Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at The Emperor's New Groove

Ladies, gentlemen and alternatively gendered individuals, today, Deep Dive Disney has something very special in store for you because we’re looking at one of my all-time favorites. Today, Deep Dive Disney is looking at The Emperor’s New Groove. Now, let’s me make this very clear, I love this movie. This might be one of my absolute favorites outside of my often alluded to Big 5(we still got another sixteen years worth of movies to get through before we get to any more of those). And why wouldn't this be one of my favorites? This might be one of the most entertaining and quotable films that Disney has ever produced. Don’t believe me? My cousins and I used to have contests, like, actual contests, to determine who was better at quoting this movie. Hey, when you all have to spend a week together every summer in a house with no cable you have to make your own fun Because of all that, this is a movie with an extra special place in my heart. That having been said, this one also may be a tricky one to critique. See, more so than any movie we’ve covered or will cover for Deep Dive Disney, The Emperor’s New Groove is a zany screwball comedy. Now, of course, other movies we’ve covered have had comedic elements, but those tended to fall under the category of epic adventures with some comedy thrown in. This is the other way around, a comedy with some adventure thrown in. While this movie does have some themes and lessons contained within, the overall point is to make people laugh above all else, and to the film’s credit, it succeeds in that endeavor. However, since comedy is subjective, it can be tough to discuss critically since there’s only so many times one can say, “That’s a Funny Joke.” However, I, am a professional, or at least as much of a professional that one can be as some loser in his 30’s who talks about children’s movies for fun. So, what’s the story here. Well, long ago, there lived a selfish and spoiled emperor named Kuzco who cared for nothing and nobody other than himself. So selfish was Kuzco that he planned to wipe out an entire village, leaving hundreds homeless, just so he could build his summer getaway. While all that is going on, Yzma, Kuzco’s advisor who is somehow even worse than he is, decides to make a play for the throne by poisoning the Emperor and claiming the kingdom for herself. However, Ymza’s dim-witted assistant, Kronk, mixes up the poison with a magic potion that transforms Kuzco into a Llama. Now, Kuzco is lost miles from the palace, his Kingdom and humanity stolen from him and his only hope of reclaiming what’s his is the head of the very village he was planning to destroy. It’s a fun buddy comedy with a ton of laughs as well as some interesting lessons. Let’s dive into, The Emperor’s New Groove.

Main Character:

No two ways about it, Kuzco is an asshole. He is an immature spoiled brat with almost no redeeming qualities who acts only in his own self-interest and has little-to-no compassion for those around him. Unlike other such characters we’ve covered such as Mr. Toad or Peter Pan, Kuzco’s selfishness is one hundred percent the point of his character, is in service to the story and is shown to have real consequences. All that having been said, I do not believe that Kuzco is evil. Is he cruel? Maybe. Is he self-absorbed, definitely, but I don’t think that there’s any actual malice in his actions. Kuzco just is what he is, a spoiled teenager who never learned the right way to be. Kuzco’s problem is that he’s been spoiled by the people around him his entire life so a world where he gets everything he wants all the time just seems normal to him. Early on, we see a scene where Kuzco is a little baby. While the scene where baby Kuzco cries over a broken toy and is immediately offered several more of the same toy is played off as a joke, it actually does go to show that Kuzco was a pampered child from the very beginning. He's not entirely heartless, since he does end up saving Pacha's life, but he still has a lot to learn. When Kuzco bonds with Pacha, he learns what it’s like to have a real friend for the first time. A friend doesn’t just tell you what you want to hear or give you everything you want, a real friend tries to help you be a better version of you. And really, that’s Kuzco’s arc, being a better person. Learning that getting everything you want is useless without friends to share it with. While it takes him a while, Kuzco eventually learns that being a selfish jerk eventually drives people further away, so instead, once he’s human again, he amends his ways. Kuzco is voiced by David Spade, who is very hit and miss for me but definitely does a good job here. His comedic timing is excellent and while he doesn’t handle the emotional stuff as well as some other actors may have, he does his best. Overall, Kuzco isn’t that complicated of a character, but he still has a nice arc overall.

Villain:

First thing’s first. Yzma is voiced by the legendary Eartha Kitt, my favorite Catwoman and a woman with incredible comedic timing, exactly what this roll calls for. Kitt balances the villainy and the comedy very nicely. When looking the greater pantheon of Disney villains, Yzma can be a tricky one to rank. She’s every bit as sinister as an Ursula or a Jafar, but given the nature of the film, she’s not really meant to be played as a serious threat but instead as more of a joke. Since this is a screwball comedy, why shouldn’t the villain be comedic as well. Yzma’s whole scheme is to usurp the throne from Kuzco. While initially content to rule the kingdom behind his back while Kuzco is off being a selfish idiot, when Kuzco decides to fire her, Yzma’s hand is forced. Now, before you go thinking that Yzma is just another victim of Kuzco’s callousness, consider this. While Yzma is angrily smashing busts of Kuzco with a hammer, she mentions that she “practically raised him.” I’m just saying, if you are an amoral narcissist, don’t be surprised if the person you raised turns out the same way.

Of course, Yzma is nothing without her right-hand man-child, Kronk. I love Kronk. Kronk is voiced by the incredibly awesome Patrick Warburton, who I swear is incapable of not being hilarious. I love all of his roles, from David Putty in Seinfeld, to The Tick in the short-lived live-action series of the same name, to Joe Swanson from Family Guy to Lemony Snicket from the Series of Unfortunate Events Netflix series. Each one of these is hilarious in its own way, but for my money, Kronk is Patrick Warburton’s magnum opus. Kronk is the gold standard of comedy villain sidekicks and every word out of his mouth is comedic gold. Unlike Yzma’s, who’s completely evil, Kronk is an innocent, only serving Yzma because he’s just too dumb to realize that Yzma’s the bad guy. He’s such an endearing character that it’s not hard to see why they made him the main focus of the sequel.

Side Characters:

Weirdly enough, this film doesn’t actually have a lot of characters. The only other characters of any significance whom we haven’t discussed yet are Pacha and his family. Pacha is voiced by one of my favorite actors, John Goodman, who also played Walter Sobchack from my favorite movie of all time, The Big Lebowski. I found Pacha to be an inspiring character in many ways. Pacha may actually be the most genuinely nice person in any Disney movie ever. He’s a loving husband and father, a responsible village leader, a man of strong moral fiber and someone who believes that there’s good in everybody. I honestly can say I aspire to be more like Pacha. This is a man who puts his life at risk to help someone he has every reason to hate, just out of the goodness of his heart, even though, if he lets Kuzco die, all of his problems will be solved. He does this because, unlike Kuzco, Pacha is not selfish. He does the right thing, no matter what. Even though Pacha might be the nicest guy in the world, he’s by no means a pushover. He stands up for himself when he needs to and he’s not above throwing hands if someone pushes him too far. But, the thing is, no matter how far someone pushes Pacha, he won’t give up on them if he genuinely believes that there’s good in them. It’s because of this that Kuzco is helped to see the error of his ways and ultimately becomes a better man. Pacha’s family is also pretty cool. His wife Chicha is voiced by Wendie Malick, making this the fourth or fifth movie in a row to feature a regular from Frasier. While a minor character, Chicha gets a couple of good laughs and I love how she and the kids mess with Yzma and Kronk to help cover Kuzco and Pacha’s escape later in the movie. Good stuff.

Songs:

Only one actual song this time around, Perfect World. It’s fine, I guess. It’s nice and catchy and I’ve always enjoyed the music of Tom Jones, but I just don’t see this one making any top 20 Disney song lists. Still, the idea that Kuzco has his own theme song guy is pretty awesome.

Memorable Scenes:

I mean… can I just say the whole movie? I wasn’t kidding when I said this was one of the funniest and most quotable films in Disney’s library. To give you a peak at how I do these articles, before I start writing I watch the movie and live tweet my thoughts as I do, such is my way of taking notes. You can always tell I’m enjoying myself when most of my tweets are just quotes from the film. Well, this time around, about ninety percent of the tweets were just quotes. This film is chuck-a-block full of hilarious quips that have all become classics like, “Don’t Tell Me, We’re About to Go Over a Huge Waterfall,” “Right, The Poison, The Poison for Kuzco, The Poison Chosen Especially to Kill Kuzco, Kuzco’s Poison,” “A Llama!? He’s Supposed to be Dead!” and of course, everyone’s favorite, “Pull The Lever, Kronk!” Almost every frame in this film has been turned into a meme at one point or another and it’s not hard to see why. Ironically, my favorite bit in the movie is actually one with no dialogue. Any time Kronk has a moral dilemma, he talks with the Angel and Devil on his shoulder in a way that’s, shall we say… uniquely Kronk. Any of these scenes are hilarious but that’s not what I’m talking about. What’s hilarious is when it happens towards the end of the film where Yzma tells Kronk to kill Kuzco and Pacha. Kronk naturally is visited by his shoulder angel and devil leading to Yzma seeing Kronk talking to himself and staring at him with this dumbfounded expression on her face. No matter how many times I see the movie, that scene never fails to get me to laugh outloud.

Story:

While I was trying to put into words some of the themes and messages of the film, something interesting occurred to me. This is a movie about a spoiled and selfish prince who is turned into an animal by a withered old woman and must learn to be a better person in order to regain his humanity. Now why does that sound so familiar? Wait, I know, it’s because, if you strip this story down to its most basic elements, this is a very similar story to Beauty & The Beast. Now, there are obviously a few key differences. Kuzco doesn’t spend ten years as a Llama while his servants transform into kitchenware and despite an incredibly awkward attempt at mouth to mouth resuscitation, there is no true love’s first kiss. However, while certain story aspects may change, the theme remains the same. Nobody is perfect but what matters is putting forth the effort to be better. At the beginning of the movie, Kuzco is a horrible person and the film makes no effort to conceal that fact. However, once he sees how the way he was living his life negatively affected those around him and himself, and is shown true kindness from Pacha, he sees that he needs to make a change. Kuzco thought he was a man living in a perfect world but a world without friends is anything but perfect.

The Dark Disney Factor:

The one keeps things fairly lighthearted. Anything that would seem dark, such as killer jaguars or scorpions or things like that, is played for laughs. Guess you can’t fit too much dark stuff into a zany comedy like this one.

Final Thoughts:

I love this movie. I cannot say it enough, this movie is amazing. It's hilarious, the characters are memorable, the animation is excellent and the writing is some of the most brilliant I've ever seen in a Disney film. It is one of the most uniquely entertaining films in Disney’s library and I cannot praise it enough. Next time, Deep Dive Disney dives deeper than we’ve ever dove before when we head for Atlantis: The Lost Empire. See you next time