The Emperor's New Clothes 2000 Film
The Emperor's New Groove is a 2000 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures through Buena Vista Distribution on December 15, 2000. The thirty-ninth film in the Disney animated features canon, The Emperor's New Groove is a wacky comedy having more in common with a Looney Tunes or an M-G-M Tex Avery cartoon than a traditional Disney film. Produced by Randy Fullmer and directed by Mark Dindal over a six-year production timeline, The Emperor's New Groove was altered significantly from its original concept as a more traditional Disney musical entitled Kingdom of the Sun, to have been directed by Dindal and Roger Allers (co-director of The Lion King). The title of the film derives from that of the popular Danish fairy tale The Emperor's New Clothes.
While not a blockbuster, The Emperor's New Groove was successful enough to warrant a direct-to-video sequel, Kronk's New Groove, released December 2005, and an animated television series, The Emperor's New School, in January 2006.
The story revolves around Kuzco, the self-centered emperor of a fictitious jungle nation (loosely inspired by the Precolumbian Inca empire of South America), and one of his subjects, Pacha, a humble peasant and family man who is headman and representative of his village. Teenaged Kuzco is the self-proclaimed "King of the World" at this time; although he is not an overtly cruel tyrant, he does harbor a childish and selfish will to have everything go his way. After firing his ancient and power-hungry advisor, Yzma (pronounced "EEZ-muh"), he reveals to Pacha that Pacha's village is to be destroyed in order to build Kuzco's 18th birthday gift to himself: a gaudy summer-home called Kuzcotopia, complete with pool and waterslide. Pacha starts to protest, and is dismissed from the palace. Before the final construction order can be issued, however, Yzma and her muscular, easily-distracted lackey Kronk launch a poisoning plot against Kuzco. The plot is botched, resulting instead in Kuzco being turned into a llama, and then, unknown to Yzma, accidentally spirited out of the capital.
Kuzco ends up at Pacha's village and arrogantly orders the peasant to return him to the palace. At first Pacha lets the newcomer wander off into the jungle, but then repents and goes after him, rescuing the llama from a pack of black jaguars, an effort which ends with the two of them tied to a dead tree trunk and taking a plunge over an enormous waterfall. Recovering from this, Pacha says that he will take Kuzco home only if the Emperor agrees to build Kuzcotopia somewhere else; Kuzco pretends to agree, and they set out for the palace. The emperor only truly begins to change after the two of them are forced to work together to survive the collapse of a rope bridge, even returning the favor of saving Pacha's life.
Back at the palace, Yzma has staged Kuzco's funeral and taken over as ruler of the Empire. She only then learns that Kuzco is still alive, and she and Kronk set out to look for him. After a string of near-misses at a roadside diner, they find and chase the heroes, who appear to decisively give them the shake, leaving the lightning-struck pursuers plunging towards the bottom of a chasm. Kuzco and Pacha make it back to Yzma's secret lab beneath the palace, where it turns out that in violation of all laws of physics and common sense (as the movie itself explicitly notes) Yzma and Kronk have somehow gotten there first and now hold the antidote to Kuzco's condition. Yzma demands that Kronk personally kill the heroes. When he gets bogged down in a coversation with the good and bad sides of his conscience, Yzma viciously berates him for his stupidity, and, then in the last straw, insults his beloved cooking. Kronk changes sides, but his attempt to destroy Yzma fails and he is dropped through a trapdoor.
Kuzco and Pacha take advantage of this distraction to steal the antidote, but Yzma manages to mix it in with numerous other identical potions and then summon the palace guards. While being chased, the duo tries to find the right potion through trial and error, turning Kuzco into a turtle, a songbird, a whale, and back into a llama again. Finally, they escape the guards and narrow the choice down to two potions, but Yzma catches up with them. In her haste to reclaim the antidote, she accidentally smashes the other vial and turns herself into a kitten. Following a struggle high on the palace's outer walls, she still manages to steal back the final potion, only to be foiled at the last second by the sudden reappearance of Kronk.
Kuzco returns to human form and sets out repairing the damage done by his arrogant behavior. In the end, he builds a tiny cottage near Pacha's village in lieu of his extravagant summer home, while outdoorsman Kronk becomes a scout leader, with kitten Yzma as an extremely reluctant member of his troupe.
