregnant with their third child, and his two children, Chaca and Tipo. It’s an obviously close family, who come together in times of crisis and difficulty. Pacha is also very committed to his village, as the last six generations of his family have lived in the same house, and all the villagers know and respect him. Despite Kuzco’s plans for Pacha’s village, Pacha is still kind-hearted enough to take Kuzco back to his palace, and he has hope that Kuzco will change his mind about building Kuzcotopia in the end. It seems like wishful thinking, but Pacha was clearly right to wait, knowing that it would eventually happen.
John Goodman was chosen to voice Pacha, as they felt he could portray the dependable family man of Pacha, and liked his infectious laugh and the warmth he could bring to the character. Many have said that Pacha is the glue that holds the film together, and I think that’s because he is the person who believes in the goodness in others, which The Emperor’s New Groove needs to give the film some heart[1]. I am also a big fan of John Goodman, both for his comedy and more dramatic roles. For Disney, Goodman returned to voice acting to provide the voice for Sulley in Monsters, Inc. (2001), Monsters University (2013) and its subsequent spin-offs, and the voice for “Big Daddy” La Bouff in The Princess and the Frog (2009). From 1988 to 1997, and again from 2018, Goodman portrayed the role of Dan Conner in the television series Roseanne and now The Conners. Children of the 1990s probably also know Goodman from The Borrowers (1997), where he played Ocious P. Potter. His more serious film credits include Argo (2012) 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016), Patriots Day (2016), and Kong: Skull Island (2017).
Then we have Yzma, the villainess of the film. She starts the movie not seeming too threatening as the Emperor’s Advisor. There is a lot of talk about how old she is, and that she looks “scary beyond all reason”, with a lot of focus on her wrinkles, but she doesn’t seem scary, just because she wants to sit on Kuzco’s throne and play emperor sometimes. It’s not until Kuzco fires her that she then decides to exact revenge on him, and for all we know, maybe if he hadn’t fired her so cold-heartedly, perhaps none of that llama stuff would have happened to him! Yzma does have a Secret Lab, where she brews potions, but she is not magical. It’s not really a huge surprise that she wants to get rid of Kuzco, because he’s not very nice, though we know that Yzma won’t be a very good ruler either, judging by how she refuses to help a poor villager who comes to speak with her! Yzma isn’t a bad villain, but she’s not the best for me. I just think she’s too funny to be scary. It sounds like the original version of Yzma would’ve been a much better villainess, but more on that later. Still, I like how funny she is, especially when Yzma is talking to Kronk.
Yzma is voiced by singer and actress Eartha Kitt. Many young people may not know Kitt as an actress, but will likely know of her recording of the popular Christmas song, “Santa Baby”, but Kitt had a long career on stage and screen. She was even described by Orson Welles as “the most exciting woman in the world”. Welles then cast her as Helen of Troy in his 1951 stage production of Dr. Faustus[2]. Kitt also played the role of Catwoman in the third season of the 1966 Batman series, which is perhaps why Yzma is turned into a cat at the end of The Emperor’s New Groove[3]. In 1968, Eartha Kitt was vocal about her opposition to the Vietnam War, causing her career in the US to suffer, however, in 1978, Kitt returned to Broadway by starring in the musical Timbuktu! for which she was nominated for a Tony Award. Towards the end of her career, Kitt did voice work, both for Disney and other productions. Kitt sadly passed away on Christmas Day 2008.
Finally, of the main four, there is Kronk, Yzma’s right-hand man and henchman. Kronk is not aware for most of the film that he is on the side of the “bad guy” and just goes with whatever he is told to do. He is a big, muscular guy, so he should look threatening, but he is not aggressive or nasty, as would be expected. Kronk is the scene-stealer in The Emperor’s New Groove, which is ironic because at one point, there were discussions that Kronk was an unnecessary character and was going to be cut from the film! Thanks to the dinner scene where Yzma and Kronk poison Kuzco, and the brilliant idea to make Kronk so focused on the dinner because he likes to cook, the character was saved from the chopping block – and a good thing too, because Kronk is many people’s favourite character in the whole movie. Kronk is not the sharpest tool in the shed, but his heart is in the right place.
Patrick Warburton voices the role of Kronk here. An interesting fact about his role as Kronk is that Warburton was asked to improvise the “theme song” that Kronk sings as he carries Kuzco in that bag through the city. Disney’s legal department then made Warburton sign over all the rights to this song[4]! At the time, Warburton was known by the Disney team from his role as David Puddy in Seinfeld from 1995 to 1998. Since then, Warburton has provided many voice roles, for both Disney and non-Disney films and television series. But for Disney, Warburton voiced Buzz Lightyear in the television series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command (2000-01), Steve Barkin in Kim Possible (2002-07), Patrick in Home on the Range (2004), Alien Cop in Chicken Little (2005) and Royal Pain in Sky High (2005). For acting, Warburton starred in the sitcom Rules of Engagement (2007-13) alongside David Spade and as Lemony Snicket in the Netflix series A Series of Unfortunate Events (2017-19). Also, Patrick Warburton appeared in a film with Eartha Kitt back in the 1980s in his first movie role. He openly admitted that the film Dragonard (1987) was terrible, and that Eartha Kitt and actor Oliver Reed, who also appeared in it, were much too good to be in this film[5]!
So that’s the main characters, but there are a few other voices who may sound familiar. First is the voice of Rudy, the old man who “throws off the emperor’s groove” at the start of the film. He is voiced by John Fielder, the original voice of Piglet in the Winnie-the-Pooh franchise, from 1968 to his death in 2005. Secondly, Patti Deutsch voices the waitress, Mata, at Mudka’s Meat Hut. Her voice may sound familiar as she voices Tantor’s mother in Tarzan (1999). Finally, Wendie Malick voices Chicha, Pacha’s wife. Malick appeared as Ronee, Frasier’s father’s girlfriend, in the final season of Frasier from 2003 to 2004. More recently, she starred alongside Kimberly Williams-Paisley in a series of television mystery movies titled Darrow & Darrow (2017-19), which are actually quite good. From 2020, Malick appeared as President Hagemeyer, president of Sheldon’s university in Young Sheldon (2017-2024).
PRODUCTION
So now to the complicated part, the production story, which was all handily filmed throughout the course of the multiple years of upheaval and turmoil. This was thanks to Trudie Styler, Sting’s wife, who meticulously directed the filming of this over a number of years. The name of the documentary is The Sweatbox, after the name given to the screening room at the Disney Studios. It was so named as the room did not have air conditioning, plus the anxiety of the animators having their film critiqued meant there was a lot of sweat in the room. Nice… The Sweatbox documentary was set to be released in early 2001, however, it has never been released to the general public. The full documentary was approved by Disney and premiered worldwide at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2002, and opened at one Los Angeles theatre for one week in order to be eligible for an Academy Award. It was also shown at the Florida Film Festival where many Disney employees got to see it. Since then, it has not been released again, and is rumoured to never be released on DVD or Blu-Ray, due to some of the Disney executives finding the content embarrassing and too intrusive to the production process. From what I’ve heard, though it does get messy at times, I don’t think The Sweatbox shows anything that we haven’t already seen. Don Hahn’s Waking Sleeping Beauty (2009), which showed the turmoil at Disney Animation in the 1980s, seemed much more painful, so to me, I don’t think Disney would lose face if they allowed the public to see The Sweatbox. But anyway, as most people have not seen it, this is some of the information to have come out of it.
Kingdom of the Sun was a vision by Roger Allers, co-director of The Lion King (1994), to create a new animated movie based on South American cultures, specifically the Incas, and to include their mythology in the storyline, looking at their gods and the importance of the sun on their way of life. On a research trip to Peru, some of the Disney animators and story team went to areas like Machu Pichu to look at the architecture and geography of the area. They also, of course, studied llamas. Mark Dindal was brought in to help Allers with the story, as they needed an entertaining story, but not something too complex. Dindal and Allers looked to Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper story for inspiration on Kingdom of the Sun, and found that they could have the emperor swap places with his peasant look-alike. There would be romance, magic, and a classic villain.
The original story followed carefree, kind-hearted Pacha, the llama herder, who comes across Emperor Manco one day. Manco is bored of ruling his kingdom, so decides to swap places with Pacha, who looks exactly like him. Somehow, Yzma discovers what the two have done, and turns Manco into a non-talking llama, so that Pacha must continue to be emperor. Nina, Manco’s betrothed, is surprised to find this emperor is now kind and funny and finds herself falling in love with him, with Pacha also falling in love with her. Meanwhile, Yzma believes that if she can block out the sun, using the demon Supai, a force of darkness, then her beauty will be restored, as she is upset with how old she looks[6].
Yzma was to be designed by Andreas Deja, known for classic villain characters like Gaston, Jafar, and Scar. He was very excited to be involved with Yzma’s storyline, which would have seen her as an old, wrinkly woman wanting to be young again, and planning to use dark magic to achieve it. He’d designed male villains before, but wanted to get to work on an over-the-top female villain, someone like Cruella de Vil. Deja liked Eartha Kitt as Yzma, and her voice recordings gave him ample inspiration for the character. Yzma was to have a rock sidekick, Huaca voiced by Harvey Fierstein, who voiced Yao in Mulan (1998).
Pacha was to be a llama herder, and to be voiced by a relatively unknown Owen Wilson. This llama herder looked exactly like the emperor, and was ordered to switch places with him. Giving Pacha the leadership position would have changed everything and showed that arrogant men are not fit to rule. David Spade voiced the role of Emperor Manco, a spoilt, bratty prince, so not much different to Kuzco, and Yzma was still voiced by Eartha Kitt, with the character bitter and jealous of Manco, turning him into a llama early on in the movie.
This was the basic storyline, which then went to a screening in front of Peter Schneider, president of Walt Disney Feature Animation at the time of the screening, and Tom Schumacher, who took over from Schneider in 1999. Schumacher and Schneider were critical of the film, and felt the pacing was bad, it wasn’t fun enough and there were too many characters to follow, though they did like some of Sting’s songs. Allers was used to this kind of criticism but was still disappointed. There were good elements of the film, but the movie as a whole was not coming together at this point. After lots of discussions, new story treatments, and rumours of the film being changed and voice cast cuts, directors changing, and the strange possibility that the setting would be moved from Peru to Nebraska, with the llamas being replaced with sheep, a last-minute idea was approved. This was a completely new storyline, apart from the emperor becoming a llama. Manco’s name was changed to Kuzco, Allers left the project, Huaca was cut from the movie, as was the original Pacha character and Owen Wilson (sad times), and Mark Dindal was now the sole director. Oh yeah, and Andreas Deja left the project as Yzma was no longer an interesting character for him; he was replaced with Dale Baer.
In 1999, it was agreed that an older Pacha, a big guy to be voiced by John Goodman, and his friendship with Kuzco as a llama, were the main storyline, with Yzma and the new character of Kronk, Yzma’s sidekick, to be voiced by Patrick Warburton, being the subplot. David Spade and Eartha Kitt were kept in the voice cast. Animation of Yzma and Kronk was split between the US and Paris Disney Animation Studios. At some point, the movie’s name was changed from Kingdom of the Sun to The Emperor’s New Groove, a parody of the name of Hans Christian Andersen’s tale The Emperor’s New Clothes, though no story elements, other than a vain emperor, are seen in The Emperor’s New Groove. They still only had until 2000 to make the movie, as marketing tie-ins had already been agreed. The release date was coming fast, and despite minor story and character changes, the movie was coming along. Sting had agreed to write new songs, despite his disappointment, and he even got the ending of the movie changed to actually give the film a message. He wrote a letter to Disney to say he was at odds with the story, as he thought having Kuzco simply build his summer home on the hill next door was against his personal views. The executives actually felt this was a good note, so took that on board and that is why Kuzcotopia is just a birdhouse at the end of the film[7].
Somehow, against all odds, The Emperor’s New Groove did get finished, and although it may not have been what the animators had expected to be making at the start of production back in the mid-1990s, they made an animated movie and got it finished on time. Many state that had Roger Allers been given more time and more support, then Kingdom of the Sun would have been an amazing movie. I would have really liked to have seen this original concept, as much as I like The Emperor’s New Groove, so it is a shame.
MUSIC
The Emperor’s New Groove only contains two songs within the movie, with one being the opening number and the other an End Credits song. But three others exist on the soundtrack. As Kingdom of the Sun was meant to be a musical, and then suddenly wasn’t, there were many songs that were written and recorded, but did not make it into The Emperor’s New Groove.
In 1997, Sting was asked to write the music for Kingdom of the Sun by Roger Allers. Sting was encouraged to work on the Disney film by Elton John and Phil Collins who had had success and enjoyed working with Disney on the music for their respective movies, The Lion King and Tarzan (1999). Sting agreed to write the music for Disney, providing his wife, filmmaker Trudie Styler, could document the whole of the production process. This became the documentary The Sweatbox, as mentioned earlier. He apparently wrote five or six songs for Kingdom of the Sun, alongside his long-time collaborator, David Hartley, none of which feature in The Emperor’s New Groove, and only three exist on the soundtrack.
For the love song of Kingdom of the Sun, because this film was going to be more similar to the typical Disney format of film, Sting wrote the song “One Day She’ll Love Me”. It was performed by Sting, singing the thoughts of Pacha, the shepherd who is impersonating the emperor, and has fallen in love with Nina, Emperor Manco’s betrothed. He is concerned that should she find out he’s not the emperor, she won’t love him in return. Shawn Colvin performs the part of Nina, who is confused that the arrogant Manco has suddenly become nice and she genuinely likes him now. Colvin is a singer-songwriter who won three Grammy Awards in the 1990s, two for her song “Sunny Came Home”. I like this song, even though it sounds different to most Disney love ballads.
Another song from Kingdom of the Sun that appears on the soundtrack is Yzma’s big villain’s song, “Snuff Out the Light”. The song was apparently written quite quickly and early on in production. It talks about how Yzma’s father, the Royal Mortician, taught her about magic and voodoo, and how she’s always tried to find a recipe for eternal youth. She also says that the sun is what is robbing her of her youth, hence why she needs to “snuff out the light”. The animation would have featured a black background with vivid streaks of colour, in a sequence similar to Pink Elephants on Parade from Dumbo (1941). Once Yzma’s storyline was cut from the film, there was no need for the song. Despite its villainous lyrics, it’s quite a fun villain’s song. It is a shame that this did not make the film, as it would have given Eartha Kitt a stand-out number, and a chance to show off her singing talents again. Sting and Hartley also worked on a number for Huaca, Yzma’s rock sidekick. It was inspired by the song “Why Can’t a Woman Be More Like a Man?” from the musical My Fair Lady, and would have been called “Why Can’t a Human Be More Like a Rock?”. This song is not in the soundtrack, so obviously was not fully finished and recorded.
The other song written by Sting and Hartley for Kingdom of the Sun that appears on the soundtrack is “Walk the Llama Llama”, which appears as a bonus feature on the DVD. On the DVD, you can watch the music video and also learn the dance sequence. It’s a silly song, but kind of fun to dance to actually, because of course I did – for research purposes… It is performed by the country music group Rascal Flatts. Later, in 2005, Rascal Flatts would perform “Life Is a Highway”, a cover of Canadian musician Tom Cochrane’s song, for Pixar’s movie, Cars. “Walk the Llama Llama” was going to be used for Kingdom of the Sun, and sung by Pacha as he led his trio of llamas down the mountainside and into the marketplace[8].
At this point, Sting had written all the songs needed for Kingdom of the Sun, and thought he was almost done with his work. But then, of course, the whole story was being reworked and he ended up back at the start of his musical journey, because nothing that had already been written would fit the new tone of the story. Bravely, Disney then asked Sting to write two new songs for the film, which was no longer going to be a musical. Reluctantly, Sting did as was asked, but, understandably, he was quite upset and disappointed, not to mention annoyed, with how the original story and his music had been cast aside.
Luckily, Sting did write the two songs, one of which is the opening number, “Perfect World”. It plays as we see Emperor Kuzco being pampered and waited on, with his own personal “theme song guy” singing this theme song. I like the song as a whole, and I particularly like the first few seconds of instrumental at the start of it. Somehow, Sir Tom Jones agreed to sing it and that just makes it even better. Tom Jones was asked to perform it as they wanted the song to have a Vegas-feel to it, and it certainly does! The song is then reprised at the end of the film, with new lyrics that talk about friendship and that “the perfect world begins and ends with us”, instead “with me” as it says at the start of the film.
The End Credits song is called “My Funny Friend and Me”, which is a slow ballad, detailing the story of Pacha and Kuzco’s friendship, and is performed by Sting. Sadly, I don’t like it much but I understand the sentiment behind it. It doesn’t matter what I think anyway, because this song of Sting’s was nominated for Best Song at multiple award ceremonies, including at the Academy Awards and at the Golden Globes, losing to “Things Have Changed” by Bob Dylan from the film Wonder Boys (2000). “My Funny Friend and Me” did win Best Song at the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, though. “Perfect World” won at the Annie Awards for Outstanding Individual Achievement for a Song in an Animated Production.
The score was composed by John Debney, who has composed music for numerous films, including many for the Walt Disney Company, including Hocus Pocus (1993) and its 2022 sequel, The Princess Diaries (2001), and its 2004 sequel, Snow Dogs (2002), and Chicken Little (2005), which Mark Dindal would direct. From the score, I particularly like the piece “Run, Llama, Run”, which features during the final chase scene to the palace with Kuzco, Pacha, Yzma, and Kronk, and “A New Hope”, when Kuzco tries, briefly, to be like a normal llama when he is separated from Pacha. But generally, the whole score is good.
Originally, Marc Shaiman, who went on to compose the score for the likes of Hairspray (2007) and Disney’s Mary Poppins Returns (2018), was asked to compose the score. However, it was deemed to be “too busy”. After some attempts at correcting this, Shaiman was asked to move on, and John Debney came in instead[9].
RECEPTION
Due to the upheaval in changing the entire tone and plot of the movie, the release dates for Dinosaur (2000) and The Emperor’s New Groove were swapped, meaning Dinosaur was released in May 2000. The Emperor’s New Groove was finally released on 15th December 2000 in the US. Despite some marketing in the way of cross-promotional campaigns, such as toys for McDonald’s Happy Meals, The Emperor’s New Groove was not as well marketed as another Disney release of 2000, 102 Dalmatians, which was released on 22nd November, just a few weeks earlier. It also struggled up against Jim Carrey’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas, released 17th November 2000. The Emperor’s New Groove did not do well at the box-office, earning just $169 million worldwide.
It did, however, receive some decent reviews[10]. Many felt that the movie was hilarious, with Spade and Warburton’s voice work as Kuzco and Kronk respectively being a major contributing factor to this opinion. It was also seen to be appealing to both children and adults, with a quick pace to its storyline. A few were more critical though. They said that the film was forgettable and that it did not show much greatness of animation, not matching the likes of Tarzan (1999) for example. This is a fair enough statement, except that some reviewers seemed to be continuing to compare any new Disney animated movie to that of Beauty and the Beast (1991) or even Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). Disney knew it was not sustainable to continue churning out the same musical fairy-tale and needed to change up their style and do something different. Obviously if the people expect something and get another thing, they will be disappointed.
The Emperor’s New Groove was nominated at several awards ceremonies, such as the Satellite Awards and Annie Awards. For the animation and voice work, Disney won awards for Character Animation by Dale Baer for Yzma and Voice Acting for Eartha Kitt as Yzma, with Patrick Warburton also nominated for Kronk. Storyboarding, Directing, Writing, and Production Design were also categories that Disney was nominated in.
The timing of The Emperor’s New Groove release was not the best, as 2000 was a big year for animated films and family movies in general, with the likes of Rugrats in Paris: The Movie (Paramount/Nickelodeon), The Road to El Dorado (DreamWorks), and Chicken Run (Aardman) all being released earlier in the same year. There were also comparisons drawn between The Road to El Dorado, as both were set in South America around the same time period of the 1500s, and were buddy comedies, with the friendship of the two leading male characters being a focal point of the story. Some like to say that this was down to the skilled espionage of Jeffrey Katzenberg, who left the Disney Company in 1994 and would have seen production on Kingdom of the Sun, before moving over to DreamWorks. It could be seen as a similar situation to that in 1998, when DreamWorks quickly made Antz, a similar movie to Pixar’s A Bug’s Life, and released it in October 1998, a month both Pixar released theirs in November 1998. Though Katzenberg may have been inspired by the location of Kingdom of the Sun, I believe the two films are quite different and therefore, on this occasion, I don’t think Katzenberg was a spy. Either way, all four films have their fans, though The Road to El Dorado suffered at the box-office and received mixed reviews from critics, so this could be a small win for The Emperor’s New Groove.
When the film was released on VHS and DVD, The Emperor’s New Groove managed to increase its following and popularity. In 2001, it became the top-selling home video release of that year. In 2013, the film was digitally remastered and sold as a two-movie Blu-Ray collection, alongside its sequel.
LEGACY
As was quite standard in the 2000s, The Emperor’s New Groove received a direct-to-video sequel, titled Kronk’s New Groove, released in 2005. It follows Kronk, who is now chef at Mudka’s Meat Hut, who is preparing for his father to visit him. He is anxious as his father has always disapproved of his choices in life and thinks he should have settled down with a family by now. The original voice cast all returned to reprise their roles for Kronk’s New Groove, with even John Fielder as Rudy, and Patti Deutsch as Mata, returning here. For some strange reason, Kronk’s New Groove currently holds a critical rating of 0% on Rotten Tomatoes – as does Mulan II (2004) – which seems grossly unfair. It’s not a great film, but it’s not awful and no worse or better than any other Disney direct-to-video sequels, many of which were judged harshly, but aren’t actually all that bad.
In 2006, a spin-off television series aired on the Disney Channel for two seasons between January 2006 and November 2008, titled The Emperor’s New School. It is set after the events of The Emperor’s New Groove and follows Kuzco as he must graduate from Kuzco Academy to formally become emperor of the Inca Empire. I have watched a few episodes of this series and thought it was funny at the time, but I can’t remember any of the plot points now. I actually thought it was set before the first film, and wondered how he knew Pacha; shows how much I was paying attention! J.P. Manoux, who had already voiced Kuzco in other Disney media, except for Kronk’s New Groove, replaced David Spade here through the program’s entirety, and Fred Tatasciore replaced John Goodman as Pacha for Season 1, with John Goodman returning for Season 2. Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton did return to reprise their roles, as did Wendie Malick as Chicha, and Patti Deutsch, as Mata the lunch lady. Eartha Kitt won two Annie Awards for Voice Acting in an Animated Television Production and two Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her voice work here.
Two games based on the film were also developed, including a PC game, which I believe was the first computer game I ever actually managed to finish! I loved it.
At the Disney Parks, Kuzco, Yzma, and Kronk seem to be the only characters who were designed to be walkaround characters. I cannot find categoric evidence that the three appeared at the Disney Parks around the time of The Emperor’s New Groove release date, but this was probably the case. However, in recent years, these three characters are incredibly difficult characters to meet. At Disneyland, Yzma appeared most recently at the Disneyland After Dark: Villains Nite event in 2022, and at Walt Disney World, Kronk and Yzma apparently appeared during the Wine and Dine Half Marathon in 2021. Surprisingly, Kronk, Yzma and Kuzco have appeared quite frequently at Disneyland Paris, for example at the Disney FanDaze event in 2018, at the Annual Passholder Event in September 2019, again in 2021, and sometimes Yzma appears at the Halloween event. I am unsure if any of the three ever appeared at Hong Kong, Tokyo, or Shanghai. The rarity of these character meet-and-greets and the increased popularity of the film in recent years will mean that they will likely appear again at special events at the US and Paris Disney Parks at the least.
There were some brief references to the film and the characters in other areas though. At the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World, Kuzco and Yzma used to appear in a storyline for the interactive game Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom, where guests would fight against villains alongside Merlin. Their storyline took place in Adventureland. I really liked that game, and it was something different to do if lines were too long or everywhere was a bit crowded, so it’s a shame they closed it in January 2021, just about nine years after it opened. At Disney Springs at Walt Disney World, specifically at the Marketplace Co-op store, a boutique called Disney TAG (Travel-Accessories-Gear) used to exist within that building. It opened in March 2016; I am unsure when it closed and was replaced with another boutique, but it is no longer listed as one of Marketplace Co-op’s retail outlets. As Disney TAG was travel themed, there was an Arrivals and Departures Flight Board on the wall. On it were listed a variety of real and fantasy destinations, one of which was Kuzcotopia.
Finally, at the Disney Parks, this time at Tokyo DisneySea, some claim that the Lost River Delta area of the park is visually influenced by Kuzco’s Incan empire. I have not been to that park, but looking at videos of this area online, I would have to disagree that this area looks like anything from The Emperor’s New Groove. There are stone temples that represent areas of Peru, specifically one named Cusco, and the entrance to the Raging Spirits ride does vaguely resemble Kuzco’s palace, but for it to be classed as themed to The Emperor’s New Groove, it would have to have been all in gold, in my opinion.
In recent years, more merchandise based on The Emperor’s New Groove and its characters have been released, both exclusive items for members of specific associations and general items for the public. These have included ornaments, pins, Funko models, and MagicBands for the general public, and for the 2022 D23 Expo, a Devil Kronk Loungefly backpack and an Angel Kronk wallet were released for D23 members.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Thanks to its cult following, The Emperor’s New Groove is beginning to be remembered and referenced again. It has been hard-going for many years for fans of the movie who wanted to see the film mentioned, and even though there are no permanent, concrete references to the movie at the Disney Parks currently, it is likely that merchandise lines will keep being developed to capitalise on the love for this film.
The Emperor’s New Groove was the film that Disney Animation never meant to make. It was never the plan to release a buddy comedy, but audience expectations and viewers’ tastes were changing around the early 2000s and Disney wanted to make sure they were on trend. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for them financially with The Emperor’s New Groove, but critically, it was received well. In the years that followed, comedy movies from animation studios, such as Shrek (2001) and Madagascar (2005) would do incredibly well at the box-office, so Disney Animation were perhaps just a bit too early here.
Sadly, Disney Animation continued to have a difficult ride for the rest of the 2000s, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. Even though the 2000s was not the decade for The Emperor’s New Groove, perhaps the 2020s is.
REFERENCES
[1] Credit: Disney, “Behind-the-Scenes Featurette”, from The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), DVD (2001).
[2] Credit: Sean Wilson, ‘The Emperor’s New Groove 20th anniversary: 5 reasons why it’s an underrated Disney gem’, Cineworld.ie, 15th December 2020.
[3] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), pp. 118-120.
[4] Credit: Jim Korkis, Everything I Know I Learned from Disney Animated Feature Films (2015), ‘The Emperor’s New Groove (2000), pp. 118-120.
[5] Credit: Bilge Ebiri, ‘’We’ll Never Make That Kind of Movie Again’ An oral history of The Emperor’s New Groove, a raucous Disney animated film that almost never happened’, Vulture.com, 27th January 2021.
[6] Credit: Wade Sampson, ‘The Greatest Disney Documentary You May Never See’, MousePlanet.com, 12th September 2007.
[7] Credit: Trudie Styler and John-Paul Davidson, The Sweatbox (2002).
[8] Credit: Wade Sampson, ‘The Greatest Disney Documentary You May Never See’, MousePlanet.com, 12th September 2007.
[9] Credit: Trudie Styler and John-Paul Davidson, The Sweatbox (2002).
[10] Credit: Wade Sampson, ‘The Greatest Disney Documentary You May Never See’, MousePlanet.com, 12th September 2007.
The Disney Purist 