The Emperor's New Groove is an upcoming American musical epic fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a live-action adaptation of Disney's 2000 animated film of the same name.
Plot[]
Kuzco is the young, selfish, and overly-pampered emperor of the Inca Empire who lives the high-life and routinely punishes those who displease him, such as having an elderly man defenstrated for the crime of "throwing off his groove" (Perfect World). When he fires his conniving adviser Yzma for attempting to run the country behind his back, she, along with her muscular but clumsy and oafish henchman Kronk, plots to take the throne. Kuzco meets with Pacha, a kind peasant and village leader, and tells him that he plans to demolish his hilltop family home to build himself a lavish summer home called "Kuzcotopia". Pacha protests, but is quickly dismissed. That evening, Yzma hosts a dinner where she plans to poison Kuzco (He'll be Dead), but due to a mislabeled vial, Kronk inadvertently spikes Kuzco's wine with the wrong potion, turning him into a llama instead. After knocking Kuzco out, Yzma orders Kronk to dispose of him in a river. However, after doing so, Kronk has a crisis of conscience at the last second and saves Kuzco, but misplaces him on a cart belonging to Pacha.
Upon returning home, Pacha does not tell his family about Kuzco's decision. After awakening from the bag on the cart and scaring Pacha, Kuzco blames Pacha for his transformation and orders Pacha to return him to the palace. Pacha agrees, but only if Kuzco agrees to build Kuzcotopia elsewhere. Kuzco refuses the offer and decides to go by himself against Pacha's warnings, but quickly ends up getting chased through the jungle by a large black jaguar named Onca (Stay Out of the Jungle). Pacha arrives to rescue him, and extends his offer a second time, to which Kuzco seemingly accepts. The two survive many ordeals in the jungle, and Pacha finds that Kuzco has a good side to him underneath his selfishness. Meanwhile, Yzma takes the throne, but is angered to learn from Kronk that Kuzco is still alive, so the two set out to find him. In the jungle, Kronk takes directions from Bucky, a squirrel with who Kuzco had an unpleasant encounter while walking through the jungle alone, and Yzma summons Supai in order to kill Kuzco and block out the sun (Snuff Out the Light).
Meanwhile, Pacha falls and is tangled in vines underneath the bridge, while Kuzco betrays Pacha. But before he leaves, he too falls and gets tangled in vines, setting a brawl under the bridge. However, the bridge above them breaks apart, causing them to fall until they get stuck in a cliff above the caiman-infested waters. The two work together, against Kuzco's wishes, by climbing up the cliff and Pacha grabs the branch, inadvertently causing the Andean condor's nest to fall on the two, angering the condor mother, until Pacha puts the nest back on the branch. When they reach back up, the cliff underneath Pacha breaks, but just in time, Kuzco saves his life, nd Pacha saw proof that Kuzco has some good in him, just before leaving and finding another way around to the palace.
The next day, the Kuzco and Pacha, as well as Yzma and Kronk, arrive at a jungle diner at the same time, unaware of each other's presence. While Kuzco complains to the cook, Pacha overhears Yzma's plan and attempts to warn Kuzco when he returns, but he doesn't believe Pacha, thinking he is beloved by his people, and reveals that he intended to renege on his promise to spare Pacha's home. However, Kuzco soon overhears Yzma's and Kronk's plot of attempting to kill him due to his selfishness and, feeling unwanted, Kuzco leaves the diner on his own, planning on living out the rest of his life as a llama. Pacha catches up, still willing to help Kuzco return to normal after knowing his life is in danger. Kuzco reconciles with him before they set off to Pacha's house for supplies (Apologies).
Upon arriving, Yzma is already there, searching for the two. Pacha has his family delay Yzma, giving him and Kuzco a head-start back to the palace, intending to enter Yzma's lab and find a potion to reverse the effects of the llama potion. However, they are ambushed by Yzma and Kronk, who made it back ahead of Kuzco and Pacha. Yzma then orders Kronk to kill the duo. When Kronk hesitates, Yzma insults him and revealing that his behavior disgusts her, hurting his feelings and kills Supai before prompting him to betray her, but she throws him down a ledge of the palace. She then summons the palace guards and claims that Pacha and Kuzco murdered the emperor, forcing them to flee with an armful of vials containing various animal potions as Yzma deliberately knocked them all to the floor so that Kuzco and Pacha cannot tell which one is correct, which they use to transform Kuzco during the chase. Pacha also knocks a table of flasks containing other animal potions into the pursuing guards, turning them into various animals. As they are cornered on the ledges of a giant wall structure, they are left with two remaining vials. Yzma and Kuzco struggle over the vials, accidentally crushing one and transforming Yzma into a small Persian kitten. Pacha and Kuzco use teamwork to reach the other vial. Yzma snatches it, but as she gloats over her victory, she is abruptly and inadvertently crushed by a wall panel opened by Kronk (who has found his way up on the palace wall nearby), dropping the vial directly into Pacha's hand. Pacha gives Kuzco the vial, and Kuzco, after expressing his gratitude to Pacha, drinks the potion.
Some time later, a restored Kuzco, having reflected on the consequences of his selfishness, takes Pacha's suggestion of moving Kuzcotopia over to a neighboring and unoccupied hill. Kuzco then joins Pacha and his family at his modest and smaller resort (Perfect World - Reprise). While elsewhere, Kronk has become a scoutleader and trains a new batch of scouts, including Yzma, who is still a kitten, and is vengeful toward Kronk.
Cast[]
- Josh Hutcherson - Kuzco
- Alan Tudyk - Pacha
- Rachel House - Yzma
- Dwayne Johnson - Kronk
- Elle Fanning - Chicha
- Rohan Chand and Louise Bush - Chaca and Tipo
- Nicole Scherzinger - Matta
Differences Between the Original and The Remake[]
- The remake is mixed with both live action and CGI, in a manner similar to The Jungle Book 2016 film.
- Most of the comedy aspects of the original film is omitted from the remake.
- The inaccuracies of the original is cut in the remake, such as jaguars being pack hunters and monkeys being called chimps (since chimps are apes and no non-human ape is native to South America), to be more realistic and accurate.
- More animals were added to the CGI jungles in the movie, such as anteaters, deer, tapirs, monkeys (not just capuchin monkeys), and among others.
- Some of the songs in the remake originally from the original animated film, such as Perfect Life and My Funny Friend and Me, are also modified to sound less modern.
- More songs are added to the remake to be more of the musical than the original.
- Snuff Out the Light and One Day She'll Love Me, originally from the scrapped Kingdom of the Sun, is added to the film, with One Day She'll Love Me bring part of the End Credits.
- Some elements from Kingdom of the Sun were also added to the remake of The Emperor's New Groove, such as Supai, a dark demon summoned by Yzma.
- The two opening scenes from the original animated film, with one containing Kuzco as a llama lost in the jungle and the other showing Kuzco's early life, is omitted in the remake.