Spoilers for this film will be marked as usual. However, due to its nature as the sequel to The Emperor's New Groove, that film's spoilers are unmarked here. You Have Been Warned!
Kronk's New Groove (also known as The Emperor's New Groove 2: Kronk's New Groove) is a 2005 American direct-to-video animated musical comedy film produced by Disneytoon Studios and animated by Toon City. It was released by the Walt Disney Company on December 13, 2005. The film is a sequel and Spin-Off of the 2000 film The Emperor's New Groove.
Kronk's New Groove provides examples of:
- A Day in the Limelight: The movie makes it clear that Kronk is the main character.
- Accidental Pun: In response to Birdwell calling him "Kronky-Poo," Kronk calls her "Birdy-Poo," which is reminiscent of bird poop.
- Actor Allusion: This isn't the first time Eartha Kitt's played a cat woman.
- Affectionate Nickname: Birdwell calls Kronk "Kronky-Poo". Kronk in return calls her "Birdy-Poo".
- Advertised Extra: Kuzco is shown on the DVD cover despite not being in the actual plot - narration cuts notwithstanding - until the climax where he shows up as Kronk's 'wife'. Pacha and his family (especially Tipo) have considerably larger roles in the movie by comparison, but are nowhere to be seen on the cover.
- All-Loving Hero: A deconstructed version. For the sake of his friends, Kronk makes the decision to sacrifice his house on the hill and then Birdwell, his love interest.
- Anachronism Stew: Like with the original movie, out of place and out of time things are thrown in for laughs. They most certainly did not have cheerleading camps in Ancient Peru, for starters. The most extreme examples are during the credits, where they are shown visiting the Eiffel Tower, the Leaning Tower of Piza, the Venice Canals, and Disneyland.
- And a Diet Coke: At one point someone orders a meal including waffles with extra butter, two pill-bugs and a chocolate sundae but hold the cherry, to which Kronk refers to as a "diet plate".
- Ascended Extra: Despite only showing up for two scenes in the first film, Rudy has a major role in the sequel mainly during the flashback to Kronk getting involved in Yzma's plot to sell a potion which is supposed to restore youth to Rudy and the village's other senior citizens.
- Bad Samaritan: Yzma sells a youth potion to the senior citizens. They become addicted to it and eventually sell their home to buy more of it. The potion turns out to be a placebo.
- Bankruptcy Barrel: A few old men are seen wearing these, presumably having sold their clothes to buy more of Yzma's youth potion.
- Be Yourself: Kronk learns that he shouldn't try to change himself or betray his ideals just to earn his father's approval, because by being himself, he's able to surround himself with friends who like him for who he is, which is everything.
- Being Good Sucks: Despite how much he feared his father for not being successful, Kronk gave up a good home, and a girlfriend so that his friends would not be harmed or have bad lives due to his desires. Subverted as he gets a thumbs up from his pop and his girlfriend back.
- Born in the Theatre: Kuzco displays the film's poster at one point.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Kuzco does so to tell the audience that the sequel is not about him this time, that Yzma's youth potion is a scam, and when he appears with another character for the first time, he breaks the fourth wall again to tell the audience he had to find a way into the movie somehow.
- Bunnies for Cuteness: After being chased by the senior citizens when her "youth potion" scam is revealed, Yzma attempts to turn the tables by drinking a potion. She turns into a pink bunny, causing the elders to get distracted by her cuteness. And then a condor swoops down and carries her off to feed to its young.
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Broken Aesop / Ignored Aesop: Yzma's potion is fake, but it works as a placebo, making the senior citizens who consumed it think they are young, therefore feel young. However, Yzma scammed them out of extremely large amounts of money, so once Kronk reveals this they chase her down through their town. Once they realize that this is quite a feat for people their age, this ensues:Rudy: Hey, I just realized something. We chased Yzma all the way down here.
Other old guy: Didn't I just cover that?
Rudy: Don't you see? We're busting moves like a bunch of teenagers.
Other old guy: So what you're saying is, even though the potion was fake, we're only as old as we feel!
Kronk: It's almost like you should thank Yzma for robbing you of every last cent. Wait, that can't be right.
Other old guy: Let's get her! - Camp Wacky Name: The camp that Kronk and his troop attend is called "Camp Chippamunka".
- Cat Girl: Yzma manages to turn back into a human, but she has a cat tail and ears. You could say she's a Cat Woman.
- Chase Scene: Kronk chases after a rolling coin.
- Circling Birdies: Played With. There are squirrels instead of birds when Kronk is accidentally hit on the head by Ms. Birdwell.
- Clothing Switch: Kronk and Birdie end up with this after diving in the ocean.
- Comedic Strangling: When Kronk is having a crisis over swindling his elderly friends out of their homes, his angel and devil argue over whether or not he did. Kronk ultimately accepts that he did when he starts choking his devil for claiming he didn’t.
- Consolation Backfire: After finishing the story of Birdie breaking up with him, Kronk caps it off by saying all he had to remember her by was the oven mitts she gave back to him. Three seconds later, they're accidentally knocked into the stove and burned to ashes.Kronk: Now I got nothin'.
- Covered in Gunge: After a kitchen accident, Kronk gets covered in cheese.
- Cuteness Equals Forgiveness: Yzma tries to use this to her advantage by deliberately turning herself into a bunny rabbit. She correctly reasons that the angry mob won't have it in them to attack her. She was right, but she didn't expect a condor to be nearby.
- Cuteness Proximity: Yzma drinks a potion that she claims will make it so that nobody will be able to harm her, turning her into an adorable pink bunny. True to her word, the villagers find her adorable and stop trying to hurt her, but unfortunately, her cuteness doesn't stop a condor from snatching her up and feeding her to it's young.
- Demoted to Extra: Kuzco from the first film, who is now reduced to a few fourth wall breaking scenes and an in-person cameo.
- Denser and Wackier: In the first film, the most extreme examples of the silliness are relegated to Kuzco's abuses of power or Yzma's magic. The sequel, however, is start-to-finish silliness, much of it without any context.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Many characters have labels on their possessions that read "[Name]'s [Item], property of [Name], do not touch except for [Name]".
- Disapproving Look: Kronk's father's dreaded "Nostril Flare of Total Rejection".
- Disguised in Drag: Several male characters do this to pass as Kronk's wife, including Pacha, Rudy, two kids, and Kuzco.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: Birdie's team wins the first event of a competition because Kronk's is disqualified for not waiting for their turn to perform.
- The Dividual: Kronk's dual secretaries, Tina and Marge, who look nearly identical except for their hair and sound exactly alike. A running gag is that Kronk gets the two mixed up and them having to correct him.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Birdwell, an original character, makes a brief cameo on Kuzko's movie poster. Eagle-eyed first time viewers may wonder who she is for the next half hour.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Kronk goes through a lot in this movie, from sacrificing his new home and then Birdwell so his friends won't be harmed or have bad lives, to lying to his father about his wife, kids and house on the hill. However, his True Companions help him out, and although their attempt to Maintain the Lie for Kronk's father fails badly, Kronk realizes that his friends are his strength, and Kronk's father, upon seeing the lengths they would do to help him out, and their overall view of him, finally gives his approval in light of his son's character rather than the standards that he personally believes in, and Birdwell and Kronk rekindle their romance.
- Elective Monarchy: Yzma briefly tries to be elected Emperor.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Birdwell is furious that Kronk told Tipo to "do whatever it takes to win" in the final event of the competition, and hands him back the oven mitts he gave to her and breaks up with him as a result.
- Even Evil Has Standards: After seeing Rudy's Gollum-like behavior, even Kronk's shoulder devil is forced to admit that the scam Yzma pulled is hurting the old people.
- Everyone Has Standards: Kuzco is openly disgusted by Yzma scamming the old people. He interrupts the movie to loudly denounce her for what she's doing.
- Face Palm: Kronk does this at one point.
- False Teeth Tomfoolery: One of the old people's teeth fall into their food.
- Fan Disservice: Unless you're into old men then the scene where we see a naked old guy try to use a youth potion it's just going to make you ill.
- Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Kronk's father had always disapproved of Kronk's cooking and talking with animals. In the end, though, he comes to accept his son's lifestyle since he has a lot of friends (and a girlfriend).
- Fantasy Landmark Equivalent: During the credits, photos of Kronk visiting equivalents of the Eiffel Tower and the Cinderella Castle from Disney World can be seen.
- Finishing Each Other's Sentences: Kronk and Ms. Birdwell do this even though they don't know each other well. It's seen as romantic by other characters.
- Fountain of Youth: Yzma claims to have created a youth potion which she has Kronk sell to the old people in the village. Subverted in that the potion is a fake and the old people stay old.
- Friendly Tickle Torture: Done by Kronk to one of the elders to get them to stretch more.
- Friendship Moment: A two-fer after Kronk realizes what Yzma has done. He consoles Rudy about the potion not working, but he also feels devastated over being tricked into helping with this scam. Rudy in turn demonstrates he doesn't blame Kronk in the slightest.
- Fourth-Date Marriage: Subverted. Kronk kneels down as if he is going to propose, but then he gives Ms. Birdwell a pair of oven mitts.
- Goo Goo Getup: Several senior citizens dress up like babies in order to convince Kronk's dad that they're Kronk's kids.
- Good Angel, Bad Angel: Just like in the first film, Kronk has one of these guiding his decisions, but this time they play a much bigger role. Tipo gets his own set to when he contemplates cheating to win a cheer competition.
- Greater Need Than Mine: Throughout the film Kronk has an opportunity to get something that he knows would make his father proud, which is the one thing he desires, in order to help out his friends, such as giving up his house on a hill so that the old folks can have someplace to live.
- Gross-Up Close-Up: Over a shot of Yzma's Evil Gloating:Kuzco: Oh, you saw it already, huh? Well, smarty, I bet you didn't see this!
[extreme closeup of Yzma's armpit hairs]
Kuzco: Aaigh! That's gonna haunt me in mynightmares. - Historical Hero Upgrade: Kronk himself In-Universe. About halfway through the opening song, a theater is airing the first movie, but with Kronk as the main protagonist. In the climax, it's implied he killed Yzma by subverting the By Wall That Is Holey gag from the actual story (the scene ends immediately before we can see the impact).He was once the kind of guy
Who tried to bring an empire down an empire down:
He lost his groove, he lost his way
When he fell in with a woman, dear
Who wanted to take over the world
Take over the world
But then he did a full 180
Said vamoose to the shady lady
Now he'll teach your kid to talk like a squirrel! - Hoist by His Own Petard: Yzma's potion-drinking attempt. She becomes a rabbit and is scooped up by a condor.
- If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: One of the elders wouldn't drink his prune juice until he was told that Kronk says it was good for him, after which he drinks it happily.
- In Medias Res: The movie starts with Kronk covered in cheese, then goes back to reveal how he got to this point.
- Instant Flight: Just Add Spinning!: During the cheerleading routine, some of the children hover by twirling their batons.
- It's All My Fault: Kronk takes responsibility for Tipo's prank to cheat on Birdwell's Chippers during the final round of the tournament. Birdwell is NOT happy with this.
- Jenny's Number: Kronk's "Head Delivery Boy" card has a delivery service number written on it: #8675309.
- Karmic Jackpot: Though the attempt to Maintain the Lie goes hilariously wrong, everyone participating does so out of gratitude for all the good things that Kronk did for them.
- Late to the Realization: After seeing how crazy Rudy behaves with the potion, Kronk starts to realize what Yzma has done.Kronk: This isn't right.
Shoulder Angel: Figure that out yourself, genius? - Magic Feather: Yzma's potion was a placebo, and, while she did scam everyone (and was rightfully chased by the currently atheletic elderly), it still gave the elderly the confidence they need to go beyond what they thought their limits were.
- Maintain the Lie: Kronk wrote to his father about getting a big house on a hill and a girlfriend that he will marry and have lots of kids with, but never told him that he lost all of those things. So when his father comes for a visit, he must try to convince him that he has all those things. He asks Pacha to "loan" him his home and family. Eventually, all of Kronk's friends decide to help Kronk out by pretending to be his family, leading to Pacha and Rudy dressing up as women, a bunch of geezers dressing up as babies, and several other characters including Kuzco showing up claiming to be Mrs. Kronk.
- Motive Decay: In the first movie, Yzma wanted to become the ruler. Now, she wants to become rich by selling a fake youth elixir. Subverted when she's seen trying to use her newfound wealth and fame to become Emperor.
- Mrs. Robinson: Kronk thinks that Yzma is trying to propose to him, to his disgust.
- Mystery Meat: The food that Kronk brings to the Flickering Embers Home for Seniors is Puree of Mystery Meat.
- Naked People Are Funny: Kronk's elderly friend Rudy at one point had to sell his clothes to make money to buy youth potion, leading to a scene of him walking into Kronk's house completely naked to everyone's horror.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Hooooo boy, Kronk...
- Kronk decides to give back his home to the seniors after realizing the 'youth potion' he helped Yzma sell to them was a fake.
- Kronk also alienates Birdwell from him by Taking the Heat for Tipo's prank on her team.
- Not Quite Back to Normal: Kronk is surprised to see Yzma back in her human form, but he's further surprised by her cat tail and ears.
- One-Winged Angel: Parodied at the end when Yzma downs one of her own potions. She turns into a bunny rabbit, and is promptly snatched away by a condor.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The old men are convinced that dressing like babies will make Kronk's father think they are babies.
- Placebo Effect: The reason the old folks think that Yzma's fake youth potion is working. It even retains its effect after they find out that the youth potion is a fake as they are able to skate all the way down a hill chasing Yzma.
- Poorly Disguised Pilot: The lower-quality animation and disjoint plot gives the impression that this movie was salvaged from a never-approved television series.
- The Power of Friendship: After spending the whole movie worrying about disappointing his father and not being a success, he realizes that the most important thing to him are the friends that he has.
- Running Gag: "(X)'s (Y). Property of (X). Do not touch except for (X)."
- Running Gagged: The film avoids rehashing the "Wrong Lever!" gag by having Yzma reveal to Kronk that she fixed the bugs in it before he pulls it.
- Schmuck Bait: Kronk chases after a coin that is rolling along a path. It turns out that the coin is being pulled on a string by Yzma. Downplayed because we can't see the string at first.
- Scout-Out: Like in the previous movie, Kronk is the troop leader of the Junior Chipmunks, which gets more focus in this movie. It's even how he meets his Love Interest.
- Shaking Her Hair Loose: Parodied. In front of Kronk, Ms. Birdwell removes her hat and, in slow motion, shakes her hair around...which is still in a bun.
- Shout-Out:
- The "Stag Reel" gag is cribbed directly from the 1944 Bugs Bunny cartoon What's Cookin, Doc?.
- Rudy snatches a bottle of youth potion and says:
- When Kronk gives up his house and wealth for the older people who had been scammed, he has this to say to his no-longer secretaries:
- Papi's big thumbs-up that he almost gets after getting Pacha's family to pose as his false family is accompanied by a watered down version of the triumphant chorus of "King of Pride Rock".
- The Falling-in-Love Montage references/parodies plenty of media and performers, such as Michael Jackson, Titanic, and Tarzan.
- The
- Snake Oil Salesman: Yzma has Kronk sell a fake youth potion to the old folks. Kuzco even halts the film to lampshade this to the audience (even using the term "snake oil" at one point).
- Spaghetti Kiss: Kronk and Ms. Birdwell have a spaghetti dinner and eat from two ends of a noodle until they kiss. Then Kronk uses his large chin to roll a round food item to Ms. Birdwell, only for it to turn out to be a millipede and attack Kronk.
- Speaks Fluent Animal: Kronk can say "squeak squeakety squeaken" and other similar phrases to communicate with chipmunks.
- Spot the Imposter: Multiple characters dress up as Kronk's wife. His father doesn't know which one is real. However, they are all imposters, because Kronk doesn't have a wife.
- Staircase Tumble: Kronk suffers one while chasing after a falling coin.
- Stock Animal Diet: Kronk prepares a meal for Bucky the squirrel which turns out to be a walnut.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: Just as Kronk realizes he wouldn't trade his True Companions to be someone he's not in order to please his father, his father finally gives him the big 'thumbs-up', and tells him he's proud of him.
- Talking with Signs: When Kronk realizes that his fondue is about to blow, he holds up a sign that says "Uh Oh".
- Totem Pole Trench: Two kids pull off this trick in a dress to trick Kronk's dad into thinking they're Kronk's wife.
- Two Scenes, One Dialogue: In a variation, Kronk and Ms. Birdwell say the same sentences while apart, except for the masculine and feminine pronouns they use to refer to each other.
- Villainous Advice Song: Yzma's "Like A Million", convincing Kronk to join her latest venture to sell youth potion to his old friends by telling him that it will be the quickest way to gain approval from his father.
- Visual Innuendo: Done during the bread-baking scene.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: When he was a child, Kronk wanted his father's approval, but never got it.
- You Can't Handle the Parody: Kronk can't, at least.
