Kuzco, though not in the nerdy way, but in the socially-awkward-kinda-woobie-way in his more sincere moments. Throughout his wacky and humbling journey, it's clear that under his Jerkass bravado is a greatly out-of-his-element teenager in need of genuine connection and a serious reality check.
Despite his Heroic Build, Kronk definitely qualifies. He's quite clumsy, and his ditzy nature only adds to his charm. If that wasn't enough, the guy can speak fluent squirrel!
Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Yzma's insulting of Kronk in the climax a result of her thinning patience with his stupidity, or was she trying to provoke him into killing Kuzco?
Alternative Joke Interpretation: While Pacha is introducing Kuzco to the diner waitress as his spouse and explaining how it's their honeymoon, she dryly replies, "Bless you for coming out in public." It's probably scripted as a reference to Kuzco's llama appearance, but with how Disney has become more open with LGBTQ+ representation over time, it could also be suggested that it's she's aware Kuzco is male.
Anvilicious: Like most animated films today, the Power of Friendship is presented in full force, but this movie makes it work: Kuzco is an unambiguous jerk, but he becomes a better person as he spends more time with the much nicer Pacha, and their cooperation ultimately helps both of them in the end.
"Perfect World" is a fun, upbeat song dedicated to Kuzco's Awesome Ego. And it's performed by Tom Jones!
Several cut songs, written by Sting when the film was still intended to be a serious epic called "Kingdom of the Sun." There's Yzma's Villain Song, "Snuff Out the Light," that's so awesome it inspired severalfan animatics. And "One Day She'll Love Me," a sweet, sad love ballad between Pacha and his then- Love Interest Nina as they try to work out their feelings for each other.
"My Funny Friend And Me", the song performed by Sting over the end credits. Sure, it might be a surprising contrast to the zany, comedic nature of the rest of the movie, but it's still a beautiful piece that represents Kuzco's Character Development and his relationship with Pacha.
"Run Llama Run" is an incredibly catchy swing piece that sounds straight out of Louis Prima's work.
Comedy Ghetto: At the time of its release, the film came under fire from some for being a more simple, lighthearted and comedic film compared to the epic, emotional and dramatic musicals that were typical of Disney at the time, a fire that only burned harder upon the release of The Sweatbox and the revelations of its original concept as The Kingdom of the Sun and the infamous Troubled Production it went through became known. While this has died down over time, with many coming to love the film for its humor and characters, it continues to get looked down upon by some today for not being as dramatic and emotional as many of Disney's more well known films.
Crosses the Line Twice: Yzma's final line after the funeral she holds for Kuzco. "Well, he ain't getting any deader!"
Evil Is Cool: While Kuzco and Pacha aren't without their moments, Yzma and Kronk are far more entertaining and memorable. They're hilarious, cool and absolute scene sealers that can even generate Rooting for the Empire because of how fun they are. Plus, their stellar performances by Eartha Kitt and Patrick Warburton respectively doesn't hurt either.
Fan Nickname: The final product is referred to as the "Dindal Cut" to help differentiate it with the "Allers Cut".
Fan-Preferred Cut Content: Some fans of the movie would have preferred to see Kingdom of the Sun instead.
Fashion-Victim Villain: Yzma, who has a mannequin-head for nightly "storing" of her enormous fake eyelashes.
First Installment Wins: Compared to the sequel/spin-off and TV series, the film had a sense of fresh air with enough comedic timing and heart for a Disney film of the early 2000s.
Fountain of Memes: One of Disney's most quotable films to date, with Kuzco, Yzma and Kronk being the most quotable characters.
Hilarious in Hindsight: This movie was released just nine months after Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King. It's mostly a surface-level resemblance since the two movies happened to take place in a Mesomaerican kingdom with a jerkass ruler, but then comes The Sweatbox which reveals the first drafts of The Emperor's New Groove, then known as Kingdom of the Sun, would've been even more similar: The King and a normal guy swapping roles? Evil lady trying to regain her youth? Blocking out the sun? They're in both.
Mexicans Love Speedy Gonzales: Despite the numerous creative liberties taken with Mesoamerican history, the film has found itself a dedicated fanbase amongst actual Mesoamericans, primarily in southern Mexico, largely owing to how enjoyable the central cast is.
Moral Event Horizon: Yzma obviously crosses it when she decides to assassinate Kuzco and, near the end, more subtly crosses it when she insults Kronk's spinach puffs, proving that she's not even loyal to the one person who was undyingly loyal to her.
My Real Daddy: While the original concept for the film and many of its ideas were intially created by Roger Allers, it is Mark Dindal (who took over directing duties when Roger Allers left) that made the film into the screwball Buddy Picture comedy that it ultimately became. To be more accurate, Roger Allers is the guy behind Kingdom of the Sun (the original concept of the film), whereas Mark Dindal is the guy behind The Emperor's New Groove.
The now-memetic "Happy, Happy Birthday" song was not created for the film. Back when "Happy Birthday to You!" was still under copyright, it had been a very popular substitute at all kinds of public venues like restaurants and children's amusement centres for years.
Once Original, Now Common: Aside from the whole "twisted, snarky fairy tale with an all-star cast" concept being monopolized by the runaway success of Shrek (which made it to theaters months after The Emperor's New Groove did), this was also the first Disney film in years that was not a blockbuster musical romance with a "Be Yourself" message and had a tone that for the time, was very unique and bold for Disney Animation. Although the humor has aged well enough, anyone who didn't grow up in Disney's renaissance era will probably have a hard time seeing why exactly this film was seen as bold as it was back in 2000. Especially since many Disney films since have been influenced by this film in one way or another.
Rooting for the Empire: It isn't that Kuzco and Pacha aren't entertaining or good characters, so much as Kronk and Yzmaflat-out steal the show, to the point that some viewers even wish that Kuzco doesn't get better just because they want to see the villains succeed.
The direct-to-DVD Kronk's New Groove was by no means terrible, featuring some decent animation and good gags here and there, but it was still a rather forgettable film, playing out more like three episodes of a TV cartoon stitched together into a movie than a true follow up.
The follow-up TV series The Emperor's New School regained some lost ground but had a tendency to take jokes from the original movie and re-re-re-use them until they lay in tatters.
Signature Scene: The restaurant sequence fires on all cylinders when it comes to the comedy.
Spiritual Adaptation: Due to its similar slapstick and snide humor, The film is compared frequently to Looney Tunes and it is probably the closest we'll get to seeing a full feature-length animated film based off the shorts.
Ugly Cute: As a llama, Kuzco is a gangly-looking thing prone to making goofy facial expressions, which is endearing in its own way. Especially when he cries.
Vindicated by History: The film underperformed at the box office, only making 169.6 million worldwide against a 100 million budget. It also got hit rather hard by the Comedy Ghetto as well, as many Disney fans and critics looked down upon it for being a lighthearted comedy instead of the grand and epic films that Disney was known for at the time. This only got worse when The Sweatbox came out and revealed that the film originally did start out as a grand epic, only for it to get retooled to a screwball Buddy Picture comedy due to Executive Meddling, which spawned a bit of a backlash against the film as a result. However, the film did eventually make its money back through home video sales and over time, the film would eventually begin to develop a following (particularly on the internet due to it being a Fountain of Memes) for its humor, insanely quotable lines and its memorable characters (with Kuzco being considered to be one of the best male Disney protagonists and Yzma being one of the best Disney villains). Nowadays, the film is widely considered to be a timeless animated comedic classic.
When Pacha first meets Llama Kuzco and questions if it's him, Kuzco answers "Yeah, who do you think you're talking to?". In the Norwegian dub, they apparently found it hard to fit the lip sync and instead had Kuzco mockingly mimic Pacha's question (with an added lisp to boot), which made it even funnier.
Kuzco: "Ugh! Kaither Kuthco??"
The Norwegian dub also has Kusco sound way more smug and intent on presenting Pacha as the bad guy in his narration. Whereas the original Kusco summered up Pacha as "trouble" after he's been introduced as a very obvious Nice Guy, Norwegian Kusco takes it to ridiculous extremes, saying: "See? This guy's pure evil!"
In the Italian dub there are quite a few, like when Pacha and Kuzco have to get up back to back; Pacha asks Kuzco 'Are you ready?' and Kuzco answers 'Yes' in the original dub, but as in Italian 'Are you ready?' was translated with 'Ci sei?' ('Are you there?') which has both meanings in the language, Kuzco gives a funny sarcastic quip, saying 'No, I'm at a bar'.
The French dub is notable (and well loved there) for completely altering some of the most Non Sequitur jokes into equally wacky non-sequitur jokes and letting the voice actors improv some of their lines. One of the most memorable change happens when Kronk awkwardly tries to get rid of his guardian angels: in the French dub, this scene was turned into a Celestial Bureaucracy joke.
Kronk: Begone, or I'll have to cancel my subscription!
The game:
Anti-Climax Boss: Not that any of the bosses are very difficult, but the final boss is just a simple race against Yzma in her cat form. Hold right and space, jump over the holes, enter the door, repeat twice, get the potion, and victory is yours. If you lose, you'll be allowed to try again.
Difficulty Spike: The City introduces long, non-linear levels, as well as trickier puzzles and stealth sections.
No Problem with Licensed Games: The PlayStation and PC game was just as humorous and satirical as the movie is, hanging lampshades on video game clichés long before The Simpsons Game did. However, there are changes to the plot, such as game Kuzco knowing Yzma is trying to kill him right from the start, while in the movie he did not learn that until after the diner scene. We should also note that Yzma's crocodiles are, shall we say, more competent guards than they were in the movie.
fan animatics.
