As much as I see and enjoy movies, sometimes things pass me by with little fanfare. I recall the 2000 release of Walt Disney Studio’s The Emperor’s New Groove, but it held no interest for me at all at that time. Now, because of the pandemic, it has been re-released to theaters and I’ve finally taken the time to see it. It’s an amusing little animated film, but it also carries an incredible backstory of which I was completely and utterly unaware. The backstory is more interesting than the film itself, but that’s for later.
Mark Dindal’s film follows a selfish young Incan emperor, Kuzco (voice of David Spade) who genuinely needs some lessons in humility and humanity. The advisor he callously fires, Yzma (voice of Eartha Kitt), tries to kill him but instead turns him into a llama. Kuzco must remain a llama until he can persuade peasant Pacha (voice of John Goodman) to lead him back to the palace and somehow reverse the spell which has animatized him. Doesn’t sound so much like a Disney film, does it?
A wacky comedy, the film is actually fairly amusing, especially when Yzma’s dopey henchman Kronk (voice of Patrick Warburton) is around. Kronk is one of the great Disney secondary characters, a strongman with spinach for brains but who has a conscience and loves kids. Kuzco is a bit much, but he needs to be ultra-obnoxious so he can endure and finally embrace the changes of heart he so desperately needs. And Yzma is a very unique villainess, to say the least. Some of the humor is very adult, and kids will enjoy the quick pace, lively action and cute (and scary) animals. Plus, Tom Jones sings the Emperor’s personal theme song.
Sting provides two other songs, one of which was Oscar-nominated (“My Funny Friend and Me”). But Sting was supposed to provide six songs, for an original concept called Kingdom of the Sun, which was the dramatic musical that this movie was originally supposed to be. Sting’s wife Trudie Styler co-directed a documentary about it, which I have yet to see, called The Sweatbox, in 2002. That film explains how a dramatic musical quickly evolved into a wacky comedy, and someday I will be watching it to see how this mess all came apart, only to be put together again in a new form. Actually, that new form is pretty funny, and worth seeing. What really surprises me is that all this Disney drama passed me by without me ever being aware of it, but that’s on me. ☆ ☆ 1/2. 22 January 2021.