History Trivia / TheEmperorsNewGroove

** The film started out as a PrinceAndPauper movie called ''Kingdom of the Sun'' in 1994, described by ''Lion King'' co-director Roger Allers as an "epic picture mixing elements of adventure, comedy, romance and mysticism". It would have been in the traditional style of ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast''. The plot would've involved a greedy, selfish emperor who finds a peasant who looks just like him, so the emperor swaps places with the peasant for fun. Meanwhile, the evil witch Yzma has plans to summon the evil god Supai and capture the sun so that she may retain her youth forever. Discovering the switch between the prince and the peasant, Yzma turns the emperor into a llama and threatens to reveal the pauper's identity unless he obeys her. The emperor learns AnAesop about humility, and ends up loving a llama herder named Mata. Together, she and the emperor set out to stop Yzma's evil plans. Sting was signed on as the song composer. Disney execs thought that due to the poor critical and commercial reception of ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', both of which were serious dramatic musicals in the vein of ''Kingdom of the Sun'', the film would be unsuccessful. Compounding this was the fact that the release date had been firmly set at the year 2000, and by 1998 it was clear that production would not wrap up in time. Disney execs ordered production on ''Sun'' to be halted. Almost all the original plot points and characters were scrapped. Most of Sting's compositions were cut as well. The movie became transformed into a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''-style slapstick buddy comedy. While the end result was warmly received by critics, who found it a breath of fresh air compared to most of Disney's fare, animator Andreas Deja, who supervised animation on Yzma during ''Sun'', was displeased with what the film was reworked into, and left to work on ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitch'' before the retool. Allers was also disappointed with the final film, calling it a "simple slapstick comedy", and saying that if he had had more time, he could've made the film according to his original visions.

** In Norway, the title is ''"A Kingdom for a Llama",'' because the word "groove" doesn't really have a good equivalent. Some merchandise does name it after its original title however (with "style" replacing "groove"), though the former mentioned remains the most known.

** GoodAngelBadAngel.AnimatedFilms

** In the Brazilian dub, Kuzco is voiced by Selton Mello (who ironically initally started his carrer as voice actor, providing voices for the Brazilian dub of movies like ''Film/TheBreakfastClub'' and ''Film/TheGoonies'' and even voiced Doofus Drake in ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987''), Pacha is voiced by Humberto Martins, Yzma is voiced by Marieta Severo and Theme Song Guy is voiced by famous musician Ed Motta (who previously worked with Disney in ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'' by singing the brazilian version of Someday, and the brazilian version of the songs from ''Disney/{{Tarzan}}'').

* DuelingMovies: Against two movies, nontheless: ''WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado'' from Creator/DreamWorks as well as ''Doraemon: Nobita and the Legend of the Sun King'' from Japan, all three of which take place in Mesoamerica. Disney themselves released ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' to go up against ''El Dorado''. ''The Emperor's New Groove'' did win since it got better reviews and ''El Dorado'' bombed and sunk that franchise immediately. ''Legend of the Sun King'' as part of a [[Anime/{{Doraemon}} wider franchise]] became the highest grossing film at $32 million, but obviously it pales in comparison to the $169 million ''The Emperor's New Groove'' got due to not being released outside of East Asia (since the series it's part of is unknown outside of the region).

** The film started out as a PrinceAndPauper movie called ''Kingdom of the Sun'' in 1994, described by ''Lion King'' co-director Roger Allers as an "epic picture mixing elements of adventure, comedy, romance and mysticism". It would have been in the traditional style of ''Disney/{{Aladdin}}'' and ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''. The plot would've involved a greedy, selfish emperor who finds a peasant who looks just like him, so the emperor swaps places with the peasant for fun. Meanwhile, the evil witch Yzma has plans to summon the evil god Supai and capture the sun so that she may retain her youth forever. Discovering the switch between the prince and the peasant, Yzma turns the emperor into a llama and threatens to reveal the pauper's identity unless he obeys her. The emperor learns AnAesop about humility, and ends up loving a llama herder named Mata. Together, she and the emperor set out to stop Yzma's evil plans. Sting was signed on as the song composer. Disney execs thought that due to the poor critical and commercial reception of ''Disney/{{Pocahontas}}'' and ''Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', both of which were serious dramatic musicals in the vein of ''Kingdom of the Sun'', the film would be unsuccessful. Compounding this was the fact that the release date had been firmly set at the year 2000, and by 1998 it was clear that production would not wrap up in time. Disney execs ordered production on ''Sun'' to be halted. Almost all the original plot points and characters were scrapped. Most of Sting's compositions were cut as well. The movie became transformed into a ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes''-style slapstick buddy comedy. While the end result was warmly received by critics, who found it a breath of fresh air compared to most of Disney's fare, animator Andreas Deja, who supervised animation on Yzma during ''Sun'', was displeased with what the film was reworked into, and left to work on ''Disney/LiloAndStitch'' before the retool. Allers was also disappointed with the final film, calling it a "simple slapstick comedy", and saying that if he had had more time, he could've made the film according to his original visions.

** Originally, it was going to be a more traditional Disney epic called ''Kingdom of the Sun'', with a typical PrinceAndPauper storyline. After a WriterRevolt, ExecutiveMeddling, and a ReTool (as the two directors were going in opposite directions, and the film had only a short span of two years to get completed), they scrapped the idea of doing a serious epic, and the resultant film was [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute.]] Several animators, such as Andreas Deja who wanted to work on "a great film," left in a huff[[note]]He would end up flying down to Florida to work on ''Disney/LiloAndStitch''[[/note]], as well as many other staff members who just left Disney entirely.

** In the Mexican Spanish dub, Kuzco was originally planned to be [[CelebrityVoiceActor dubbed by a soap opera actor]] (Arath de la Torre), and while he did finished the dub and was payed for it, it was never used because Walt Disney's Mexican branch didn't like his performance and, probably to avoid another sub-par performance with the main character just like they did with the dub of ''Disney/{{Hercules}}'', he was replaced with Creator/JesusBarrero, who originally only dubbed him in the trailers.

** Kuzco was originally named Manco until someone realized that it was also the Japanese word for "vagina".

* CreatorBacklash: Animator Robin Steele, one of the uncredited co-directors on ''Disney/KronksNewGroove'', does not recall his experience at the studio with much fondness.

** Also, ''Composer'' Meddling: Sting, who was already annoyed about having to stay on a project for which he'd already exhausted all of the time he'd set aside, nearly left the project when he objected to the original ending where Kuzco spared Pacha's village, but still built his water park on the hill ''next'' to his. He wrote to the producers that this meant that Kuzco hadn't learned anything, not to mention went against his personal beliefs about the environment, to which they agreed and had the necessary changes made.

** Related to TroubledProduction: Mrs. "Sting", Trudie Styler, filmed a (slightly unfinished) documentary on the film's production, ''Film/TheSweatbox''. It was screened once, but since Disney owns this document of chaos, they make sure it never gets released (very likely due to there being a large amount of swearing in it), though it was briefly leaked on the internet in March 2012. A review can be found [[http://www.platypuscomix.net/educational/thesweatbox.html here.]]
** Related to WhatCouldHaveBeen: Creator/OwenWilson was originally cast as Pacha[[note]]who originally was designed to look like a twin of Kuzco... who, by the way, was called "Manco" in the original version[[/note]]. He recorded all his dialogue but when the film was retooled, his voice work was thrown out. There also used to be a short talking Incan statue sidekick to be voiced by Harvey Feinstein. Kronk was nowhere in the story. Yzma's original carnation was creepier, less neurotic, far more threatening, and obsessed with becoming young and beautiful again.

* ActingForTwo: In the Japanese dub of ''Kronk's New Groove'', Creator/ShowtaroMorikubo voiced both Kuzko and Tipo, in the later case as the replacement of his previous voice actor, Yuuki Tokiwa.

* TroubledProduction:
** This is one of the biggest perpetrators of these tropes in the Disney canon. Originally, it was going to be a more traditional Disney epic called ''Kingdom of the Sun'', with a typical PrinceAndPauper storyline. After a WriterRevolt, ExecutiveMeddling, and a ReTool (as the two directors were going in opposite directions, and the film had only a short span of two years to get completed), they scrapped the idea of doing a serious epic, and the resultant film was [[Film/MontyPythonAndTheHolyGrail completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute.]] Several animators, such as Andreas Deja who wanted to work on "a great film," left in a huff[[note]]He would end up flying down to Florida to work on ''Disney/LiloAndStitch''[[/note]], as well as many other staff members who just left Disney entirely.

* TheOtherDarrin: For the brazilian dub of Kronk's New Groove, Peterson Adriano replaces Selton Mello as the voice of Kuzco, Mauro Ramos replaces Humberto Martins as the voice of Pacha and Geisa Vidal replaces Marieta Severo as the voice of Yzma. Peterson, Mauro and Geisa would later reprise the roles for the dub of WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool, with Peterson later in the series being replaced by Marcos Souza as the voice of Kuzco.

* CelebrityVoiceActor: In the Japanese dub, Kuzco is voiced by actor Tatsuya Fujiwara, aka [[Film/BattleRoyale Shuya Nanahara]] and Light Yagami in the ''Film/DeathNote'''s live-action films.

** ThatPoorPlant

** The European French title translates as "Kuzco, The Egotistical Emperor" (albeit with a very familiar term for 'egotistical'). The French Canadian title instead goes for a translated version of the [[RuleOfThree above]] Norway title.

** The French title translates as "Kuzco, The Egotistical Emperor" (albeit with a very familiar term for 'egotistical').

* DuelingMovies: With ''WesternAnimation/TheRoadToElDorado'' from Creator/DreamWorks; this is one of two thematically similar Disney films in this time period, the other being the next film, ''Disney/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', to go up against that film. ''The Emperor's New Groove'' did win since it got better reviews, plus ''El Dorado'' bombed and sunk that franchise immediately.

* ActorAllusion:
** Yzma is voiced by Eartha Kitt, who is well known for portraying one version of [[Series/{{Batman}} Catwoman]]. She displays an example of ToTheBatpole and later [[spoiler:gets transformed into a cat. A cute, but still demonic cat]].
** Kuzco's "Buh-bye!" to Pacha on the bridge. Apparently, he used to work for [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Total Bastard Airlines]].
** At one point, Kuzco tricks Pacha into carrying him due to low blood sugar, something Creator/DavidSpade actually suffers from.

* CastingGag: Eartha Kitt becomes [[spoiler: a [[ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} cat]]]].

* TheOtherDarrin:
** For the brazilian dub of Kronk's New Groove, Peterson Adriano replaces Selton Mello as the voice of Kuzco, Mauro Ramos replaces Humberto Martins as the voice of Pacha and Geisa Vidal replaces Marieta Severo as the voice of Yzma. Peterson, Mauro and Geisa would later reprise the roles for the dub of WesternAnimation/TheEmperorsNewSchool, with Peterson later in the series being replaced by Marcos Souza as the voice of Kuzco.

** Averted in Denmark, where the movie is called ''The Emperor's New Flip'', or ''Freak-Out''. Since the original fairytale ''The Emperor's New Clothes'' is Danish, completely changing the title would have been out of the question.

** Averted in Denmark, where the movie is called The Emperor's New Flip, or Freak-Out. Since the original fairytale The Emperor's New Clothes is Danish, completely changing the title would have been out of the question.

-->"And then there was that truly evil epoch called [=DisneyToon=] Studios, wherein actually solving script problems with storyboard work was a capital offense, when Disney executives figured that they were the REAL storytellers and directors were nothing but "hired wrists" who were brought on to know how to make animation out of the hash they were handed to work with. The day that I objected to the whole idea of a "cheerleading camp" in ancient Peru ([[WagTheDirector because the writer's wife was SO TOTALLY into cheer camp]]), at a production meeting with the president of DisneyToon Studios, was the day I signed my death warrant therein. When I questioned the anachronism of the two, I was loudly accosted by said president, who screamed at me: "You're being unproductive, Robin! This movie doesn't even HAVE TO BE IN ANCIENT PERU! It could be in OUTER SPACE! You're not being a TEAM PLAYER!!!" There wasn't much creative logic going in there, in those days. [[MoneyDearBoy "Put it in a jewel case and ship it"]] seemed to be the overriding principle."

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The opening musical number ends with Kuzco and his guards Irish line-dancing, inspired by ''Riverdance'' and its SpiritualSuccessor ''Lord of the Dance'', which were popular at the time.

* CreatorBacklash: Animator Robin Steele, one of the uncredited co-directors on ''Disney/KronksNewGroove'' [[note]]there were actually ''five'' directors total who worked on it, but only two are credited in the final film[[/note]], does not recall his experience at the studio with much fondness.

** Kuzco's "Bubye!" to Pacha on the bridge. Apparently, he used to work for [[Series/SaturdayNightLive Total Bastard Airlines]].

** Related to WhatCouldHaveBeen: Owen Wilson was originally cast as Pacha[[note]]who originally was designed to look like a twin of Kuzco... who, by the way, was called "Manco" in the original version[[/note]]. He recorded all his dialogue but when the film was retooled, his voice work was thrown out. There also used to be a short talking Incan statue sidekick to be voiced by Harvey Feinstein. Kronk was nowhere in the story. Yzma's original carnation was creepier, less neurotic, far more threatening, and obsessed with becoming young and beautiful again.

** In the original ''Kingdom of the Sun'', Pacha would've been voiced by Owen Wilson, who would later go on to voice [[WesternAnimation/{{Cars}} Lightning McQueen]].