Directed by Mark Dindal
2000/78 minutes
THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE was the final product of a long and arduous process. It began in 1994 as KINGDOM OF THE SUN, later KINGDOM IN THE SUN, and was to be the tale of a greedy and selfish emperor who trades places with a peasant doppelgänger (to be voiced by Owen Wilson), a kind of Incan take on Mark Twain’s The Prince and the Pauper, which had been adapted by Disney as a Mickey Mouse vehicle just four years prior.
The faux-emperor would then be discovered by Yzma, an evil witch with plans to summon an ancient god to capture the sun…
Unfortunately, it never came to pass; from the outset the film was in trouble, with management concerned with the over-used plot and general lack of direction. Disney went on to hire Warner Bros. alumni Mark Dindal to assist, but created a further schism in production, as he began to push towards a comedy while then-director Roger Allers championing a “romantic comedy musical in the ‘traditional Disney style.”
Hoping to capture the same magic Elton John brought THE LION KING, Allers sought the vocal stylings of Gordon Sumner, otherwise known as Sting. Sting agreed to work on the soundtrack, on the proviso that his wife, film-maker Trudie Styler, be allowed to “document the process of production.” As time went on and the release date loomed, Allers left the project when his request for an extension were denied; crucial promotional deals with McDonalds and Coca-Cola (amongst others) were already established, and the film could not be delayed any further.
The resulting overhaul threw out the sun-stealing and the doppelgänger, along with Sting’s soundtrack, which was written for scenes that no longer existed in the film. As you can imagine, Sting wasn’t too happy about the whole thing, despite his work being made available on the resulting soundtrack album.
The reworked film, rechristened THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE, opened in December 2000, and ushered in a run of more diverse Disney movies, echoing the 1970s era of Disney by taking a new direction, venturing further away from the “traditional” Disney film.
SYNOPSIS: The young Emperor Kuzco is a selfish brat who decides to build himself a new “summer home” atop a hill, not caring about the people that currently live there, represented by the humble farmer Pacha. Pacha’s attempts to protest are ignored as Kuzco goes on to fire his advisor, the elderly Yzma, after finding her in his throne and “doing his job”. With her right hand man, Kronk, Yzma concocts a plan to poison Kuzco to take control of the empire in his stead, but the (badly labeled) vial of poison turns Kuzco into a llama rather than a corpse.
Kronk is ordered to dispose of the beast, but has a crisis of conscience and saves Kuzco from (ba-ba-buh-bommm!) certain death. Kronk then manages to lose Kuzco when the sack he’s in lands on a crestfallen Pacha’s cart. Pacha leaves the bustling imperial marketplace and returns home to his wife and two (going on three) children, but can’t bring himself to tell them that his pleas to the Emperor have gone unanswered. As he sits and ponders in the yard, Kuzco, acting as our narrator, pauses the film to remind us that it’s his story we’re watching, not Pacha’s. After dragging out the gag just a little too long, we get back to story.
Kuzco wakes up and upon seeing his “condition” accuses Pacha of kidnapping him. He demands that Pacha return him home, but Pacha refuses unless Kuzco builds his summer home elsewhere.
Kuzco heads out on his own, only to find himself chased by a pack of panthers. Pacha swings to his rescue, but they wind up tied to a log floating downriver over – you guessed it – a raging waterfall. Recovering on the bank, they camp for the night.
Meanwhile, Yzma wastes no time in taking over the empire, but when Kronk lets slip that Kuzco may still be alive, she rides out to search the local villages.
Kuzco “shakes hands” on an agreement to spare Pacha’s home, and promptly ditches him the first chance he gets; “The funny thing about shaking hands is… [wiggles hoofs] you need hands!” They’re forced to work together when their fight destroys the only bridge across a ravine, leaving them four days’ hike from the empire.
Stopping off at Mudka’s Meat Hut, Pacha overhears Yzma and Kronk at the next table discussing their plans to kill Kuzko. His attempts to warn the llad are ignored, as Kuzco rushes to find Yzma, only to overhear the truth that a) they’re out to kill him, and b) the kingdom doesn’t seem to have noticed, or care about his absence. Realising he was right, Kuzco tries to find Pacha, but ends up spending a lonely, cold and miserable night alone in a storm. That night, Kronk suddenly recognises Pacha from the marketplace, and he and Yzma head for Pacha’s village.
The repentant Kuzco and forgiving Pacha are reunited, and narrowly miss Yzma and Kronk; enlisting the help of his family, they get a headstart on the villains, who give chase by air, only to be struck by lightning and fall into a chasm.
Kuzco and Pacha arrive at Yzma’s laboratory only to find that their pursuers somehow got there first, not that either of them can explain it. He subsequently quits Yzma’s employ when she insults not only his intelligence, but his cooking, and is promptly dropped through a trapdoor. Yzma summons a horde of palace guards, and Kuzco grab as many unlabelled vials of potion as they can and flee. After several transformations into other animals, Kuzco is momentarily overjoyed to be a llama again, but they’re down to only two vials. Yzma inadvertently steps on one, transmogrifying into a small white cat. She almost succeeds in obtaining the antidote, but is thwarted by the sudden return of Kronk.
Kuzko takes the potion and becomes human once again, now changed for the better after his ordeal, embracing a (slightly) humbler life with a tiny little summer shack next door to Pacha’s homestead.
Lessons learned:
1. Don’t be a jerk to the guy that’s trying to help you.
2. Even the most powerful people need to look to someone else for help.
3. If you want your own theme tune, Tom Jones is the guy to go to.
THE HEROES
Kuzco is an arrogant, annoying narcissist, to the point where he complains when the camera lingers on Pacha for too long and reminds us that it’s ‘his’ story. It’s like Mushu: the Movie. In any case, Kuzco is a charismatic if somewhat overbearing lead, and to his credit he does learn some humility by the end. David Spade brings a lively, confident vocal performance perfectly suited to the young Emperor.
Pacha, on the other hand, is the complete reverse. Humble and compassionate, even for a lying, cheating underhoofed loafer like Kuzco. John Goodman brings everything you expect to the role, and it’s he that bears the load of the story across his broad shoulders.
THE HEROINE
Given the dearth of female characters, it has to be Pacha’s wife, voiced by Wendie Malick, the rock of Pacha’s humble world, the peacekeeper and the mediator, still soldiering on despite a heavy pregnancy. In the little screentime she gets, she comes across as one of the strongest and most filled in characters – both Pacha and Kuzco find a little something in each other and come off better for the adventure, while Chicha remains constant, an exemplary model of the family matriarch.
The VILLAINESS
Yzma, voiced by Eartha Kitt. The former Catwoman brings a feline spite to the role of the Emperor’s advisor (and possible foster mother… explains a lot) turned conspirator. Yzma and Kuzco are a perfect match for each other; each is the ruler of their own little world and feels they deserve everything in life. It’s just that Kuzco has everything in life while Yzma is left picking the scraps.
The mad scientist angle is a refreshing change from a line of politicians and officials we’ve had in recent Disney movies, and feels like a natural progression from the alchemy and sorcery of Grimhilde and Maleficent.
HER FATE? Yzma joins a very small club of Disney villains who have actually survived the experience. She returns as the antagonist for the sequel and spin-off cartoon, but here she’s left trapped in the form of a small white cat, learning to speak Squirrel with the other Junior Chipmunks.
SIDEKICKS AND HENCHMEN
Being a buddy movie, both Kuzco and Pacha could be said to be the lead or the sidekick. And while there are a myriad of characters inadvertently aiding them, it’s Pacha’s two kids who most qualify. They’re given just enough screentime to be cute but not too annoying, and get away with one of the best physical gags in the second act, a throwback to old Warner Bros. cartoons that leaves Yzma tarred, feather and tied up as a piñata. Also, and it’s not gone into in any way, both Pacha’s kids seem to have some kind of psychic ability; they both dream about their dad’s misadventures with Kuzco, but all that leads to is a rather grating “nuh-uh/ya-huh” debate.
And so we come to Kronk. Dimwitted and slow on the uptake, he’s Yzma’s right-hand man and muscle. He also gets some of the best material in the film, boosted by a great vocal performance from Patrick Warburton. A man of indecisive action, he even hums his own theme music, much to Kuzco’s incredulity. And as you might expect, he’s actually a pretty decent guy, only working for Yzma out of naivety, really, rather than any real sense of “evil”.
MUSIC AND SONGS
The soundtrack is loud, lively, festive and totally appropriate to the film. That being said, I’m curious to hear the material Sting composed for what the movie started out as (makes note to check out iTunes). As it stands, we get one of songs over the end credits, and it’s pretty nice if a little forgettable. We open, however, with Tom Jones as Kuzco’s personal Theme Song Guy, and he delivers a big, bombastic ballad to the big-headed lout. The reprise at the end is just as fun, bookending the film brilliantly.
PLOT
Despite its comedy styling and seemingly random twists and turns, the basic plotline is pretty, well, basic. Not that that’s really detracting from a fun and entertaining film; the characters are enough to carry the relatively simple buddy-comedy/chase movie routine while throwing in some entry-level political intrigue.
LAUGHS
THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE is an out and out buddy comedy with some remarkable fourth-wall breaking, slapstick farce and multi-layered humour for the adults in the audience.
The standout for me is the diner sequence, where Kuzco and Yzma narrowly avoid each other as they duck in and out of the kitchen, where Kronk has suddenly found his calling. It’s full of fast-paced dialogue and great comic timing.
Kuzco himself is a bit of a mixed bag; he has his moments, but like Eddie Murphy and Steve Martin, he’s best in small doses.
Kronk, on the other hand, is given just the right amount. My favourite Kronk moment: after the frantic chase back to the lab, Kuzco is amazed and confused to see Yzma there before him. Kronk agrees, pulling a map out of nowhere with the route they’ve taken – “By all accounts, it doesn’t make sense.”
SCARES
Pretty light on scares, being a comedy and all, but there are a few thrills to be had; Pacha swinging to rescue Kuzco from a pack of jaguars, and Yzma has a few dark moments, but they’re generally punctured by a quick gag to lighten the tone.
MORAL/ EDUCATIONAL VALUE
Kuzco learns that even the centre of the universe needs a little help from time to time and to think about other people as well as himself, and he and Pacha learn that cooperation can be more effective than competition.
INTERESTING INTERLUDE: Originally, Kuzco was supposed to build his dream palace on another hill and invite Pacha and his family to visit. It was Sting of all people who commented that that would underline the whole story of redemption and enlightenment, and so it was rewritten with Kuzco embracing the simpler life.
I wouldn’t put too much faith in the historical accuracy of anything in the film; it’s clearly anachronistic for comic effect, much like HERCULES and to a lesser extent TANGLED.
LEGACY
KRONK’S NEW GROOVE arrived on DVD in 2005, and wasn’t as well received as its big brother. Picking up the story sometime later, Kronk is now chef and Head Delivery Boy of Mudka’s Meat Hut, and frets about the impending arrival of his father, who always disapproved of Kronk’s cooking and wants him to settle down with a family. When Daddy arrives, Kronk’s friends try to pass themselves off as his family. “Hilarity” ensues, and Kronk learns the true wealth of friendship…
THE EMPEROR’S NEW SCHOOL saw Kuzco having to enroll in his own academy to retain his throne, and Yzma and Kronk do all they can to stop him passing. The show ran for 52 episodes across two seasons between 2006-08, and utilised the same fourth-wall breaking as the film, with Kuzco amending and editing episodes as he saw fit – one episode was even written around this concept of Kuzco’s “Doodles”. The series earned Eartha Kitt two Annie and Daytime Emmy Awards for 2007 and ’08.
Being part of the post-Renaissance period, THE EMPEROR’S NEW GROOVE fell a little by the wayside, shadowed by its forebears and supplanted by its successors. It’s a fun, funny film that entertains, while being smart and witty enough to keep you interested. It’s got some great characters and some cracking gags, though a few are dragged on a little too long and lose their edge. Would it have been better if it remained EMPIRE OF THE SUN? Possibly. And unless someone decides to resurrect it, we’ll likely never know. Sorry, Sting.
FINAL SCORE: 37/53
NEXT TIME: ATLANTIS: THE LOST EMPIRE
