Emperor Kuzco is turned into a llama by his ex-administrator Yzma, and must now regain his throne with the help of Pacha, the gentle llama herder.Emperor Kuzco is turned into a llama by his ex-administrator Yzma, and must now regain his throne with the help of Pacha, the gentle llama herder.Emperor Kuzco is turned into a llama by his ex-administrator Yzma, and must now regain his throne with the help of Pacha, the gentle llama herder.
- Nominated for 1 Oscar
- 7 wins & 27 nominations total
- Kuzco
- (voice)
- Pacha
- (voice)
- Yzma
- (voice)
- Kronk
- (voice)
- Chicha
- (voice)
- Chaca
- (voice)
- Tipo
- (voice)
- Ipi
- (voice)
- (as Stephen Anderson)
- Bucky
- (voice)
- …
- Townspeople
- (voice)
- Guards
- (voice)
- (as Rob Clotworthy)
- Waitress
- (voice)
- Old Man
- (voice)
- The Piñata Lady
- (voice)
- Guard
- (voice)
- Woman #2
- (voice)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaPatrick Warburton improvised when Kronk hummed his own theme song when he was carrying Kuzco (David Spade) in the bag to the waterfall. Disney's legal department had Warburton sign all rights to the humming composition over to them.
- GoofsThe theme song describes Kuzco as an icon in "Mesoamerican history". Mesoamerica stretched from Mexico to Central America, not Peru where the story takes place.
- Quotes
[plotting ways to kill Kuzco]
Yzma: Ah, how shall I do it? Oh, I know. I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless, little flea, and then I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside of another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself, and when it arrives...
[laughs]
Yzma: ...I'll smash it with a hammer! It's brilliant, brilliant, brilliant, I tell you! Genius, I say!
[knocks over bottle of poison on flower, which shrivels up and dies]
Yzma: Or, to save on postage, I'll just poison him with this!
- Crazy creditsIn the closing Walt Disney Pictures logo, after the arc is drawn over the castle, it disappears.
- Alternate versionsIn the original version, Kuzco throws a rock at Pacha. On the 2005 DVD and future releases, that rock has turned into an acorn.
- ConnectionsEdited into Zenimation: Water Realms (2020)
- SoundtracksMy Funny Friend and Me
Lyrics by Sting
Music by Sting and Dave Hartley
Performed by Sting
Produced and Arranged by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis for Flyle Tyme Productions,
Inc.
Co-Produced by Big Jim Wright (as "Big Jim" Wright) for Flyle Tyme Productions, Inc.
Recorded by Dave Rideau and Steve Hodge
Mixed by Steve Hodge
Sting appears courtesy of A&M Records
Then again, "The Rescuers Down Under" was an underrated pleasure as well.
The story isn't particularly different - you've got the ruler who has to change externally before he can change internally ("Beauty and the Beast"), Kronk, the good-hearted sidekick of the villain (Yzma) who can't bring himself to kill the hero ("Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"), and so on - but as is often the case it's not so much what the plot is as how it's handled. Although the movie suffers from "Is-that...?" syndrome - it's too hard not to see Finch from "Just Shoot Me!" every time Kuzco speaks (strangely enough, even though Pacha's wife has the voice of Wendie Malick from the same show, I never pictured Nina Van Horn... which isn't the case with "Fillmore!", where Miss Malick voices Principal Folsom. Go figure) - the movie's speed, energy and high humour rate make it easy to forgive, with Kuzco and the bad guy's sidekick as standouts. The movie's also a bit more self-reverential than other Disney movies, notably in our hero's narration (plus at one point Yzma and Kronk notice they're leaving a blue trail behind them, which turns out to be the trail they leave on the map to the palace illustrating the race between them and our heroes).
The surprising thing is that it even works with character - though the Emperor is enough of a self-absorbed hedonist (to a prospective wife: "Let me guess - you've got a really great personality") to turn off Paris and Nicky Hilton, he and Pacha have a believable relationship throughout the movie, so that by the end we're rooting for him to get turned back into a human. Too bad Marc Shaiman's score was thrown out (he'd have been a natural, as opposed to John Debney), but no sense whining over what might have been. An adventure, a comedy and a drama all in one, "The Emperor's New Groove" has everything that was notably absent from DreamWorks' own South American-set cartoon "The Road to El Dorado" (charm, interest, no Elton John overdose and so on) and is the funniest movie from the House of Mouse since "Aladdin." It's easier to forgive them for giving the world "Dinosaur" in 2000 as well.
Why DOES she have that lever, anyway?
- Victor Field
- Mar 19, 2003
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Countries of origin
- Official sites
- Language
- Also known as
- Las locuras del emperador
- Filming locations
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $100,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $89,636,687
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $9,812,302
- Dec 17, 2000
- Gross worldwide
- $169,707,314
- Runtime1 hour 18 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.66 : 1