Plot Summary
Hilarious comedy rules in Disney’s THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE! There’s something for everyone in this hip, funny movie with its dynamo cast, distinctive style, and great music — featuring the Academy Award(R)-nominated song “My Funny Friend And Me” (2000, Best Original Song). Emperor Kuzco (voiced by David Spade) is turned into a llama by his devious advisor, Yzma (Eartha Kitt), and her hunky henchman, Kronk (Patrick Warburton). Now the ruler who once had it all must form an unlikely alliance with a pleasant peasant named Pacha (John Goodman). Together, they must overcome their differences as they embark on a hilarious, “groovy” adventure. Discovering the good in everyone has never been this much fun! Your whole family will enjoy this comic delight again and again.
Director: Mark Dindal
Writers: Chris Williams (story), Mark Dindal (story), plus 10 others
Stars: David Spade, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, John Goodman, Wendie Malick
I am a huge kid at heart and absolutely love watching animated movies. Even before my son was born I loved watching cartoons and animated movies. I doubt that will ever change and it has come in handy as my son has gotten old enough to start enjoying movies. He turned 4 earlier this year and is at the perfect age to enjoy movies like this with me.
Prior to watching this movie for the entry it had been a while since I last watched it and I was a little shocked to realize that this movie was released on DVD almost 15 years ago!!! I remember renting, and ultimately buying, it when it first came out and loving it instantly. Watching it today with the realization that is has been out for almost 15 years I was very glad to discover that it still feels new. I still love this movie and while I have always appreciated the moral of the story that appreciation has only increased since watching the it with my son. I know that even though he may not be able to specifically see the moral himself I know that he is still learning that being selfish and hurting others to get what you want is not a good thing.
I love the entire movie, but there are some individual parts that always make me smile and the fact that they are scattered throughout the movie is just that much better. For example, after Kronk has thrown Kuzco (who has already been turned into a llama and is tied up in a sack, into a canal that leads to a huge waterfall Kronk has an exchange with his shoulder Angel and Devil. I love the perfectly pointless dialogue that this brief encounter contains. I also love when Kronk talks to the squirrel, the way that Chicha (Pacha’s wife), Tipo (Pacha’s son) and Chaca (Pacha’s daughter) deal with Yzma and Kronk after Pacha and Kuzco ask for help getting a head start and Yzma as a cat. All of these comedic sequences, and more, just give this movie and story so much character and keep me coming back for more. (They also offer some post movie watching entertainment when my son starts quoting some of the lines from the movie like Kuzco’s “No touchy” line or the way that Kronk talks to the squirrel “Squeakity-squeak, sqeakin'”.)
I don’t know how many truly unique animated stories that Disney has created, meaning ones that are not already based on fairy tales, legends/myths, literature or historical people, but this is definitely one of my favorites. It’s right up there with Goofy Movie (to be written about at a later date). It is also one of my favorite non-musical, Disney animated movies.
Aside for the fact that I loved this movie I didn’t know a whole lot about it and was surprised by some of the things that learned when I dug a little deeper in preparation for this entry. As usual I will add trivia regarding this movie, but one of the most interesting pieces of trivia turns out to be a rather complicated story including details like the fact that it was supposed to have been a musical with at least 3 original songs written by Sting before the entire story was completely rewrtitten, resulting in the movie that I am writing about today. I would have loved to learn that fact through a Special Feature on the DVD/Blu-ray, but sadly there do not seem to be any Special Features at all, unless there is an easter egg that I missed somewhere. No, instead I learned this backstory from IMDb.com and because I find it so interesting I will be adding their entry regarding it below.
Even without the fascinating backstory and despite it’s age I love this movie and consider it to be a classic. It is definitely one that I will make sure is part of my collection for the rest of my life.
Information about development found on IMDb.com
This film was originally planned to have been a dramatic, sweeping Disney musical named “Kingdom of the Sun”, to be directed by The Lion King (1994) director Roger Allers and Mark Dindal, director of Turner’s Cats Don’t Dance (1997), with six original songs written by Sting, that was essentially an Incan re-telling of Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper.” David Spade was the voice of the young emperor Manco, Owen Wilson was Pacha, a young peasant with a striking resemblance to the emperor, and Eartha Kitt was Yzma, the aged royal sorceress. The film involved Manco and Pacha switching places, except that Yzma finds out, turns Manco into a (non-speaking) llama, and makes Pacha do her bidding. Pacha also eventually was to fall in love with Nina (voice of Carla Gugino), the emperor’s betrothed. The resulting film tested very poorly, and the production was suspended, even though the film was 50% complete. Allers and Yzma supervising animator Andreas Deja both left the project and moved to Orlando, Florida to work on Lilo & Stitch (2002). During the production hiatus, Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer, story man Chris Williams, and screenwriter David Reynolds completely overhauled the film, eventually throwing out Wilson, the “Prince and the Pauper” angle, the completed footage, and all but one of Sting’s songs. As Roger Allers’s take on the film was starting to take shape, Disney management were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the film, feeling it was too similar to the story of the Prince and the Pauper. Test screenings too generated poor feedback. On the strength of this, Mark Dindal was hired to add more comedic elements to the film. Dindal and Allers did not get on and essentially both began making their own separate version of the film. The Disney executives, although unhappy with Roger Allers’s direction on the film, held off from interfering with him, given that he had provided them with their biggest hit, The Lion King (1994), which too had had a troubled production. Also, most of Allers’s crew were very loyal to their director. By the summer of 1998, it was increasingly clear that “Kingdom of the Sun” was not going to make its summer 2000 release date. Merchandising tie-ins with McDonalds and Coca-Cola amongst others meant that the release date could not be moved. Director Roger Allers asked for a six month extension to the release which was denied. Allers then quit the project. With the film on the brink of total shutdown, co-director Mark Dindal worked on a retooling of the film. While he did this, most of his animators were reassigned to work on the Rhapsody in Blue segment of Fantasia/2000 (1999). The result of this retooling was the film we have today. The story was rebuilt from the ground up, retaining Spade’s and Kitt’s characters and creating a new, wackier film that centered around Spade’s (talking) llama, Yzma, and two new characters: Pacha, now a middle-aged man played by John Goodman, and Kronk.
Trivia
- Patrick Warburton improvised when Kronk hummed his own theme song when he was carrying Kuzco in the bag to the waterfall. Disney legal department had Warburton to sign all rights to the humming composition over to them.
- Pacha’s wife, Chicha, is pregnant. According to the DVD commentary, this is the first Disney animated feature to show a pregnant woman.
- In the scene where Pacha is carrying Kuzco through the jungle, Pacha and Kuzco discuss Kuzco having low blood sugar. This is an in-joke about the fact that David Spade, who plays Kuzco, is hypoglycemic in real life.
- In the scene where Kuzco and Pacha are searching through the various potions, Pacha says, “Lions, tigers, bears” then when they come upon the potion for humans, it is missing and Yzma says “oh my.” Together this creates a line from The Wizard of Oz (1939). According to producer Randy Fullmer and director Mark Dindal, they were forced to use this joke, which they detested, by then-head of Feature Animation Thomas Schumacher.
All the Trivia on this page was found on IMDb.com and/or referenced in the Special Features section on the movie.
The Movie Momma 