The Emperor's New Groove is a 2000 American animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation. It was directed by Mark Dindal and written by David Reynolds, based on a story conceived by Dindal and Chris Williams. The film stars David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton, and Wendie Malick. Inspired by ancient Peruvian culture and set in an Incan empire, The Emperor's New Groove follows Emperor Kuzco (Spade), who is accidentally transformed into a llama by his treacherous ex-advisor, Yzma (Kitt), and her dimwitted henchman Kronk (Warburton) in a botched attempt to kill him by poisoning his drink. For the emperor to change back into a human, he entrusts a village leader, Pacha (Goodman), to escort him back to the palace before Yzma can track them down and finish him off.
Development of The Emperor's New Groove began in 1994 when the film was conceived as a musical epic titled Kingdom of the Sun. Following his directorial debut with The Lion King (1994), Roger Allers recruited English musician Sting to compose several songs for the film. Because of the underwhelming box-office performances of Pocahontas (1995) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996), Dindal was brought in as co-director to make the film more comedic. Because of poor test screenings, creative differences with Dindal, and production falling behind schedule, Allers departed, and the film became a lighthearted comedy in the vein of a Chuck Jones cartoon instead of a dramatic musical. A documentary, The Sweatbox (2002), details the production troubles that The Emperor's New Groove endured during its six years of development.
The Emperor's New Groove premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on December 10, 2000, and was released in theaters by Buena Vista Pictures Distribution under the Walt Disney Pictures banner on December 15, 2000. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, but it underperformed at the box office compared to Disney films released in the 1990s, grossing $169.5 million on a $100million budget. However, the film found larger success when it was released for home media, and became the best-selling home video release by Disney of 2001 in the United States. In the years since its release, The Emperor's New Groove has garnered a cult following among fans. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "My Funny Friend and Me", performed by Sting; that award went to "Things Have Changed" by Bob Dylan from Wonder Boys. It was re-released in theaters in 2021 and grossed an additional $334,000. A direct-to-video spin-off sequel, Kronk's New Groove, was released on December 13, 2005, and an animated television series, The Emperor's New School, aired on the Disney Channel from 2006 to 2008.
Plot
In South America, Incan emperor Kuzco has been spoiled his entire life and has become incredibly conceited. On the day before his 18th birthday, Kuzco announces his plan to demolish a nearby village and have a lavish summer home constructed in its place; village leader Pacha objects but is dismissed. Kuzco also discovers his elderly advisor and alchemist Yzma is usurping his duties, and informs her that she is fired. Yzma and her bumbling sidekick Kronk plot to poison Kuzco's wine and take over the empire before the news of Yzma's termination becomes public. However, Kronk takes the wrong chemical vial from Yzma's secret laboratory, accidentally turning Kuzco into a llama instead of killing him. Yzma orders Kronk to knock Kuzco out, take him outside the city, and kill him. An attack of conscience and a series of mishaps causes Kronk to drop the sack containing the unconscious Kuzco; the sack lands on the back of Pacha's cart, and Pacha leaves the city before Kronk can catch up to him.
Kuzco awakens in Pacha's backyard, having lost some of his memory. Believing Pacha transformed and kidnapped him, Kuzco orders Pacha to take him home. Pacha refuses to help unless Kuzco changes his mind and builds his summer home elsewhere. Kuzco arrogantly rejects Pacha's demand and ventures into the jungle alone, despite Pacha warning him it is unsafe. After Pacha follows him and rescues him from jaguars, Kuzco begrudgingly agrees to relocate the construction site of his summer house if Pacha takes him home. On the way to the palace, Kuzco tries to renege on his promise; he and Pacha fight on a collapsing bridge, before being forced to work together to escape some crocodiles and a crumbling cliff face. Meanwhile, Yzma learns Kronk lost Kuzco and the duo set out to find him.
At a roadside diner, Pacha and Kuzco arrive at the same time as Yzma and Kronk, but neither party initially notices the other. Kronk nearly recognizes Pacha, who overhears Yzma's plans to murder Kuzco. Pacha sneaks Kuzco out of the diner, but Kuzco does not believe Pacha's warnings. Kuzco and Pacha argue and part ways. Kuzco almost approaches Yzma and Kronk, until he overhears them discussing their plot to kill him, and the fact that no one in the kingdom seems to care that he is gone. Realizing he is alone and unwanted, and finally seeing Yzma's true colors, Kuzco flees into the jungle to apologize to Pacha, but cannot find him. As a result, he breaks down into depression over how selfish he had been in the past.
The next morning, a devastated Kuzco resigns himself to living in a herd of llamas; however, Pacha has been waiting there for him, and the two reconcile. Meanwhile, Kronk remembers where he saw Pacha before, and tells Yzma. Kuzco and Pacha return to Pacha's village, only to discover that Yzma and Kronk are in Pacha's house, posing as distant relatives. Pacha's family distracts Yzma to give Pacha and Kuzco a head start; however, Yzma and Kronk still manage to confront the duo in Yzma's lab. Kronk is ordered to kill them, but he has another attack of conscience and hesitates. Yzma harshly insults him, and he attempts to kill her instead, but she drops him through a trapdoor.
As Pacha and Kuzco flee from Yzma and her guards, Kuzco tries several different potions, without success. After figuring out which vial is the "human" potion, Kuzco, Pacha, and Yzma fight over it. Yzma is turned into a cat by one of the other potions, and Pacha nearly falls off the side of the palace; this forces Kuzco to rescue Pacha, allowing Yzma to take the vial. With some teamwork and inadvertent assistance from Kronk (who found his way out of the trapdoor), the duo defeat Yzma and recover the vial. After finally becoming human again, Kuzco makes amends with the people he hurt and builds a more modest summer home on the uninhabited hill next to Pacha's. Meanwhile, Kronk goes on to become the leader of a scout troop, with Yzma, still as a cat, being a reluctant member of it.
Voice cast
To accommodate the new direction taken by The Emperor's New Groove, the choice of voice actors fell on actors associated with comic theatre. The part of Kuzco was given to David Spade, who got his start on Saturday Night Live. The role of Yzma went to Eartha Kitt, a part that earned her an Annie Award. John Goodman was announced to voice the gentle farmer Pacha. After this first collaboration with Disney, Goodman took on other voice acting roles for the Burbank company, including Sulley from Monsters, Inc. Finally, the role of Kronk went to Patrick Warburton.
David Spade as Emperor Kuzco, the entitled, pampered, and arrogant 18-year-old emperor of the Inca Empire who has no patience for the needs of others and has a lack of compassion John Goodman as Pacha, a brave, kind, and humble village leader Eartha Kitt as Yzma, Kuzco's evil, elderly advisor who seeks to usurp him Patrick Warburton as Kronk, Yzma's hapless and unintelligent muscular sidekick Wendie Malick as Chicha, Pacha's supportive, pregnant wife Kellyann Kelso and Eli Russell Linnetz as Chaca and Tipo respectively, Pacha and Chicha's two young, mischievous children Bob Bergen as Bucky the Squirrel—Kronk's companion who hates Yzma and has an unpleasant encounter with Kuzco—and as a fly stuck in a web Tom Jones as the Theme Song Guy, Kuzco's personal theme song conductor Patti Deutsch as Mata, a waitress at Mudka's Meat Hut John Fiedler as Rudy, a well-meaning old man who is first thrown out a window by Kuzco's guards, then later befriends him Joe Whyte as the Royal Recordkeeper (also known as Official) Jack Angel, Danny Mann, Rodger Bumpass, Paul Eiding, and Patrick Pinney as male villagers and additional voices Sherry Lynn, Jennifer Darling, and Mickie McGowan as female villagers and additional voices Jess Harnell as the Guard who throws Rudy out the window and additional voices Rodger Bumpass as one of the Guards who got turned into a cow Robert Clotworthy as the Guard pointing Pacha's way and additional voices Steve Susskind as an Irate Chef, a former chef at Mudka's Meat Hut who quits due to Kuzco and Kronk Miriam Flynn as the Piñata Lady Kath Soucie as Birthday Singers Andre Stojka and Stephen Anderson as Topo and Ipi, two of Pacha's villagers
Production Kingdom of the Sun
Following the theatrical release of The Lion King (1994), Roger Allers was called into Thomas Schumacher's office to discuss his next project. Inside his office, Schumacher explained that Disney Feature Animation was interested in exploring ancient cultures for prospective film projects. He held three pictures representative of the Inca, Aztec, and Mayan cultures. Allers chose the Inca culture as he became intrigued with the visual possibilities of the Inca creation myth. Allers would base his story on Anthony Hope's adventure novel The Prisoner of Zenda.
Alongside co-writer Matthew Jacobs, Allers formulated the idea for Kingdom of the Sun, in which development on the project began in 1994. Upon pitching the project to then-Disney CEO and chairman Michael Eisner, Allers recalled Eisner saying, "It has all of the elements of a classic Disney film", and because of his directorial success on The Lion King that same year, Eisner allowed Allers to have free rein with both the casting and the storyline. In January 1995, Variety reported that Allers was working on "an Inca-themed original story". In 1996, the production crew traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru, to study Inca artifacts and architecture, and the landscape this empire was created in.
Kingdom of the Sun was to have been a tale of a greedy, selfish emperor (voiced by David Spade) who finds a peasant (voiced by Owen Wilson) who looks just like him; the emperor swaps places with the peasant to escape his boring life and have fun, much as in author Mark Twain's archetypal novel The Prince and the Pauper. The villainous witch Yzma (voiced by Eartha Kitt) has plans to summon Supay (the evil god of death), and destroy the sun so that she may become young and beautiful forever (the sun gives her wrinkles, so she surmises that living in a world of darkness would prevent her from aging). Discovering the switch between the prince and the peasant, Yzma turns the real emperor into a llama and threatens to reveal the peasant's identity unless he obeys her. During his time as the emperor and doing Yzma's orders, the peasant falls in love with the emperor's soon-to-be fiancée Nina, who thinks he is the emperor who has changed his ways. Meanwhile, the emperor-llama learns humility in his new form and even comes to love a female llama-herder named Mata (voiced by Laura Prepon). Together, the girl and the llama set out to undo the witch's plans. Film critic James Berardinelli wrote that the film would have been a "romantic comedy musical in the 'traditional' Disney style".