Art of the Emperor's New Groove
/The Emperor's New Groove is an animation movie produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and directed by Mark Dindal in 2000. Development began in 1994, when the film was conceived as a musical epic titled Kingdom of the Sun. Following his directorial debut with The Lion King, Roger Allers recruited English musician Sting to compose several songs for the film. Because of the underwhelming box office performances of Pocahontas and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Dindal was brought in as co-director to make the film more comedic. Due to poor test screenings, creative differences with Dindal and production falling behind schedule, Allers departed, and the film became a lighthearted comedy instead of a dramatic musical. A documentary, The Sweatbox, details the production troubles that The Emperor's New Groove endured during its six years of development. The pictures on this page are a collection of artworks created for this movie.
THE STORY
Kuzco is the young, selfish, and overly-pampered emperor of the Inca Empire who lives the high-life and routinely punishes those who slight him, such as having an elderly man defenestrated for "throwing off his groove". When he fires his conniving adviser Yzma for attempting to run the country behind his back, she, along with her ditzy 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, but due to a mislabeled vial, Kronk inadvertently spikes Kuzco's wine with the wrong potion, turning him into a llama instead…
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