Development of The Emperor's New Groove began in 1994 when the film was conceived as a musicalepic 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.[2] 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 on December 15, 2000. It received generally positive reviews from critics, but underperformed at the box office compared to Disney films released in the 1990s, grossing $169.5million on a $100-million budget.[3][4][5] However, the film found larger success when it was released for home media, and became the best-selling home video release of 2001. 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. 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, despite the objections of its leader Pacha. Kuzco also discovers his elderly advisor and alchemist Yzma is usurping his duties and summarily fires her. 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 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.[6][7][8]
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's warnings. Kuzco is pursued by jaguars, but Pacha saves him. Kuzco begrudgingly agrees to relocate the construction site of his summer home 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 discovers 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. However, Kronk nearly recognizes Pacha, who overhears Yzma's plans to murder Kuzco. He sneaks Kuzco out of the diner, but Kuzco does not believe Pacha's warnings. Kuzco and Pacha fight again and part ways. Kuzco almost approaches Yzma and Kronk, but overhears them discussing their plans to kill him; they also remark that Kuzco's subjects were not grieved by his apparent death. His self-delusions shattered by Yzma's true colors, Kuzco flees into the jungle to apologize to Pacha, but cannot find him.[6][7][8]
The next morning, Kuzco glumly resigns himself to living like a llama, but finds Pacha, and the duo 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. Against Yzma's orders of dispatching the duo, Kronk has another attack of conscience and Yzma repeatedly insults him and he tries to kill her instead. Yzma drops Kronk 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, the duo defeat Yzma and recover the vial. After becoming human again, Kuzco makes amends with the people he hurt and builds a much smaller 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.[6][7][8]
From left to right: David Spade (pictured in 2008) and John Goodman (2016), respectively the voices of Emperor Kuzco and Pacha
To accommodate the new direction taken by The Emperor's New Groove, the choice of voice actors fell on actors associated with comic theatre.[8] The part of Kuzco was given to David Spade, who was introduced by Saturday Night Live, a long-running television variety show of comedy sketches and parodies.[8] The role of Yzma went to Eartha Kitt, a part that earned her an Annie Award.[8] Called "the most exciting woman in the world" by director Orson Welles, she was a singer, dancer, comedian, and actress best known for her distinctive singing style and self-deprecating qualities.[8]John Goodman, also known for his comedic roles, including the role of Dan Conner if the sitcom Roseanne and Walter from The Big Lebowski, was chosen to play the gentle farmer Pacha.[8] After this first collaboration with Disney, Goodman took on numerous other voice acting roles for the Burbank company, including Sulley from Monsters, Inc.[8] Finally, the role of Kronk went to Patrick Warburton, another sitcom actor (David Puddy in Seinfeld) and voice of police officer Joe Swanson from Family Guy.[8]
For the dubbing of international versions of The Emperor's New Groove, voice actors associated with humor and cabaret were similarly chosen.[8] For example, Kuzco and Kronk in the Italian version of the film are played respectively by Luca Bizzarri and Paolo Kessisoglu, who in 2000 took over the hosting of Le Iene after being launched by MTV Trip, a video reportage with interviews and comedy sketches filmed while driving around Italy in a hearse.[8] The voice of Yzma was that of Anna Marchesini, considered one of the queens of Italian cabaret, who reached the peak of her success alongside Tullio Solenghi and Massimo Lopez in the successful group Il Trio.[8] Pacha was dubbed by Adalberto Maria Merli, a performer with a long career behind him.[8] Unlike the rest of the cast, Merli was known for more dramatic roles, such as dubbing Jack Nicholson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest; with his calm voice, as with Goodman, he was a suitable voice actor for Pacha, being able to balance out the exuberance of his supporting cast.[8]
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 but 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)
"Kingdom of the Sun was such a heart-breaking experience for me. I put four years of my heart and energy into that one ... I was creating an 'epic' picture mixing elements of adventure, comedy, romance and mysticism. The head of Disney Features at the time was afraid that we were doing, in his opinion, too many films in the same vein. He was also uncomfortable with the spiritual and cultural (Inca) aspects of it. Hence, he decided to make it a simple slapstick comedy ... Would it have worked out if we had had more time? I would hope so, but one can never know these things."
—Roger Allers, reflecting on the troubled history of Kingdom of the Sun[9]
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.[10]
Alongside co-writer Matthew Jacobs, Allers formulated the idea for Kingdom of the Sun,[11] in which development on the project began in 1994.[12] 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,"[13] 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.[14] In January 1995, Variety reported that Allers was working on "an Inca-themed original story".[15] 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.[16][17]
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. However, 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 pauper's identity unless he obeys her. During his time as the emperor and doing Yzma's orders, the pauper 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).[18] Together, the girl and the llama set out to undo the witch's plans. The book Reel Views 2 says the film would have been a "romantic comedy musical in the 'traditional' Disney style".[19]
After both Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame performed below expectations at the box office, studio executives felt that the project was growing too ambitious and serious for audiences following test screenings, and needed more comedy.[2] In early 1997, producer Randy Fullmer contacted and offered Mark Dindal, who had just wrapped up work on Warner Bros.' Cats Don't Dance, to be co-director on Kingdom of the Sun.[20] Meanwhile, Allers personally called Sting, in the wake of Elton John's success with The Lion King'ssoundtrack, to compose several songs for the film.[13] He agreed, but on the condition that his filmmaker wife Trudie Styler could "document the process of the production".[21] This film, which was eventually entitled The Sweatbox, was made by Xingu Films (their production company). Along with collaborator David Hartley, Sting composed eight songs inextricably linked with the original plot and characters.[12]
In the summer of 1997, it was announced that Allers and Dindal would serve as the film's directors and Randy Fullmer as producer. Spade and Kitt had been confirmed to voice the emperor Manco and the villainess, while Carla Gugino was in talks for the role of Nina.[22][23]Harvey Fierstein was also cast as Huaca, a 10,000-year-old rock who kept a sharp eye on the emperors who ruled before Manco.[13] In the summer of 1998, it became apparent that Kingdom of the Sun was not far along enough in production to be released in the summer of 2000 as planned. At this time, one of the Disney executives reportedly walked into Fullmer's office and, placing his thumb and index finger a quarter-inch apart, angrily stated "Your film is this close to being shut down."[2] Fullmer approached Allers and informed him of the need to finish the film on time for its summer 2000 release as crucial promotional deals with McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and other companies were already established and depended upon meeting that release date.[2] From screenings, Allers' vision of the film was recognized as having far too many elements. Schumacher and Peter Schneider spoke to Allers and Dindal to try to work out a pared-down film, but the two had different ideas for which direction to take the film. Schumacher and Schneider broke the staff into two small teams under Allers and Dindal and effectively had them run a "bake-off" to decide which version to go. While Allers altered some of the details of the original pitch, Dindal proposed a complete tonal shift into a comedy that Schumacher and Schneider responded favorably to. Allers allowed Dindal's version of the film to go forward and opted to step down from co-director.[10] With this change in direction, on September 23, 1998,[12][24] the project became dormant with production costs amounting to $25–30 million[12][14] and twenty-five percent of the film animated.[25]
Production overhaul and changes
Upset that Allers left the project, Eisner gave Fullmer two weeks to salvage the project or production would be completely shut down.[2] In December 1998, Fullmer and Dindal halted production for six months to retool the project, renaming it from Kingdom of the Sun to Kingdom in the Sun,[20] thus making it the first Disney animated feature to have an extensive overhaul since Pinocchio.[26] Meanwhile, following Eric Goldberg's pitch for the Rhapsody in Blue segment for Fantasia 2000, the animators were reassigned to work on the segment.[27]
Story work on the revised film started when they knew what to retain from the original version, namely David Spade as Manco and Eartha Kitt as Yzma, with the remaining elements to be written around those characters.[10]Chris Williams, who was a storyboard artist during Kingdom of the Sun,[28] came up with the idea of making Pacha an older character as opposed to the teenager that he was in the original version, as to be the opposite of Manco.[29][10] Following up on the new idea, former late-night comedy writer David Reynolds stated, "I pitched a simple comedy that's basically a buddy road picture with two guys being chased in the style of a Chuck Jones 'toon, but faster paced. Disney said, 'Give it a shot.'"[30] One of the new additions to the revised story was the scene-stealing character of Yzma's sidekick Kronk.[31] Kronk was inspired by actor Rick Rossovich, according to Williams, and as they wrote for him, Reynolds immediately thought of casting Patrick Warburton for the role based on his character Puddy from Seinfeld.[10] Meanwhile, the name Manco was changed to Kuzco following Fullmer's discovery of the Japanese slang term manko, which translates to cunt.[14] Due to in part to the production shutdown, Sting began to develop schedule conflicts with his songwriting duties interfering with his work on the next album he was planning to record in Italy. Sting admitted, "I write the music, and then they're supposed to animate it, but there are constantly changes being made. It's constantly in turnaround", but added, "I'm enjoying it."[13][32] Because of the shutdown, the animated film Dinosaur assumed the summer 2000 release date originally scheduled for Kingdom.[14]
Andreas Deja declined to return to the film after observing his more serious version of Yzma was incompatible with the new comedic tone of the film, and moved to Orlando, Florida to work on Lilo & Stitch. Animator Dale Baer would replace Deja as the supervising animator for Yzma.[33] Fullmer would inform Sting by telephone that his songs, related to specific scenes and characters that were now gone, had to be dropped.[13][34] Bitter about the removal of his songs, the pop musician commented "At first, I was angry and perturbed. Then I wanted some vengeance." Disney eventually agreed to allow three of the six deleted songs as bonus tracks on the soundtrack album, such as Yzma's villain song "Snuff Out the Light", the love song "One Day She'll Love Me" and the dance number "Walk the Llama, Llama".[35] The plot elements, such as the romance between the llama herder Pacha and Manco's betrothed Nina, the sun-capturing villain scheme, similarities to The Prince and the Pauper story, and Inca mythology were dropped.[2] The character of Huaca was also dropped, although he would make a cameo appearance as the candle holder during the dinner scene in the finished film.[36] Kuzco—who was a supporting character in the original story—became the protagonist.[37]
In the summer of 1999, cast members Owen Wilson, Harvey Fierstein, and Trudie Styler were dropped from the film.[38] Kitt and Spade remained in the cast, Dindal commented, "[a]nd then John Goodman and Patrick Warburton came aboard."[39] After Sting's songs for Kingdom of the Sun were dropped from the new storyline, Sting remained on the project, although he was told by the studio that "[a]ll we want is a beginning and an end song."[40] The song, "Perfect World", was approached "to open the movie with a big, fun number that established the power of Kuzco and showed how he controlled the world", according to then-Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher.[41] The filmmakers had asked Sting to perform the song for the film, although Sting declined by telling them that he was too old to sing it and that they should find someone younger and hipper. They instead went with Tom Jones, who is eleven years older than Sting.[42]
In February 2000, the new film was announced as The Emperor's New Groove with its new story centering on a spoiled Inca Emperor—voiced by Spade—who through various twists and falls ends up learning the true meaning of friendship and happiness from a poor peasant voiced by Goodman. The release date was shifted to December 2000.[43] Despite the phrasing of the title, the film is not related to Hans Christian Andersen's classic Danish fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes", although both stories involve an emperor being tricked.[44] According to Mark V. Moorhead of the Houston Press, the film's plot bears some resemblance to that of The Golden Ass by Apuleius, wherein a man is turned into a donkey.[45]
Eisner worried that the new story was too close in tone to Hercules, which had performed decently yet below expectations at the American box office. Dindal and Fullmer assured him that The Emperor's New Groove, as the film was now called, would have a much smaller cast, making it easier to attract audiences. Towards the end of production, the film's ending originally had Kuzco building his Kuzcotopia amusement park on another hill by destroying a rainforest near Pacha's home and inviting the former and his family to visit.[7] Horrified at the ending as an environmentalist,[7] Sting commented: "I wrote them a letter and said, 'You do this, I'm resigning because this is exactly the opposite of what I stand for. I've spent 20 years trying to defend the rights of indigenous people and you're just marching over them to build a theme park. I will not be party to this.'"[46] As a result, the ending was rewritten,[7] and saw Kuzco taking the decision to construct a shack similar to Pacha's to spend his vacation among the villagers.[47]
Design and animation
During the production of Kingdom of the Sun, Deja was the initial supervising animator of Yzma and incorporated supermodel poses published in magazines to capture Yzma's sultry, seductive persona.[48]Nik Ranieri was originally slated as the supervising animator for Yzma's rocky sidekick, Huaca. During the research trip to Peru in 1996, Ranieri acknowledged that he "was researching for a character that looked like a rock so I was stuck drawing rocks for the whole trip. Then when we got back they piled it into this story about ancient Incas."[49] Mark Pudleiner was to be the supervising animator of Kuzco's proposed maiden, Nina.[50] In early 1997, David Pruiksma came on board to animate the llama, Snowball.[51] According to Pruiksma, Snowball was "a silly, vain and egotistical character, rather the dumb blond of the llama set. I really enjoyed developing the character and doing some early test animation on her as well. Before I left the film (and it was ultimately shelved), I created model sheets for not only Snowball, but for the rest of the herd of seven other llamas and for Kuzco as a Llama."[52] When the film was placed on production shutdown, Pruiksma transferred to work on Atlantis: The Lost Empire being developed concurrently and ultimately the llama characters were dropped from the storyline.[51]
Following the production overhaul and the studio's attempts for more cost-efficient animated features, Dindal urged for "a simpler approach that emphasized the characters rather than overwhelming special effects or cinematic techniques".[53] Because of the subsequent departure of Deja, animator Dale L. Baer inherited the character of Yzma. Using Kitt's gestures during recording sessions, Baer commented "She has a natural voice for animation and really got into the role. She would gesture wildly and it was fun just to watch her. She would come into each session almost serious and very professional and suddenly she would go wild and break up laughing."[54] Ranieri was later asked to serve as the supervising animator of Kuzco (as a human and a llama), though he would admit being reluctant at first until he discovered that Kuzco "had a side to him, there was a lot of comedy potential and as a character he went through an arc".[49] Pudleiner was also reassigned to work as an animator of the human version of Kuzco.[55] In addition to drawing inspiration from Spade during recording sessions, the Kuzco animation team studied llamas at the zoo, visited a llama farm, watched nature documentaries, and even observed the animals up close when they came for a visit to the studio.[53] For the rewritten version of Pacha, animator Bruce W. Smith observed that "Pacha is probably the most human of all the characters," and further added that he "has more human mannerisms and realistic traits, which serve as a contrast to the cartoony llama he hangs out with. He is the earthy guy who brings everything back into focus. Being a big fellow about six-foot-five and weighing about 250 pounds we had to work hard to give him a sense of weight and believability in his movement."[53]
Actual animation began in May 1999, involving 400 artists, 300 technicians, and production personnel.[49] Outside of the Walt Disney Feature Animation studio building in Burbank, California, animators located at Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida and Walt Disney Feature Animation Paris assisted in the production of The Emperor's New Groove.[56] During the last eighteen months of production, a 120-crew of clean-up artists would take the character animators' drawings and place a new piece of paper over the existing drawing to draw a cleaner, more refined image. "We're basically the final designers", said clean-up supervisor Vera Pacheco, whose crew worked on more than 200,000 drawings for the film.[57] The motion reference material for the film was extensive, and included live-action footage of the actors, including Gustavo Rodríguez (born in 1981 in Caracas, Venezuela), Delia Reátegui (born 1963), Alonso Cano (born 1989) and Gabriela Villalobos (born 1988) as Kuzco, Chicha and Chicha's slim children Tipo and Chaca, respectively, performing the scenes.
Iconography
The Emperor's New Groove incorporates various visual and cultural elements inspired by the Andean region, particularly the Inca Empire, though its representation is heavily filtered through a Western comedic lens. The film’s setting—a mountainous landscape with shifting terrains—resembles the highlands of Peru and draws visual parallels to well-known archaeological sites such as Machu Picchu.[58] While the location in the film is fictional, architectural motifs, agricultural terraces, and stepped structures resemble Andean features. Costume and textile designs in the film further reflect Andean aesthetics. Characters are depicted wearing ponchos, tunics, and headdresses that mirror traditional Andean garments. These garments feature geometric patterns and earth-toned colors—such as reds, yellows, and greens—that are historically significant in Andean textile traditions. Yzma, however, is costumed in black and purple, diverging from traditional Andean palettes to signify her role as the antagonist.[59]
Animals play a significant role in the film's iconography. Llamas, native to the Andes and essential to transportation and agriculture, are central to the plot—most notably in the transformation of Emperor Kuzco into a llama. This metamorphosis loosely echoes Andean spiritual motifs of transformation, though it is recontextualized for comedic effect rather than to convey religious or cosmological meaning.[60] Other animals with Andean symbolic associations, such as jaguars and condors, appear in background elements and wilderness scenes.[61] Despite these visual nods to Andean culture, scholars argue that the film lacks depth in its cultural representation. The omission of Andean religious elements—particularly the absence of deities and cosmological beliefs central to the Incan worldview—limits the authenticity of the narrative.[62] Originally conceived as Kingdom of the Sun, the film was intended to explore Incan mythology more explicitly, but the project was restructured into a slapstick comedy following creative challenges and unfavorable test screenings.[63]
The film has sparked ongoing discussion around cultural representation versus appropriation. While it visually references Andean culture, it simplifies or omits core aspects such as governance, spiritual practices, and astronomical knowledge. Critics note that this reflects broader trends in Western media that prioritize entertainment value over cultural accuracy when depicting non-Western civilizations.[citation needed] Nevertheless, The Emperor’s New Groove remains notable for its use of recognizable Andean imagery. Through stylized depictions of architecture, textiles, and symbolic animals, the film offers a visual homage to Andean culture, though one that prompts critical discourse regarding the balance between cultural inspiration and narrative integrity.[64]
The Emperor's New Groove emphasized Kuzco's famous groove, which changed by the end of the film as Kuzco underwent a significant character change,[6] from being superficial and selfish to learning that one can feel empathy for others.[8] According to Italian reviewers, The Emperor's New Groove referenced Hans Christian Andersen's Danish fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes".[6][8] As the fairy tale emperor, Kuzco is equally vain, in love with himself, and incapable of admitting he is wrong; by the end of the film, instead of new clothes, Kuzco found a new groove.[8] Translated into Italian, groove is close to the English word, meaning "a cyclically repeating musical rhythmic series", usually found in swing jazz songs.[8] In this case, the etymology derives from the grooves and grooves on vinyl records, which in English are called grooves.[8] The second translation of groove is "daily routine"—an extension of the sense of cyclical musical repetition—or even "a lifestyle dedicated to fun and pleasure".[8]The Emperor's New Groove refers to and is used in this latter sense.[8]
The double meaning of groove was at the origin of the misunderstanding of the old man who interrupted the emperor's rhythm during the "Song of the Man" at the beginning of the film; as the old man thought that he interrupted the rhythm of Kuzco's daily routine, he had in fact interrupted the song because the emperor bumped into him while moonwalking.[8] In the original version, the rhythm referred to in this sequence was indicated with groove.[8] The title change in the Italian adaptation to The Emperor's Madness (Le follie dell'imperatore) is considered the first of its several significant change.[8] The Italian title thus lost the pun on Andersen's fairy tale, and there was no reference to the emperor introducing changes into his life.[8] The Italian adaptation, which lost some humor but added other humor through its adaptation, instead emphasized the film's extravagance and exuberance as if to distance itself from the solemnity of the classic films of the previous decade that were part of the Disney Renaissance.[8] Nonetheless, it was observed that a reference to musical rhythm was still present in the Italian title as madness is a musical theme of Portuguese origin, derived from the folk dances of peasants and shepherds, and was present in the works of various composers including Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel.[8]
Kuzco and Pacha
The "Song of the Man" (the only song in the film, excluding the closing credits) acted as an introduction to highlight Kuzco's mania for prominence.[8] While the original version was played by Tom Jones, one of the most popular names on the international music scene, the Italian adaptation was voiced by Ernesto Brancucci.[8] Although he never became a pop star, Brancucci was a mainstay of Italian Disney dubbing, having worked for the company since 1986, officially taking on the role of musical director in 1993 until his death in 2021.[8] In the Italian version, the chorus of the "Song of the Man" was not repeated in the same way as in the original and put even more emphasis on Kuzco's arrogance as in the second chorus the lyrics changes from "ruler of the world" to "magnificent lord of the universe".[8] Due to meter and rhythm, some lines had to be translated non-literally; however, the lyrics of the original version and the translation remained consistent for the most part, owing in part to both the short duration of the song and Brancucci's experience as a lyricist.[8] In the original version, the chorus was "What's his name? Kuzco! That's his name: Kuzco! He's the king of the world, Kuzco! Is he hip or what? Kuzco! Don't you know he's the king of the world?", which was rendered in Italian as "Who are we talking about? Kuzco! Yes, it's him: Kuzco! He's magnificent, Kuzco! He's the master of the universe, Kuzco!"[8] The Italian version of the song put even more emphasis on Kuzco's arrogance as in the second chorus the lyrics changes from "ruler of the world" to "magnificent lord [or master] of the universe".[8]
When Kuzco and Pacha found themselves stuck in a ravine above a river full of alligators; the only solution was to try to climb up the walls by pushing each other back to back.[8] In the English version, Pacha asked "Ready?" and Kuzco simply replied, "Okay, got it".[8] In the Italian dubbing, Kuzco was much less cooperative and more facetious as Pacha still asked him "Are you there?" but he sarcastically answered "No, I'm at the bar".[6][7][8] While at the restaurant, Kuzco's flashy and poorly executed disguise was lost in the old waitress's line, "Bless you for coming out in public!" (translated in Italian, which lost some of this humor, as "for being shown in public"), playing on the unconventionality of this strange relationship between a llama and a man.[6] Also lost in the Italian version was Kronk's sarcastic remark to Yzma's statement, "I practically raised him!", which shifted from overt sarcasm ("Yeah, you think he would've turned out better") to subtle irony ("How strange, he doesn't look anything like you").[6] In the final showdown, Kuzco and Pacha fell into a drain whose vent is one of the nostrils of the mask that adorns the facade of the royal palace, located hundreds of feet above the ground.[8] As the two tried to cling to the edge of the drain, Yzma ordered the guards to fetch them.[8] The captain urged the troops on with a cry of "Come on, men! Nobody lives forever! Charge!", a phrase worthy of a proud and charismatic leader.[8] This was replaced in Italian by a dignified resignation, "Come on, guys! It couldn't get any worse than this!", as in the midst of the brawl the troop had been transformed into a caravanserai composed of a retired cow, a giant ape, an ostrich, an octopus, and a wild boar, led by an unidentified reptile.[8]
Yzma and Kronk
In her first appearance, Yzma was receiving Kuzco's subjects on his behalf, among them a poor peasant who had nothing to eat, to whom Yzma refused help by shouting, "You really should have thought of that before you became a peasant!"[8] The Italian version, "You should have thought about that before you became a beggar [pezzente]!", included a Italian-specific pun because pezzente, which sounds similar to peasant, does not refer to a farmer but has a negative meaning of someone being "uncouth, ignorant, simpleton" but not "miserable beggar" as Yzma addressed the peasant.[8] While the English original was more logical (a more faithful translation of the phrase would have been "You should have thought about it, before becoming a rude ignoramus!"), the Italian adaptation highlighted Yzma's contemptuous sarcasm and classism, and a more literal translation would have lost that out.[8] The hilarity of the joke in Italian was in its paradoxical nature because the audience had to imagine someone who, without much thought, took a job and suddenly became not only a beggar but a poor one, whose only fault according Yzma would have been of not having thought about it enough; additionally, unlike what Yzma said, the man did not decide to be a beggar as he actually had a job as a farmer.[8] As Yzma tried to justify herself for sitting on the throne, Kuzco was shocked by her web of wrinkles, exclaiming in his head "Whoa!"[8] In the Italian dubbing, the astonished tone was the same as Kuzco exclaimed in his head "To the soul" (All'anima), with no clear direct correspondence between the two expressions in the dictionary.[8]
When Yzma planned to get rid of Kuzco by poisoning him with a black potion whose power can be felt just by looking at it, she exclaimed "Feel the power!" as Kronk answered "I can feel it!"[8] The Italian adaptation highlighted the fact that the potion was not only visible but black like a coffee (more specifically a strong coffee, caffè forte), with Yzma stating "Touch it, Kronk: don't you feel the black power?" and Kronk answering "Wow, it's strong black!"[8] The original line when Kuzco arrived at Yzma's for dinner and demanded to be served immediately was "I am a hungry king of the world".[8] While "king of the world" is an idiomatic expression to define a positive state of mind, like its Italian equivalent re del mondo, the phrase as a whole had no comedic intent.[8] The Italian dubbing instead included the pun "I am a broad-minded king but I am so hungry I can't see it".[8] In the original version, Kronk justified his knowledge of squirrel language by stating that he was a member of the Junior Woodchucks, a reference to the TV series Happy Days where Joanie Cunningham, the Cunninghams' younger sister, was a Junior Chipmunk.[8] In the Italian adaptation, Kronk instead said that it was due to him being a member of the Junior Woodchucks, a fictional scouting organization appearing in Disney comics, which are especially popular in Europe, particularly in Italy, more so than in the United States.[8] During the film, Yzma was repeatedly described as a scary and ugly old woman who inspired fear beyond reason.[8] In the Italian version, she was described as resembling "Dracula's ugly grandmother".[8] The starting line was "scary beyond all reason", which could be literally translated as "horrifying beyond all reasonable measure, more than anything else in the world".[8] The gag played on the mechanism of repetition as people who had never seen Yzma still described her the same way despite not knowing each other.[8]
After narrowly missing Kuzco at the inn, Kronk woke up with a start, realizing that the farmer they encountered that day was the same one he had seen disappearing through the crowd, carrying the sack containing Kuzco.[8] Knowing that tracking him might lead him to Kuzco, he ran to talk to Yzma, who rose from the bed, revealing herself without her wig, with cucumbers over her eyes and cream on her face, prompting Kronk to erupt in a frightened cry and recoiled.[8] In the original version, Yzma commented annoyed at being woken up with "This had better be good!"[8] In the Italian version, Yzma was highlighted as ruthless, vain, and intolerant as her line had nothing to do with Kronk's irruption; the problem was not the abrupt awakening but rather Kronk's frightened reaction, which Yzma interpreted as an affront as she said, through gritted teeth, "Look, I killed for much less!"[6][7][8] This was a historical reference from Dark Command (1940) where the same phrase was only present in the Italian adaptation.[6] To slow down Yzma and Kronk, Pacha's family temporarily locked the two in a closet.[8] As Yzma ordered Kronk to break down the door, he refused because, in his own words, "This is hand-carved mahogany!"[8] Yzma pointly dismissed him, "I don't care, you fool!"[8] In the original, the humor was Kronk's artistic sensibility, which made him reluctant to destroy a piece of craftsmanship despite the fact that a moment earlier he had not had any issue when there was talk of burning down the house.[8] In the Italian version, Kronk was more practical and instead complained that breaking down the door seemed difficult, "The door is made of solid wood!"[8] Again highlighting Yzma's more biting sarcasm, she retorted to Kronk, "Just like your head!"[8] Yzma and Kronk fell into a ravine while chasing Kuzco and Pacha.[8] Despite this, they reached the palace before Kuzco and Pacha.[8] As Kuzco expressed shock wondering how they did make it before them and how it was impossible for them to do so, highlighting a plot hole, Yzma asked Kronk how they did it, with Kronk stating, "Well, you got me. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense", as he showed a map highlighting how their path ended in the crevasse.[8] In the Italian version, the humor was further highlighted by the fact that Kronk directly addressed the audience by stating, "Good question. Everyone in the hall is wondering that!"[6][7][8]
Release
After the release date had shifted to December 15, 2000, similarities were noted between the film and DreamWorks Animation's The Road to El Dorado.[65]Jeffrey Katzenberg had been at Disney while production began on Kingdom of the Sun, but then left and started DreamWorks in 1994. There was some speculation that The Road to El Dorado was based on what Katzenberg had seen while at Disney.[66] Marc Lument, a visual development artist for El Dorado, stated, "It really was a race, and Katzenberg wanted ours out before theirs", and also added, "We didn't know exactly what they were doing, but we had the impression it was going to be very similar. Whoever came out second would face the impression that they copied the other."[11]
Fullmer and Dindal denied the similarities, with the latter commenting, "This version [The Emperor's New Groove] was well in the works when that movie came out." Dindal further added, "Early on, when our movie got to be very comic, all of us felt that you can't be making this farce about a specific group of people unless we are going to poke fun at ourselves. This didn't seem to be a proper choice about Incas or any group of people. It was more of a fable."[67]
The marketing campaign for The Emperor's New Groove was relatively restrained as Disney opted to heavily promote the release of 102 Dalmatians, which was released during Thanksgiving.[67][68] Nevertheless, the film was accompanied by six launcher toys of Kuzco, Kuzco as a llama, Pacha, Yzma, Yzma as a cat, and Kronk,[69] accompanied by Happy Meals at McDonald's in North America. McDonald's also released toys for the film in Europe and Asia.[70][71] The film premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on December 10, 2000, with Sting in attendance.[72][73]
Home media
The film was released on VHS and DVD on May 1, 2001, and September 30, 2003, as well as a "2-Disc Collector's Edition" that included bonus features such as Sting's music video of "My Funny Friend and Me", a Rascal Flatts music video of "Walk the Llama, Llama" from the soundtrack, audio commentary with the filmmakers, a multi-skill-level set-top game with the voice cast, and deleted scenes among other features.[74] This THX-certified DVD release also contained a DTS 5.1 audio track and DVD-ROM.[75]
Unlike its theatrical box office performance, the film performed better on home video, becoming the top-selling home video release of 2001.[76] In September 2001, it was reported that six million VHS units were sold amounting to $89 million in revenue. On DVD, it was also reported it had sold twice as many sales. The overall revenue averaged toward $125 million according to Adams Media Research.[77] It was re-released on VHS on February 26, 2003.[citation needed] Disney re-released a single-disc special edition called "The New Groove Edition" on October 19, 2005. Disney then digitally remastered and released The Emperor's New Groove on Blu-ray on June 12, 2013, bundled in a two-movie collection combo pack with its sequel Kronk's New Groove.[78] On its first weekend, it sold 14,000 Blu-ray units grossing $282,000.[79] A 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray will be released on December 9, 2025, to coincide with the film's 25th anniversary, following a run at the El Capitan Theatre from November 21-23, 2025.[80]
Reception
Box office
Despite making back its budget, The Emperor's New Groove was considered a box office disappointment, grossing considerably less than any of Disney's animated films from the 1990s.[81][82][66] The film grossed roughly $10 million on its opening weekend, opening in fourth place behind What Women Want, Dude, Where's My Car?, and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.[83] It also competed with Disney's own 102 Dalmatians, which had been released just three weeks prior.[66] The film ultimately made $89.3 million in the United States and an additional $80 million worldwide for a total of $169.6 million[84]— the lowest box office earnings for an animated Disney feature since the 1980s.[66] In January 2021, the movie was re-released in theaters and earned an additional $334,000.[85]
Because of its pre-Columbian setting and Latin American flavor, Disney spent $250,000 in its marketing campaign towards the Latino market releasing dual English- and Spanish-language theatrical prints in 16 multiplexes across heavily populated Latino areas in Los Angeles, California in contrast to releasing dubbed or subtitled theatrical prints of their previous animated features in foreign markets.[86] By January 2001, 19 days into its theatrical general release, the Spanish-dubbed prints were pulled from multiplexes as Hispanic Americans opted to watch the English-language prints with its grossing averaging $571,000 in comparison to $96,000 for the former.[87]
Critical response
The film received generally positive reviews from critics.[66][88][89] On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, The Emperor's New Groove holds an 86% approval rating based on 135 reviews and an average of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "The Emperor's New Groove isn't the most ambitious animated film, but its brisk pace, fresh characters, and big laughs make for a great time for the whole family."[90] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[91] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[92]
Writing for Variety, Robert Koehler commented the film "may not match the groovy business of many of the studio's other kidpix, but it will be remembered as the film that established a new attitude in the halls of Disney's animation unit".[93]Roger Ebert, writing his review for Chicago Sun-Times, awarded the film 3 (out of 4) stars distinguishing the film as "a goofy slapstick cartoon, with the attention span of Donald Duck that is separate from what's known as animated features". Ebert would later add that "it doesn't have the technical polish of a film like Tarzan, but is a reminder that the classic cartoon look is a beloved style of its own."[94] Emma Cochrane of Empire gave the film a three out of five stars, writing, "An attractive, generally enjoyable concoction, but never really hits its comedic or emotional targets full on. Fun but quickly forgettable."[95]Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly graded the film a B+, describing it as a "hip, funny, mostly nonmusical, decidedly non-epic family picture, which turns out to be less of a hero's journey than a meeting of sitcom minds".[96]
In contrast to the positive reviews, Marc Savlov of The Austin Chronicle gave the film 2 stars out of 5, noting that the film "suffers from a persistent case of narrative backsliding that only serves to make older members of the audience long for the days of the dwarves, beauties, and poisoned apples of Disney-yore, and younger ones squirm in their seats". Savlov also unfavorably compared the film's animation to that of Tarzan's, writing it "is also a minor letdown, with none of the ecstatic visual tour de force."[97] Bob Strauss, in his review for the Los Angeles Daily News, acknowledged that the film is "funny, frantic and colorful enough to keep the small fry diverted for its short but strained 78 minutes", though except for "some nice voice work, a few impressive scale gags, and interesting, Inca-inspired design elements, there is very little here for the rest of the family to latch onto". Strauss blamed the film's story overhaul during production as the main problem.[98]
Accolades
In 2018, The Emperor's New Groove was named the 16th-best Disney animated film by IGN,[99] and the 27th by Rotten Tomatoes in November 2022.[100] In 2022, it did not appear in lists of the best Disney movies, between 35 chosen by Harper's Bazaar[101] and 50 selected by Time Out.[102]
The Sweatbox is a documentary that chronicled the tumultuous collaboration of Sting and David Hartley with the Disney studios to compose six songs for Kingdom of the Sun (the film's working title).[116] The documentary featured interviews from directors Roger Allers and Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer, Sting (whose wife Trudie Styler created the documentary), Disney story artists, and the voice cast being dismayed by the new direction. Disney was not believed to be opposed to Styler's documentary, with Disney animation executive Thomas Schumacher, who had seen footage, commenting "I think it's going to be great!"[117]
The film premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival but has gone virtually unseen by the public ever since. Disney owns the rights but has never officially released it.[118] In March 2012, a workprint of the documentary was leaked online and was uploaded onto YouTube by a United Kingdom cartoonist before it was ultimately pulled.[119] As of April 2015, some scenes from the documentary could be seen from the home media release, including the behind-the-scenes and the making of "My Funny Friend and Me".
Legacy
The Emperor's New Groove was not as well received as Disney's other animated features at the time, which were more focused on Broadway-style musicals like Beauty and the Beast or heroic characters with comedy situations like Hercules, and arrived just before films like Shrek and Ice Age that would launch a wave of animated comedy films.[66] Reception towards the film has improved over time, with Polygon's Petrana Radulovic theorizing that the film's irreverent style of comedy had simply been released at the wrong time by debuting too soon after the tonal shift away from the musical animated films that had defined the 1990s, and too early for the humor that would become trademarks of films such as Shrek and Ice Age.[66]
The Emperor's New Groove and The Road to El Dorado have since gained appreciation as standalone works from that period as well-written comedies in part due to the arrival of Internet culture and has since become something of a cult favorite among Disney fans at the time. For The Emperor's New Groove, the film has comedic timing and slapstick comedy that has been compared to classic Looney Tunes. As a result, numerous Internet memes based on screenshots from the film have emerged, such as Pacha's "just right" gesture as an image macro representing perfection,[120] or a meme during the COVID-19 pandemic featuring Kronk documenting "Apocalypse Bingo".[66][121]
In November 2025, many crew members including the film's director Mark Dindal, writer David Reynolds, story supervisor Stephen Anderson as well as cast member Bob Bergen the voice of Bucky the Squirrel, reunited to celebrate the film's 25 year anniversary by participating in a 2-hour livestream on YouTube on The Tammy Tuckey Show. The event had been organised ahead of time.[122]
During the years, The Emperor's New Groove attracted a cult following in several countries, particularly Italy.[6][7][8] As is common in Italian cinema, the title was changed to the English equivalent The Emperor's Madness (Le follie dell'imperatore).[6] The Italian version is considered to be an adaptation (dating back to the 1920s and 1930s with the birth of sound cinema) rather than an accurate translation, which in the 21st-century is still a relatively new concept.[6] While it also included accurate translations of the dialogues, this caused the loss of some humor; however, new humor was found in the adaptation, whose dubbing was specifically tailored to Italians and the culture of Italy,[6][7][8] so much so that one could speak of an unprecedented case, a revolution, and a film in its own right that went beyond the Italian dubbing of Disney's Alice in Wonderland by Roberto de Leonardis and Young Frankenstein.[6]
Although the Italian adaptation did not impact the story, it changed the tempo of the action, significantly altering the characters' characterizations.[6] New lines of dialogue were created as an adaptation, and the dubbing rendered comic situations that were neutral in the original.[6][7][8] Among the most notable dialogue adaptation was the breaking of the fourth-wall scene, with Kuzco stating "It's not possibile! How did you get back here before us?" and Kronk answering "Well, you got me. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense", was changed to Kronk stating "Good question! Everyone in the cinema [or theater] hall is wondering [or asking the same question]!" (Bella domanda! Se lo stanno chiedendo tutti in sala!),[6][123] which became part of Italian common parlance and meme culture.[6] Unlike some other Italian adaptations, whose dubbing made it not as good as the original or where it lost some meanings of the original, the dubbing of The Emperor's New Groove was considered an exception for the dubbing adaptation making it better than the original.[123]
Two video games were developed and released concurrently with the film. The first, for the Sony PlayStation, was developed by Argonaut Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment of America. The second, for the Nintendo Game Boy Color, was developed by Sandbox and published by Ubisoft. Both titles were released in PAL territories the following year. The PlayStation version was re-released for the North American PlayStation Network on July 27, 2010. Additionally, Kuzco, Pacha, Yzma, and Kronk appear as playable characters in the world-builder video game Disney Magic Kingdoms, as well as attractions based on Mudka's Meat Hut and Yzma's Lair.[126] The Tokyo DisneySea rollercoaster attraction Raging Spirits took visual inspiration for its Inca ruins theme from the buildings in the film with a structure based on Kuzco's palace similarly crowning the ruins site.[127]
1 2 Laporte, Nicole (2011). The Men Who Would Be King: An Almost Epic Tale of Moguls, Movies, and a Company Called DreamWorks. Mariner Books. pp.208–9. ISBN978-0-547-52027-8.
1 2 Mark Dindal (November 18, 2000). "Mark Dindal's Place in the Sun" (Interview). Interviewed by Joe Strike. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
↑ Harvey, David (September 27, 2002). "Review: 'The Sweatbox'". Variety. Archived from the original on February 8, 2015. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
↑ Vincent, Mal (December 18, 2000). "Wacky "Emperor's New Groove" Is Departure from Typical Disney Fare". Virginian Pilot. Archived from the original on March 29, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015. But someone had to call Sting and tell him that all his songs would be thrown out. 'As the producer, it fell to me,' Fullmer said. 'It wasn't easy. He had taken a full year off to work on the movie's score. He didn't want to compose while he was touring.'
↑ Deja, Andreas (September 25, 2011). "Early Yzma". Deja View. Archived from the original on February 15, 2015. Retrieved February 14, 2015– via Blogspot.
↑ "2000 Sierra Award Winners". Las Vegas Film Critics Society. December 13, 2021. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved January 31, 2022.
1 2 Manara, Lorenzo (October 21, 2019). "L'importanza della traduzione"[The importance of translation]. LorenzoManara.it (in Italian). Retrieved November 6, 2025.
Various cast and crew members (May 1, 2001). The Emperor's New Groove—Supplemental Features (DVD). Disc 2 of 2 (The New Grooveed.). Burbank, CA: Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. UPC786936150926.
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