50 Fun Facts About The Emperor's New Groove

Which DreamWorks film, released earlier in 2000, drew comparisons with The Emperor's New Groove?

The Road to El Dorado, a buddy comedy about a legendary city of gold, opened that March; DreamWorks chief Jeffrey Katzenberg had still been at Disney when that studio began its own film.

Who directed The Emperor's New Groove?

Mark Dindal was brought in to add comedy to Roger Allers's serious epic; when Allers stepped down, Dindal rebuilt the film as a fast slapstick chase.

Who voices Emperor Kuzco?

David Spade's sarcastic delivery was one of two things the story team felt worked in the failed first version, so the new film was built around it.

Kuzcotopia is Kuzco's gift to himself for which occasion?

His 18th birthday: Kuzco tells Pacha the village will be flattened at the next day's party and suggests he pick up some change-of-address forms.

Who voices Pacha, the village leader who helps Emperor Kuzco?

John Goodman joined after the overhaul, when Pacha was rewritten from a teenage llama herder into an older family man, the emperor's opposite.

Which singer and actress voices Yzma, Emperor Kuzco's scheming adviser?

Eartha Kitt also recorded a villain song for Yzma, 'Snuff Out the Light'; it was cut along with the original story and released on the soundtrack album instead.

Who voices Kronk, Yzma's muscular sidekick?

Patrick Warburton was the writer's instant pick: David Reynolds knew him as Puddy on Seinfeld, and Kronk was a new character invented for the rewrite.

Wendie Malick voices Chicha, who is what?

Pacha's pregnant wife and her children stall Yzma and Kronk at the house, buying her husband and Kuzco a head start to the palace.

Kuzco turns into a llama instead of dying because Kronk does what?

Takes the wrong vial: sent for poison, Kronk serves extract of llama, then tells Yzma her potions all look alike and need relabelling.

Kuzco boasts that Kuzcotopia, his summer getaway, comes 'complete with' which attraction?

A water slide: Kuzco unveils the resort by dropping a model of it onto a model of Pacha's hilltop house, crushing it.

What does Yzma order Kronk to do with unconscious Kuzco?

Take him out of the city and kill him: that is the order, but Kronk's conscience wins, he pulls the sack back from a waterfall and it ends up on Pacha's cart.

Pacha rescues llama Kuzco from which animals in the jungle?

Jaguars chase him through the jungle until Pacha comes to the rescue, and it ends with the pair tied to a branch and going over a huge waterfall.

Kuzco and Pacha are first forced to work together after a fight where?

On a collapsing rope bridge Kuzco first refuses to help the dangling Pacha, then falls through himself; only by climbing out of the gorge together do they survive.

Where do Kuzco and Pacha arrive at the same time as Yzma and Kronk, without noticing them?

A roadside diner that bars llamas: Kuzco is smuggled in disguised as Pacha's bride on honeymoon, while Kronk ends up taking over the kitchen.

Yzma is turned into what during her final fight with Kuzco?

A cat: Yzma lunges at Kuzco, crushes one of her own potions and shrinks into a tiny kitten, yet she keeps fighting him for the last antidote.

Instead of Kuzcotopia, what does Kuzco build at the end?

A shack like Pacha's next door, on the empty neighbouring hill: the emperor who meant to flatten the village ends the film as the family's neighbour.

The setting of The Emperor's New Groove is inspired by which ancient civilisation?

The Incas: Roger Allers chose them over the Aztecs and the Maya when Disney showed him pictures of three ancient cultures as a starting point for his next film.

What was The Emperor's New Groove called in its original, more serious form?

Kingdom of the Sun was planned as a sweeping musical epic; after the story was rebuilt it briefly became Kingdom in the Sun before the final title arrived.

The first version of The Emperor's New Groove borrowed its plot from which Mark Twain novel?

The Prince and the Pauper supplied the swap: a bored emperor traded places with a lookalike peasant, a thread dropped entirely when the story was rebuilt.

In the scrapped first version of The Emperor's New Groove, why did Yzma plan to blot out the sun?

To stay young forever: she blamed sunlight for her wrinkles and reasoned that a world of darkness would stop her ageing.

In the first version of The Emperor's New Groove, who voiced Huaca, an ancient talking rock?

Harvey Fierstein lost the part when Huaca was cut in the rewrite, though the rock survives as a cameo: its likeness holds the candles in the dinner scene.

Kuzco was first named Manco, a name changed, by one account, because it resembled rude slang in which language?

Japanese: producer Randy Fullmer is said to have been horrified to learn what the name sounds like there, and the emperor was renamed before the film reached cinemas.

The Emperor's New Groove was racing a summer 2000 deadline tied to a promotional deal with which fast-food chain?

McDonald's had a Happy Meal tie-in planned, yet Disney still shut the film down for six months to rebuild it, and the release slipped from summer to December 2000.

Writer David Reynolds pitched the rebuilt Emperor's New Groove as a chase in the style of which animator's cartoons?

Chuck Jones: Reynolds, a former late-night comedy writer, pitched 'a buddy road picture with two guys being chased', only faster paced, and Disney told him to give it a shot.

Which musician wrote songs for both the scrapped and finished versions of The Emperor's New Groove?

Sting learned by phone from producer Randy Fullmer that his songs for the first version were being dropped with its plot, then stayed on to write two new ones.

Which song from The Emperor's New Groove was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song?

'My Funny Friend and Me', the end-credits ballad, was written only after the earlier songs were thrown out with the old plot; it lost the Oscar to Bob Dylan's 'Things Have Changed'.

Emperor Kuzco did what in a scrapped ending that made the songwriter threaten to quit?

Destroyed a rainforest to build Kuzcotopia: the musician, a campaigner for indigenous peoples, wrote that he would resign, and the filmmakers agreed the emperor had learned nothing and rewrote it.

The Sweatbox, a documentary about the troubled making of The Emperor's New Groove, was made by whom?

Trudie Styler was allowed to film the production as a condition of her husband writing its songs; Disney owns the result and has never put it on sale.

In The Emperor's New Groove, Kronk's shoulder devil performs which stunt as his 'reason number two'?

A handstand, with a cry of 'Look what I can do': Kronk asks what that has to do with anything, and the shoulder angel cuts in that the devil has a point.

Which veteran singer voices the Theme Song Guy who performs Kuzco's entrance number?

Tom Jones sings 'Perfect World' twice: at the start it hails the emperor as the centre of everything, and by the final reprise the closing word has changed from 'me' to 'us'.

Which animated film took over the summer 2000 release date first planned for The Emperor's New Groove?

Dinosaur, a computer-animated prehistoric epic, was pulled forward to fill the summer slot, buying the team more time to finish their rebuilt film.

Kronk's New Groove was released in December 2005 in what format?

Direct to video: the sequel went straight to DVD and VHS after the first film found far more of its audience at home than it had in cinemas.

In Kronk's New Groove, what does Yzma try to pass off as a youth potion?

Sewer slime in fancy packaging: Yzma sells it to the old folks, and Kronk hands back the house he bought from them once he learns they were cheated.

Which Frasier star voices Kronk's hard-to-please father in Kronk's New Groove?

John Mahoney, Frasier's dad Martin Crane, voices Papi, who never approved of Kronk's cooking; Kronk finally wins his thumbs-up by showing off his friends.

In The Emperor's New School, what must the young emperor do to claim his throne?

Graduate from his academy: fail even one class and the throne passes to Yzma, which is why she spends the series sabotaging his schoolwork.

In The Emperor's New School, Yzma goes undercover at Kuzco Academy as 'Amzy', its what?

Principal: 'Amzy' is just her own name with the letters shuffled, and from the head's office she schemes to take the throne as empress herself.

Who replaced the original voice of Kuzco in The Emperor's New School?

J. P. Manoux was already Disney's stand-in emperor: he had voiced Kuzco in the film's tie-in video game and in House of Mouse before the series began.

John Fiedler, the voice of old man Rudy in The Emperor's New Groove, also voiced which Winnie the Pooh character?

Piglet: Fiedler's Rudy gets in the dancing Kuzco's way, is told he has thrown off the emperor's groove and is flung out of a palace window, shouting 'Sorry!'

What happens the first time Kronk pulls a lever to open Yzma's secret lab?

She drops through a trapdoor shouting 'Wrong lever!', climbs back with a crocodile clamped to her dress and asks why they even have that lever.

By the end of The Emperor's New School, Kuzco's classmate Malina is working as what?

A reporter: after two seasons of scolding Kuzco for his ego, Malina also ends the series as his girlfriend.

What does Kuzco do to Yzma that sets her murder plot in motion?

Fires her: Kuzco catches his adviser on his throne doing his job and sacks her with a string of euphemisms, from 'downsized' to 'not picking up your option'.

Kronk's little animal companion Bucky, who cannot stand Yzma, is what kind of creature?

A squirrel: Kronk turns out to speak fluent squirrel, and interprets while Bucky, who refuses to talk to Yzma, tells them which way Kuzco went.

What does Kronk become the leader of at the end of The Emperor's New Groove?

A scout troop: in the last scene the defeated Yzma is its most reluctant recruit, lined up alongside Pacha's two children.

Early in production, the crew of The Emperor's New Groove travelled to which ancient site to study its architecture?

Machu Picchu: a picture of its stone buildings on a studio executive's wall first drew Roger Allers to the idea, and his team later went to study the site in person.

In Kronk's New Groove, Kronk is chef and Head Delivery Boy at which eatery?

Mudka's Meat Hut bills itself as the 'home of the mug of meat', and Kronk is proud of both jobs: when Pacha congratulates him on being chef, he adds 'And head delivery boy!'

What are the names of Pacha's two mischievous children?

Chaca and Tipo help stall Yzma and Kronk when the villains arrive posing as distant relatives, and Yzma ends up taking the place of a party piñata.

The voice of Yzma in The Emperor's New Groove won which honour for her performance?

An Annie Award: her Yzma was one of only two things the story team felt worked in the scrapped first version, so she kept the part while most of that film was thrown out.

In Kronk's New Groove, Yzma turns herself into which animal to escape the angry old folks?

A rabbit, and such a cute one that the mob stops to coo over her instead of attacking; then a condor swoops down and carries her off.

At which Los Angeles cinema did The Emperor's New Groove premiere on December 10, 2000?

The El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood is Disney's showcase, the venue for most of the studio's premieres, and the film returned there for a 25th-anniversary run in November 2025.

In the scrapped first version of The Emperor's New Groove, who was cast as Pacha, then a young llama herder?

Owen Wilson was little known then, and Roger Allers liked his slow drawl for a herder from the sticks; he was dropped in 1999 once Pacha became an older family man.