[HN Gopher] An Oral History of Disney's 'The Emperor's New Groove'
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An Oral History of Disney's 'The Emperor's New Groove'
Author : wallflower
Score : 113 points
Date : 2021-01-31 11:13 UTC (1 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.vulture.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.vulture.com)
| baylessj wrote:
| Came across this on Reddit yesterday, was a fantastic read. Added
| The Sweatbox to my "to-watch" list as well, looking forward to
| it.
| peruvian wrote:
| This is my favorite Disney animated film. The story of its
| production is interesting but the end result is a very non-Disney
| film. I was never a big Disney fan due to preferring straight-up
| comedies as a child vs. drama/adventure with some token comedic
| relief character.
|
| It is very self-aware and has humor Disney does not include
| elsewhere aside from maybe some Pixar films. I really recommend a
| rewatch as an adult.
|
| Also as a Seinfeld fan, Patrick Warburton is always nice to hear.
| dmitriid wrote:
| In my mind there are two projects like that:
|
| - Disney's "Emperor's New Groove"
|
| - Rare's "Conker's Bad Fur Day"
|
| Both out of nowhere. Both so uncharacteristic. Both fantastic.
| psyc wrote:
| Also one of my favorites, although I'm a huge fan of more
| traditional Disney features. I owned very few DVDs, but I
| bought this one. I think I gave it as a gift too. 20 years
| later I was watching Archer, and I instantly recognized one of
| the minor characters as the voice of Kronk.
| ckosidows wrote:
| I can't read this long article at work, so I've no idea what it
| says about the film. But this movie is also one of my
| favorites. My sisters loved it as kids and I know people who
| can quote it word for word.
|
| I've seen this movie get flak for being uninteresting or one of
| Disney's forgotten endeavors but it's a gem.
| peruvian wrote:
| It gets flak due to being unfinished (which is what the
| article is about). The movie itself jokes about it being
| unfinished a few times. It was also the first film released
| after Tarzan, which many say was the end of the 90s Disney
| Renaissance, so it was a tough act to follow and a tonal
| shift.
|
| After Emperor's, we got mediocre films - with Lilo & Stitch
| being the only exception. Many consider Emperor's to be the
| first of this run.
| FreezerburnV wrote:
| Is it weird that the, apparently, unfinished bits and the
| jokes surrounding them are part of the charm of why I like
| the movie? The characters asking how someone got to a
| location and the other characters responding that it makes
| no logical sense and then moving on always gets a chuckle
| out of me. It always felt so naturally integrated into the
| humor I never questioned it.
| peruvian wrote:
| It's what I like about the movie. I grew up with classic
| Looney Tunes and Cartoon Network cartoons. The humor is
| often nonsensical in the same way.
| macintux wrote:
| _Lilo and Stitch_ is another very non-traditional Disney
| animated film that I think was quite funny and well-done.
|
| You know it's not your usual Disney fare when a character
| vomits on-screen in the first few minutes. (Granted, it was a
| robot vomiting gears, but still.
| ghoward wrote:
| Thanks to you, I had to look that up. [1]
|
| [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYji9PECfH4
| Animats wrote:
| No idea Disney was that disorganized. Read Chuck Jones's
| autobiography. They were under almost military discipline at
| Warner.
|
| But this is the writer side of Disney. Not the animator side. The
| animation side is a grind.
| MPSimmons wrote:
| I thought it was funny, but I did not find it as funny as
| everyone else, so I'll just own that I am the weird one. From
| reading this history, though, it seems like the only people who
| enjoyed making it were really the writers.
| cecilpl wrote:
| I love this:
|
| David Spade (Kuzco): It was me and Owen Wilson. We were going to
| switch jobs. I was an emperor and he was a peasant, and Carla
| Gugino was a princess. The first time I did my voice, I was
| naively saying, "What do you want? This kind of guy? A deep
| voice? Or an emperor like, 'Ooh,' a highfalutin guy?" And they
| said, "No, just your nasally, normal, annoying, sarcastic voice."
| armagon wrote:
| Such a great movie!
|
| I keep wondering what would happen if Disney were to do a live
| action remake. I don't think it can be improved upon, though.
|
| Shame about Sting, though; really feels like he got the short end
| of the stick.
| Notorious_BLT wrote:
| None of their animated films have been "improved upon" by the
| live-action (or in The Lion King's case, """"live-action"""")
| versions. Most have lost something to the constraints of
| looking more realistic, especially any energy or style they
| might have had.
|
| A live-action ENG would absolutely ruin the pacing and energy
| of the movie.
| ghoward wrote:
| I admit that I liked the live action _Cinderella_ better than
| the animated version, but that's because the director made it
| different. In fact, I would have been okay if he had removed
| the mice entirely.
|
| Oh, and it's a film where the phrase "Every Frame a Painting"
| [1] is very true. Nearly every frame looks like a Baroque
| painting, and it's gorgeous.
|
| Other than that, yeah, Disney screwed up the live action
| versions.
|
| [1]: https://www.youtube.com/user/everyframeapainting
| jkingsbery wrote:
| I re-watched The Emperor's New Groove with my kids a year or two
| back. Still a great film as an adult.
| javier10e6 wrote:
| I watched The Sweatbox: A documentary posted on youtube re-
| telling the story of the making of the movie by Sting and the
| animators. It is a sad story. I loved when Sting reacted to
| Disney's decision of canning all his songs and come up with 1
| song (obviously so Disney can put his name on the credits)
| instead of sending them their way he said: "I am a craftsman" I
| gather he meant that he will give them their song because they
| ask him for one. Great intro song he gave them.
| caddywompus wrote:
| Since it appears that it was removed from youtube, you can find
| The Sweatbox on archive.org here:
|
| https://archive.org/details/TheSweatboxDocumentary_201704
| ohduran wrote:
| I was talking about this movie the other day, and I hypothesized
| that it was so successful (most people I know have fond memories
| of it) because it struck a cord with those of us who came of age
| with Disney movies. In other words, this movie felt like it was
| addressing a teenager generation that was OK with watching a
| cartoons movie.
|
| I presume that, if this is correct, the article hints that this
| happened by accident.
| teepo wrote:
| Watched this with the family on Saturday after reading the piece
| in Vulture. I honestly was expecting a trainwreck of a film, but
| really enjoyed it.
|
| The key take a away from the Vulture article for me was the
| Fulmer quote: "I met a very nice woman on a plane once coming
| back from New York, where we'd recorded Sting. She was like, "Oh,
| you work at Disney. What are you doing?" Blah, blah, blah. "Oh,
| my. So, what the movie's about." I feel like I talked until we
| got to Los Angeles, trying to explain it all. And I realized,
| Okay, this is not good. There's too much here."
|
| I think that applies to any product. If you can't tell the story
| in a concise manner, nobody is going to be interested.
| bryanrasmussen wrote:
| >I think that applies to any product. If you can't tell the
| story in a concise manner, nobody is going to be interested.
|
| I think this does not often apply in general to cultural
| productions - movies, paintings, literature, music.
| mjevans wrote:
| It's really difficult to do that in a mass market (widest
| appeal) 'kids' film. Generally the core of a single film or
| episode for TV fits inside of an elevator pitch and
| everything else is an embellishment detail. An entertaining
| decoration on a well known recipe. Though deeper plot can
| make for re-watch-ability across a larger series, such as
| character development within the MCU.
| bryanrasmussen wrote:
| well, sure and there are only a limited number of plots in
| the world and everything is an embellishment detail, and it
| is the embellishment details that make things interesting.
| You might get interested to make a movie based on its
| elevator pitch, but you probably won't be that interested
| in seeing it - unless you already know a lot about it, for
| example you might want to see an MCU movie based on the
| description The Avengers fight Thanos! But that's not
| because it's a concise description - in fact there's hardly
| any description at all, the sale is made by relying on a
| mind embellishing it themselves.
| legitster wrote:
| It's amazing to compare this to animated movies before and after
| - it really paved the way for zanier, more off the wall humor in
| children's movies. I can't imagine Shrek being made without The
| Emperor's New Groove. Necessity breeds invention.
|
| It's also amazing how many good principles you can learn from
| this process: the value of iterating often, working quickly but
| precisely, knowing when/how to pivot, etc.
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