It is truly amazing what stemmed from The Emperor's New Groove, which at one point seemed like a doomed project. Originally titled Emperor in the Sun, the film was going to focus on a selfish emperor who optimistically switched positions with a peasant look-a-like who would later become the target of an evil witch's plan. She was going to summon a dark spirit to block out the sun to prevent her from aging, almost like a retelling of Dorian Gray.
The film developed an untold amount of stress for everyone involved. Producer Randy Fullmer was aggravated that production was moving at a snail's pace and was consistently rushing director, at that time, Roger Allers to speed along, offering him no extensions. The project had to be done as fast as possible in order to meet the strict summer 2000 deadline. Out of options, Disney hired the director Mark Dindal, who had worked on the musical Cats Don't Dance, one of the few animated films not to boast the Disney label, and both him and Allers developed very different story lines for the same film, one focusing on comedy (Dindal's) and one heavy drama and morals (Allers).
At the end of the day, Fullmer denied Allers an extension and he abandoned the project, leaving all the weight on Dindal's shoulders. The project did not make the summer 2000 deadline, but went on to be released during the wintertime of that same year, something one must applaud considering the treacherous state it was in for so long. What Dindal managed to do to a project that looked to be a lost cause from there on out is truly astonishing, proving that even the dustiest pieces of work can be polished off to look good. The Emperor's New Groove is a delightful film, occupying a concise runtime, unstoppable action scenes, and fierce and interesting characters rarely striking a wrong note.
The story focuses on Emperor Kuzco (voiced by David Spade), the selfish, manipulating emperor of the Inca Empire. After firing his adviser, Yzma (Kitt), her and her dim-witted assistant Kronk (Patrick Warburton, who also voices Joe Swanson from Family Guy) concoct a scheme to kill the Emperor by making him drink a poisonous potion. During a staged dinner, the potion gets switched and Kuzco is turned into an unattractive llama. Hidden inside the bag of Pacha (Goodman), one of the Emperor's peasants, the two realize they must work together, despite being on opposite ends of the food chain, to try and get Kuzco his position back.
It is pretty clear that the "he was a selfish man" story has been well-played out. It was just six years after this that the Pixar film Cars modified the formula and injected it with a nostalgic rush to put it to use. The story is moved along by its refusal to provide a heavy-handed moral or become bogged down with complications from such a simplistic story. This is a genial exercise in smooth, involving animated filmmaking, moved along by its action and its instantly lovable characters.
Also, there is something nice about returning to the wholesomeness of an animated picture from the early 2000's. Ever since the creation of full length CGI pictures, which all started with Toy Story in 1995, it appears hand drawn animation and claymation have been unfortunately pushed to the side, while the easier way is taken out. I love CGI animated features, especially the ones from Pixar, but really, how much of the candy-coated colors and the overly cheery atmosphere can you healthily stomach? The early 2000's animation is one of the few successful hybrids, perfectly blending the simplicity of animation with the digitized color enhanced textures.
This is also an elegant reminder to parents and teens who enjoy nostalgia that 3D is a tainted gimmick. Here, the characters pretty much gleefully jump off the screen as if boundaries have been shredded, and they are so lively even without the dim colors or the extra dimension. This is the kind of animated feature Disney should be striving for, and they would be much closer to their competition at Pixar.
The Emperor's New Groove is animated slapstick, and functions inside such a rare formula so well. It is elegantly voice acted, expertly animated, and it is nothing but surprising that a picture that one seemed doomed has now gone on to be such a remarkable picture.
Voiced by: David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt, and Patrick Warburton. Directed by: Mark Dindal.
