The Emperor's New Groove

***The Emperor's New Groove*** is a 2000 American animated buddy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 40th animated Disney feature film and was directed by Mark Dindal from a script written by David Reynolds, based on a story by Chris Williams and Dindal. The voice cast features David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, Patrick Warburton and Wendie Malick. *The Emperor's New Groove* follows a young and self-centered Incan emperor, Kuzco, who is transformed into a llama by his ex-advisor Yzma. In order for the emperor to change back into a human, he trusts a village leader, Pacha, who escorts him back to the palace.

Development began in 1994, when the film was conceived as a musical epic titled *Kingdom of the Sun*. Following his directorial debut with *The Lion King* (1994), Roger Allers recruited English musician Sting to compose several songs for the film. Because of the underwhelming box office performances of *Pocahontas* (1995) and *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1996), Dindal was brought in as co-director to make the film more comedic. Due to poor test screenings, creative differences with Dindal and production falling behind schedule, Allers departed, and the film became a lighthearted comedy instead of a dramatic musical. A documentary, *The Sweatbox* (2002), details the production troubles that *The Emperor's New Groove* endured during its six years of development.

*The Emperor's New Groove* was released to theaters on December 15, 2000. It performed disappointingly at the box office compared to Disney films released in the 1990s, grossing $169.3 million on a $100 million budget.[1] However, the film found larger success when it was released for home media, and became the bestselling DVD of 2001. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised it as one of the best films released during Disney's post-Renaissance era and the most comedic. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "My Funny Friend and Me" performed by Sting but lost to "Things Have Changed" by Bob Dylan from *Wonder Boys*. A direct-to-video sequel, *Kronk's New Groove*, was released in 2005, and an animated spin-off, *The Emperor's New School*, aired on Disney Channel from 2006 to 2008.

## Plot

Kuzco is the young, selfish, and overly-pampered emperor of the Inca Empire who lives the high-life and routinely punishes those who "throw off his groove" (literally). When he fires his conniving adviser Yzma for attempting to run the country behind his back, she, along with her ditzy henchman Kronk, plots to take the throne. Kuzco meets with Pacha, a kind peasant and village leader, and tells him that he plans to demolish his hilltop family home to build himself a lavish summer home called "Kuzcotopia". Pacha protests, but is quickly dismissed. That evening, Yzma hosts a dinner where she plans to poison Kuzco, but due to a mislabeled vial, Kronk inadvertently spikes Kuzco's wine with the wrong potion, turning him into a llama instead. After knocking Kuzco out, Yzma orders Kronk to dispose of him in a river. However, after doing so, Kronk has a crisis of conscience at the last second and saves Kuzco, but misplaces him on a cart belonging to Pacha.

Upon returning home, Pacha does not tell his family about Kuzco's decision. After awakening from the bag on the cart and scaring Pacha, Kuzco blames Pacha for his transformation and orders Pacha to return him to the palace. Pacha agrees, but only if Kuzco agrees to build Kuzcotopia elsewhere. Kuzco, being the callous jerk that he is, refuses the offer and decides to go by himself against Pacha's warnings, but quickly ends up getting chased through the jungle by a pack of black jaguars. Pacha arrives to rescue him, and extends his offer. Kuzco accepts Pacha's offer, secretly scheming to renege on his word once he is safe. The two survive many ordeals in the jungle, and Pacha finds that Kuzco has a good side to him underneath his selfishness. Meanwhile, Yzma takes the throne, but is angered to hear from Kronk that Kuzco still alive, so the two set out to find him.

The next day, the pairs arrive at a jungle diner at the same time, unaware of each others' presence (Kronk apparently took directions from a squirrel who Kuzco encountered while going through the jungle by himself). While Kuzco complains to the cook, Pacha overhears Yzma's plan, and attempts to warn Kuzco when he returns, but he doesn't believe Pacha, thinking he is beloved by his people. However, Kuzco soon overhears Yzma's and Kronk's scheming, and realizes no one in his empire ever missed him. Feeling unwanted, Kuzco leaves the diner on his own, planning on living out the rest of his life as a normal llama. Pacha catches up, still willing to help Kuzco return to normal after knowing his life is in danger. Kuzco reconciles with him before they set off to Pacha's house for supplies.

Upon arriving, Yzma is already there. Pacha has his family delay Yzma, giving him and Kuzco a head-start back to the palace. They find Yzma's secret lab and numerous potions, including one to return one to human, but Yzma and Kronk have somehow beaten them there; Kronk even agrees that by all accounts, it didn't make sense. Yzma orders Kronk to kill the pair, but he is hesitant to do so, to which she insults him and his cooking, which prompts him to switch sides. After dropping him down a trapdoor, she orders the palace guards to kill them, lying that they murdered the emperor. Pacha scoops up all of the vials (Yzma intentionally knocked them all to the floor to stop Pacha from obtaining the correct one) and knocks over a table of flasks containing other potions, turning the guards into numerous animals. Pacha and Kuzco flee, trying the various vials during the chase to find the correct one. As they are cornered on the ledges of a giant wall structure, they find they are down to two vials. Yzma chases them, knocking away the vials. She and Kuzco struggle over the vials, accidentally crushing one and transforming Yzma into a helpless kitten. Pacha and Kuzco use teamwork to reach the other vial. Yzma snatches it, but as she gloats over her victory, she accidentally drops the vial right into Pacha's hand due to being smacked in the face by a wall panel suddenly opened by Kronk, who somehow found his way out of the trapdoor. Pacha gives Kuzco the vial and Kuzco finally drinks the potion.

Sometime later, Kuzco, having reflected on the consequences of his selfishness, takes Pacha's suggestion of moving Kuzcotopia over to a neighboring and unoccupied hill. Kuzco then joins Pacha and his family at his modest resort while elsewhere, Kronk has become a scoutleader and trains a new batch of scouts, including Yzma, who remains a kitten.

## Voice cast

Main article: List of The Emperor's New Groove characters

* David Spade as Emperor Kuzco, the malevolent, narcissistic, and selfish 18-year-old emperor of the Inca Empire.
* John Goodman as Pacha, a kind and caring village leader.
* Eartha Kitt as Yzma, Kuzco's elderly advisor who seeks Kuzco's throne for herself.
* Patrick Warburton as Kronk, Yzma's good-natured but dimwitted muscular henchman.
* Wendie Malick as Chicha, Pacha's caring pregnant wife.
* Kellyann Kelso and Eli Russell Linnetz as Chaca and Tipo, Pacha and Chicha's two young, rambunctious children.
* Bob Bergen as Bucky the Squirrel, Kronk's companion.
* Tom Jones as the Theme Song Guy, Kuzco's personal theme song conductor.
* Patti Deutsch as Matta, a waitress at Mudka's Meat Hut.
* John Fiedler as Rudy, a kindly old man who meets and befriends Kuzco.
* Joe Whyte as the Royal Recordkeeper.
* Corey Burton, Jim Cummings, Jack Angel, Danny Mann, Phil Proctor, Eddie Korbich, Donald Fullilove, Richard Steven Horvitz, Paul Eiding, Philip L. Clarke, Brian Tochi and Patrick Pinney as Male Villagers
* Sherry Lynn, Jennifer Darling, Mickie McGowan, Jessica Rotter, Cathy Cavadini, and Kath Soucie as Female Villagers
* Jess Harnell as the Guard who throws Rudy out the window
* Rodger Bumpass as one of the Guards who got turned into a Cow
* Steve Susskind as a Irate Chef, a former chef at Matta's who quits due to Kuzco and Kronk
* Miriam Flynn as the Pianta Lady
* Frank Welker as Llamas, Jaguars, Fly and Bees
* Jim Cummings and Kath Soucie as Birthday Singers
* Andre Stojka and Robert Clotworthy as Topo and Ipi, two of Pacha's villagers

## Production

### *Kingdom of the Sun*

"*Kingdom of the Sun* was such a heart-breaking experience for me. I put four years of my heart and energy into that one... I was creating an "epic" picture mixing elements of adventure, comedy, romance and mysticism. The head of Disney Features at the time was afraid that we were doing, in his opinion, too many films in the same vein. He was also uncomfortable with the spiritual and cultural (Inca) aspects of it. Hence, he decided to make it a simple slapstick comedy... Would it have worked out if we had had more time? I would hope so, but one can never know these things."

The idea of *Kingdom of the Sun* was conceived by Roger Allers and Matthew Jacobs,[3] and development on the project began in 1994.[4] Upon pitching the project to then-Disney CEO and chairman Michael Eisner, Allers recalled Eisner saying "it has all of the elements of a classic Disney film,"[5] and because of his directorial success on *The Lion King* that same year, Eisner allowed Allers to have free rein with both the casting and the storyline.[6] In January 1995, *Variety* reported that Allers was working on "an Inca-themed original story".[7]

In 1996, the production crew traveled to Machu Picchu in Peru, to study Inca artifacts and architecture and the landscape this empire was created in.[8][9]

*Kingdom of the Sun* was to have been a tale of a greedy, selfish emperor (voiced by David Spade) who finds a peasant (voiced by Owen Wilson) who looks just like him; the emperor swaps places with the peasant to escape his boring life and have fun, much as in author Mark Twain's archetypal novel *The Prince and the Pauper*. However, the villainous witch Yzma has plans to summon Supay (the evil god of death), and destroy the sun so that she may become young and beautiful forever (the sun gives her wrinkles, so she surmises that living in a world of darkness would prevent her from aging). Discovering the switch between the prince and the peasant, Yzma turns the real emperor into a llama and threatens to reveal the pauper's identity unless he obeys her. During his time as the emperor and doing Yzma's orders, the pauper falls in love with the emperor's soon to be fiancé Nina (voiced by Carla Gugino) who thinks he is the emperor that has changed his ways. Meanwhile, the emperor-llama learns humility in his new form and even comes to love a female llama-herder named Mata (voiced by Laura Prepon).[10] Together, the girl and the llama set out to undo the witch's plans. The book *Reel Views 2* says the film would have been a "romantic comedy musical in the 'traditional' Disney style".[11]

Following the underwhelming box office performances of *Pocahontas* and *The Hunchback of Notre Dame*, studio executives felt that the project was growing too ambitious and serious for audiences following test screenings, and needed more comedy.[12] In early 1997, producer Randy Fullmer contacted and offered Mark Dindal, who had just wrapped up work on Warner Bros.'s *Cats Don't Dance*, to be co-director on *Kingdom of the Sun*.[13] Meanwhile, Allers personally called Sting, in the wake of Elton John's success with *The Lion King's* soundtrack, to compose several songs for the film.[5] He agreed, but on the condition that his filmmaker wife Trudie Styler could "document the process of the production".[14] This film, which was eventually entitled *The Sweatbox*, was made by Xingu Films (their own production company). Along with collaborator David Hartley, Sting composed eight songs inextricably linked with the original plot and characters.[4]

In the summer of 1997, it was announced that Roger Allers and Mark Dindal would serve as the film's directors and Randy Fullmer as producer. David Spade and Eartha Kitt had been confirmed to voice the emperor Manco and the villainess, while Carla Gugino was in talks for the role of Nina.[15][16] Harvey Fierstein was also cast as Hucua, Yzma's sidekick.[5]

In the summer of 1998, it became apparent that *Kingdom of the Sun* was not far along enough in production to be released in the summer of 2000 as planned. At this time, one of the Disney executives reportedly walked into Randy Fullmer's office and, placing his thumb and forefinger a quarter-inch (5 mm) apart, angrily stated "your film is this close to being shut down."[12] Fullmer approached Allers, and informed him of the need to finish the film on time for its summer 2000 release as crucial promotional deals with McDonald's, Coca-Cola and other companies were already established and depended upon meeting that release date. Allers acknowledged that the production was falling behind, but was confident that, with an extension of between six months to a year, he could complete the film. When Fullmer denied Allers's request for an extension, the director decided to leave the project.[12] As a result, on September 23, 1998[4][17] the project became dormant with production costs amounting towards $25–30 million[4][6] and twenty-five percent of the film animated.[18]

### Production overhaul and changes

Upset that Allers left the project, Eisner gave Fullmer two weeks to salvage the project or production would be completely shut down.[12] Fullmer and Dindal halted production for six months to retool the project by renaming it *Kingdom in the Sun*,[13] making it the first Disney animated feature to have an extensive overhaul since *Pinocchio*.[19] Meanwhile, following Eric Goldberg's pitch for the *Rhapsody in Blue* segment for *Fantasia 2000*, the animators were reassigned to work on the segment.[20] In the interim, Chris Williams, who was a storyboard artist during *Kingdom of the Sun*,[21] came up with the idea of making Pacha an older character as opposed to the teenager that he was in the original version.[22] Following up on the new idea, former late-night comedy writer David Reynolds stated, "I pitched a simple comedy that's basically a buddy road picture with two guys being chased in the style of a Chuck Jones 'toon, but faster paced. Disney said, 'Give it a shot.'"[23] One of the new additions to the revised story was the scene-stealing character of Yzma's sidekick Kronk.[24] Meanwhile, the name Manco was changed to Kuzco following Fullmer's discovery of the Japanese slang term *manko*, which translates to cunt.[6] Due in part of the production shutdown, Sting began to develop schedule conflicts with his songwriting duties interfering with his work on his next album he was planning to record in Italy. "I write the music, and then they're supposed to animate it, but there are constantly changes being made. It's constantly in turnaround," the singer/songwriter admitted, but "I'm enjoying it."[5][25] Because of the shutdown, the computer-animated film *Dinosaur* assumed the summer 2000 release date originally scheduled for *Kingdom*.[6]

Andreas Deja declined to return to the film after observing his more serious version of Yzma was incompatible with the wackier and comedic tone of the film, to which he moved to Orlando, Florida to work on *Lilo & Stitch*. Animator Dale Baer would replace Deja as the supervising animator for Yzma.[26] Fullmer would inform Sting by telephone that his songs, related to specific scenes and characters that were now gone, had to be dropped.[5][27] Bitter about the removal of his songs, the pop musician commented that "At first, I was angry and perturbed. Then I wanted some vengeance." Disney eventually agreed to allow three of the six deleted songs as bonus tracks on the soundtrack album, such as Yzma's villain song "Snuff Out the Light", the love song "One Day She'll Love Me" and the dance number "Walk the Llama Llama".[28] The plot elements, such as the romance between the llama herder Pacha and Manco's betrothed Nina, the sun-capturing villain scheme, similarities to *The Prince and the Pauper* story and Inca mythology were dropped.[12] The character of Hucua was also dropped, though he would make a cameo appearance as the candle holder during the dinner scene in the finished film.[29] Kuzco – who was a supporting character in the original story – eventually became the protagonist.[30]

In the summer of 1999, cast members Owen Wilson, Harvey Fierstein and Trudie Styler were dropped from the film.[31] Eartha Kitt and David Spade remained in the cast, Dindal commented, "[a]nd then John Goodman and Patrick Warburton came aboard."[32] After Sting's songs for *Kingdom of the Sun* were dropped from the new storyline, Sting remained on the project, though he was told by the studio that "[a]ll we want is a beginning and an end song."[33] The song, "Perfect World", was approached "to open the movie with a big, fun number that established the power of Kuzco and showed how he controlled the world", according to Feature Animation president Thomas Schumacher.[34] The filmmakers had asked Sting to perform the song for the film, though Sting declined by telling them that he was too old to sing it and that they should find someone younger and hipper. They instead went with Tom Jones, who is eleven years older than Sting.[35]

In February 2000, the new film was announced as *The Emperor's New Groove* with its new story centering on a spoiled Inca Emperor – voiced by David Spade – who through various twists and falls ends up learning the true meaning of friendship and happiness from a poor peasant voiced by John Goodman. The release date was shifted to December 2000.[36] Despite the phrasing of the title, the film wasn't related to Hans Christian Andersen's classic Danish fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes" (although both stories involve an emperor being tricked).[37] However, according to Mark V. Moorhead of the *Houston Press*, the film's plot does bear some resemblance to that of *The Golden Ass* by Lucius Apuleius, wherein a man is turned into a donkey.[38]

Eisner worried that the new story was too close in tone to *Hercules*, which had performed decently yet below expectations at the American box office. Dindal and Fullmer assured him that *The Emperor's New Groove*, as the film was now called, would have a much smaller cast, making it easier to attract audiences. Towards end of production, the film's ending originally had Kuzco building his Kuzcotopia amusement park on another hill by destroying a rainforest near Pacha's home and inviting the former and his family to visit. Horrified at the ending, Sting commented that "I wrote them a letter and said, 'You do this, I'm resigning because this is exactly the opposite of what I stand for. I've spent 20 years trying to defend the rights of indigenous people and you're just marching over them to build a theme park. I will not be party to this."[39] As a result, the ending was rewritten in which Kuzco instead constructs a shack similar to Pacha's and spends his vacation among the villagers.[40]

### Design and animation

During production on *Kingdom of the Sun*, Andreas Deja was the initial supervising animator of Yzma and incorporated supermodeling poses published in magazines in order to capture Yzma's sultry, seductive persona.[41] Nik Ranieri was originally slated as the supervising animator for Yzma's rocky sidekick, Hucua. During the research trip to Peru in 1996, Ranieri acknowledged that "I was researching for a character that looked like a rock so I was stuck drawing rocks for the whole trip. Then when we got back they piled it into this story about ancient Incas."[42] Mark Pudleiner was to be the supervising animator of Kuzco's proposed maiden, Nina.[43] In early 1997, David Pruiksma came on board to animate the llama, Snowball.[44] According to Pruiksma, Snowball was "a silly, vain and egotistical character, rather the dumb blond of the llama set. I really enjoyed developing the character and doing some early test animation on her as well. Before I left the film (and it was ultimately shelved), I created model sheets for not only Snowball, but for the rest of the herd of seven other llamas and for Kuzco as a Llama."[45] When the film was placed on production shutdown, Pruiksma transferred to work on *Atlantis: The Lost Empire* being developed concurrently and ultimately the llama characters were dropped from the storyline.[44]

Following the production overhaul and the studio's attempts for more cost-efficient animated features, Mark Dindal urged for "a simpler approach that emphasized the characters rather than overwhelming special effects or cinematic techniques".[46] Because of the subsequent departure of Deja, animator Dale L. Baer inherited the character of Yzma. Using Eartha Kitt's gestures during recording sessions, Baer commented that "She has a natural voice for animation and really got into the role. She would gesture wildly and it was fun just to watch her. She would come into each session almost serious and very professional and suddenly she would go wild and break up laughing."[47] Ranieri was later asked to serve as the supervising animator of Kuzco (as a human and a llama), though he would admit being reluctant at first until he discovered that Kuzco "had a side to him, there was a lot of comedy potential and as a character he went through an arc".[42] Pudleiner was also reassigned to work as an animator of the human version of Kuzco.[48] In addition to drawing inspiration from David Spade during recording sessions, the Kuzco animation team studied llamas at the zoo, visited a llama farm, watched nature documentaries, and even observed the animals up close when they came for a visit to the studio.[46] For the rewritten version of Pacha, animator Bruce W. Smith observed that "Pacha is probably the most human of all the characters," and further added that he "has more human mannerisms and realistic traits, which serve as a contrast to the cartoony llama he hangs out with. He is the earthy guy who brings everything back into focus. Being a big fellow about six-foot-five and weighing about 250 pounds we had to work hard to give him a sense of weight and believability in his movement."[46]

Actual animation began in 1999, involving 400 artists and 300 technicians and production personnel.[42] Outside of the Walt Disney Feature Animation studio building in Burbank, California, animators located at Walt Disney Feature Animation Florida and Disney Animation France assisted in the production of *The Emperor's New Groove*.[49] During the last eighteen months of production, a 120-crew of clean-up artists would take an animation cel drawing from the animation department, and place a new piece of paper over the existing image in order to draw a cleaner, more refined image. "We're basically the final designers," said clean-up supervisor Vera Pacheco, whose crew worked on more than 200,000 drawings for *Groove*.[50]

## Release

After the release date had shifted to winter 2000, similarities were noted between the film and DreamWorks Animation's *The Road to El Dorado*.[51] Marc Lument, a visual development artist on *El Dorado*, claimed "It really was a race, and Katzenberg wanted ours out before theirs." Lument also added that, "We didn't know exactly what they were doing, but we had the impression it was going to be very similar. Whoever came out second would face the impression that they copied the other."[3] Fullmer and Dindal denied the similarities with the latter commenting "This version [*The Emperor's New Groove*] was well in the works when that movie came out," and further added "Early on, when our movie got to be very comic, all of us felt that you can't be making this farce about a specific group of people unless we are going to poke fun at ourselves. This didn't seem to be a proper choice about Incas or any group of people. It was more of a fable."[52]

The marketing campaign for *The Emperor's New Groove* was relatively restrained as Disney opted to heavily promote the release of *102 Dalmatians*, which was released during Thanksgiving.[52][53] Nevertheless, the film was accompanied with six launcher toys of Kuzco, Kuzco as a llama, Pacha, Yzma, Yzma as a cat and Kronk,[54] accompanied with Happy Meals at McDonald's in North America. The European, Asian and Australian toys from 2001 were different from the North American set. Stuffed animals were also made and sold in places like The Disney Store.

### Home media

The standard VHS and DVD was released on May 1, 2001, as well as a "2-Disc Collector's Edition" that included bonus features such as Sting's music video of "My Funny Friend and Me", a Rascal Flatts music video of "Walk the Llama Llama" from the soundtrack, audio commentary with the filmmakers, a multi-skill level Set Top Game with the voice cast, and deleted scenes among other features.[55] Unlike its theatrical box office performance, the film performed better on home video, becoming the top-selling home video release of 2001.[56] In September 2001, it was reported that 6 million VHS units were sold amounting towards $89 million in revenue. On DVD, it was also reported it had sold twice as many sales. The overall revenue averaged toward $125 million according to Adams Media Research.[57]

Disney re-released a single-disc special edition called "The New Groove Edition" on October 18, 2005. Disney then digitally remastered and released *The Emperor's New Groove* on Blu-ray on June 11, 2013, bundled in a two-movie collection combo pack with its sequel *Kronk's New Groove*.[58] On its first weekend, it sold 14,000 Blu-ray units grossing $282,000.[59]

## Reception

### Box office

On its opening weekend, *The Emperor's New Groove* premiered at fourth place grossing about $10 million behind strong competitions such as *What Women Want*, *Dude, Where's My Car?* and *How the Grinch Stole Christmas*.[60] Overall, the film grossed $89.3 million at the United States box office and an additional $80 million worldwide[61]—totals considerably lower than those for most of the Disney Feature Animation productions released in the 1990s, and which were considered disappointing for the company.[62][63]

Because of its pre-Columbian setting and Latin American flavor, Disney spent $250,000 in its marketing campaign towards the Latino market releasing dual English and Spanish-language theatrical prints in sixteen multiplexes across heavily populated Latino areas in Los Angeles, California in contrast to releasing dubbed or subtitled theatrical prints of their previous animated features in foreign markets.[64] By January 2001, following nineteen days into its theatrical general release, the Spanish-dubbed prints were pulled from multiplexes as Hispanic Americans opted to watch the English-language prints with its grossing averaging $571,000 in comparison to $96,000 for the former.[65]

### Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, *The Emperor's New Groove* holds an 85% approval rating based on 128 reviews and an average of 7.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "*The Emperor's New Groove* isn't the most ambitious animated film, but its brisk pace, fresh characters, and big laughs make for a great time for the whole family."[66] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 70 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[67]

Writing for *Variety*, Robert Koehler commented the film "may not match the groovy business of many of the studio's other kidpix, but it will be remembered as the film that established a new attitude in the halls of Disney's animation unit".[68] Roger Ebert, writing his review for *Chicago Sun-Times*, awarded the film 3 (out of 4) stars distinguishing the film as "a goofy slapstick cartoon, with the attention span of Donald Duck that is separate from what's known as animated features". Ebert would later add that "it doesn't have the technical polish of a film like *Tarzan*, but is a reminder that the classic cartoon look is a beloved style of its own."[69] *Entertainment Weekly* critic Lisa Schwarzbaum graded the film a B+, describing it as a "hip, funny, mostly nonmusical, decidedly non-epic family picture, which turns out to be less of a hero's journey than a meeting of sitcom minds".[70]

However, the film was not without its detractors. Marc Savlov of *The Austin Chronicle* gave the film 2 stars out of 5, noting that the film "suffers from a persistent case of narrative backsliding that only serves to make older members of the audience long for the days of the dwarves, beauties, and poisoned apples of Disney-yore, and younger ones squirm in their seats". Savlov continued to express his displeasure in the animation in comparison to the previous year's *Tarzan*, writing it "is also a minor letdown, with none of the ecstatic visual tour de force."[71] Bob Strauss acknowledged that the film is "funny, frantic and colorful enough to keep the small fry diverted for its short but strained 78 minutes", though except for "some nice voice work, a few impressive scale gags and interesting, Inca-inspired design elements, there is very little here for the rest of the family to latch onto". Strauss would target the massive story overhaul during production as the main problem.[72]

In 2018, *The Emperor's New Groove* was named the 16th best Disney animated film by IGN.[73]

## *The Sweatbox*

Main article: The Sweatbox

*The Sweatbox* is a documentary that chronicled the tumultuous collaboration of Sting and David Hartley with the Disney studios to compose six songs for *Kingdom of the Sun* (the film's working title).[74] The documentary featured interviews from directors Roger Allers and Mark Dindal, producer Randy Fullmer, Sting (whose wife created the documentary), Disney story artists, and the voice cast being dismayed by the new direction. Disney was not believed to be opposing Trudie Styler's documentary with Disney animation executive Thomas Schumacher, who had seen footage, commenting that "I think it's going to be great!"[75]

The film premiered at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival, but has gone virtually unseen by the public ever since. Disney owns the rights, but has never officially released it.[76] In March 2012, a workprint of the documentary was leaked online and was uploaded onto YouTube, by a United Kingdom cartoonist, before it was ultimately pulled.[77] As of April 2015, some scenes from the documentary could be seen from the home media release, including the behind the scenes and the making of "My Funny Friend and Me".

## Franchise

Main article: The Emperor's New Groove (franchise)

In April 2005, it was announced that DisneyToon Studios was producing a direct-to-video sequel titled *Kronk's New Groove*, which was released on December 13, 2005, followed by an animated television series on Disney Channel titled *The Emperor's New School*.[78] Patrick Warburton, Eartha Kitt and Wendie Malick reprised their roles for the sequel and series while J.P. Manoux replaced David Spade for the series and Fred Tatasciore voiced Pacha in season 1. John Goodman subsequently reprises his role for the second and final season for the series.

Kuzco appears as a guest in the animated television series *House of Mouse* and its direct-to-video spin-off film *Mickey's Magical Christmas: Snowed in at the House of Mouse*.

Two video games were developed and released concurrent with the film. The first, for the Sony PlayStation, was developed by Argonaut Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment of America. The second, for the Nintendo Game Boy Color, was developed by Sandbox and published by Ubisoft. Both titles were released in PAL territories the following year. The PlayStation version was re-released for the North American PlayStation Network on July 27, 2010.

The Tokyo DisneySea rollercoaster attraction *Raging Spirits* took visual inspiration for its Inca ruins theme from the buildings in the film with a structure based on Kuzco's palace similarly crowning the ruins site.[79]

**TV Series:** *The Emperor's New School*  *•* House of Mouse
**Video Games:** Video Game
• The Emperor's New Groove: Groove Center • Disney Emoji Blitz  *•*  Disney Heroes: Battle Mode *•* Disney Sorcerer's Arena
**Books:** Disney's Wonderful World of Reading

**Entertainment:** Max LIVE: Gettin’ Goofy With It • Villains Tonight!
**Parade:** Disney Stars on Parade
**Firework:** Wonderful World of Animation
**Halloween:** Rock on With The Disney Villains

**Sequel characters:** Ms. Birdwell • Papi • Hildy • Tina
**Television characters:** Malina • Guaca • Moxie • Mr. Flaco Moleguaco • Yatta • Kavo • Curi, Cuxi, and Cuca • You and Tú • Urkon, the village leader • Dirk Brock • Homework • Azma • Zim and Zam • Ozker • Ramon
**Deleted characters:** Hucua • Supai • Mick, Bowie, and Lemmy • Mata (deleted character) • Nina • Owen

**Season Two:** "The Emperor's New Tuber" • "Room for Improvement" • "Cool Summer" • "Prisoner of Kuzcoban" • "Ramon's a Crowd" • "Guakumentary" • "Show Me the Monkey" • "Demon Llama" • "Picture This!" • "TV or Not TV" • "Kuz-Cop" • "How Now Sea Cow?" • "A Fair to Remember" • "Working Girl" • "Curse of the Moon Beast" • "Aww, Nuts!" • "The Emperor's New School Spirit" • "Card Wars" • "Mudka's Secret Recipe" • "The Emperor's New Home School" • "The Emperor's New School Musical" • "A Giftmas Story" • "No Man Is an Island" • "Vincent Van Guaka" • "Air Kuzco" • "Kronkenitza" • "Come Fly with Me" • "Project Poncho" • "Citizen Kronk" • "The Pajama Llama Dilemma" • "Yzma Be Gone" • "Last Ditch Effort" • "The Good, the Bad and the Kronk" • "Mudka's #13" • "Auction Action" • "The Astonishing Kuzco-Man" • "Guaka Rules" • "Malina's Big Break" • "Hotel Kuzco" • "Father O' Mine" • "Everyone Loves Kuzco" • "Puff Piece" • "Take My Advice" • "Yzbot" • "The Puma Whisperer" • "Kronk the Magnificent" • "Kamp Kuzco" • "Groove Remover" • "Overachiever's Club" • "The Emperor's New Show" • "Too Many Malinas" • "Faking the Grade" • "Eco Kuzco" • "Kuzcokazooza" • "Kuzco's Little Secret" • "Cornivale" • "Graduation Groove"