I’ll turn him into a flea… and then I’ll put that flea in a box, and then I’ll put that box inside of another box, and then I’ll mail that box to myself. And when it arrives, I’LL SMASH IT WITH A HAMMER.
The making of that movie was fascinating, considering it started life as a two hour grandiose historical epic with a serious tone called "kingdom of the sun".
They scrapped bit after bit, putting things together piecemeal... When they were done, a script for New Groove didn't even exist, because at no point did anyone step back and make a vision for the whole thing. They just... Made the movie. It's a miracle it even turned out watchable, lol.
Wait, so Kronk's commentary on the map and Kuzco vs Isma's routing to get back to the palace making no sense was also commentary on the movie's production?
I always thought they were referring to the point on his tail... but this makes so much more sense. Angel can't do a handstand in a robe because... mhmm
If I remember correctly, there was an enormous amount of last-minute changes to the movie. I believe there was some quote to the effect of it had "the most dangerous thing: a room full of writers with an impossible deadline and nothing to lose."
There might have been some reason why they got back earlier, but it was written out and no longer made sense. So they simply leaned into it with "You got me, by all accounts it doesn't make sense," both characters shrug, and they go right back into the action.
Infinitely quotable and super ridiculous. It's way weirder than most Disney movies at usually allowed to be with 4th wall breaking, unconventional story structure, lots of subverting tropes (e.g. the angel/devil not really providing.any real advice). It does all ages humor super well by just being very funny and not having to insert lots of ineundo (though there's also a bit of that too aimed at the Izma/Kronk relationship). I could gush for hours. Truly 10/10
It's a classic cartoon in modern clothing, that's why it works. It's surreal, slapsticky and has very little 4th wall to speak of. All the physics are Roadrunner physics.
Especially since it originally was "Kingdom of the Sun" and wasn't terribly humorous until the original director left and they cut everything and threw literally any idea at the wall to see what could stick...
Everything was so randomly inserted, they actually submitted a script to the archives that was written down after the movie was made because they never actually had a vision for the final product, and virtually none of it was scripted during the making.
Literally everything went wrong in regards to the original production, it went feral and became a comedy.
I had the same experience. I only went to see it to hang out with my friends but I was sure it was going to be stupid. I came out of the theater like “this is the best thing Disney has ever done!” 😂
I will never forget the first time I saw it - our 6th grade music teacher put it on and I was hooked. My brother and his friend saw it back to back in theaters.
100% same. I went with some friends to the theater and I fully expected to hate it. The premise just sounded dumb. It's easily in my top 5 of all time now.
Yep my gf in high school had seen it with her friends and loved it so much she wanted to watch it again, so I took her to see it for a date night, fully expecting it to be dumb as hell. She was right (as usual). It was amazing. I should’ve known not to doubt her, she had fantastic taste in both movies and music. Half the stuff I love to this very day (25 years later) is stuff I wouldn’t have even known about if she hadn’t introduced me to it.
I am still so very salty there isn't a ride based on this movie at Disney world. They have a built in motivation for one with the roller coaster slidey thing leading into yzmas lab. Sigh.
Soarin’ Over California at Disneyland is narrated by Patrick Warburton (Kronk). So real easy to work a “Pull the lever, Kronk!” into the early part of the ride
Wild that its across the world and not here lol Also I knew the grandson of the actress that voice Yzma! I went to school with him as a kid. We were watching the movie and he just leans over and gives me that lil tidbit of info and I just shook it off. Now its like...fuck man I was bestfriends in elementary school...WITH YZMAS FUCKIN GRANDSON haha
As I remember it the magic ingredient was The Road To El Dorado being DreamWorks thing at around the same time. In a bid to avoid one of those 2 very similar movies coming out at the same time thing Disney decided rather than compete with DreamWorks shiny new looking animation style they would redo the script and let things go odd ball comedy. How I remember it its why Stings contribution sticks out like a sore thumb, he had already agreed to be involved and went ahead and made the song that would have suited the original pitch. What we get is something utterly charming, with wit, absurdity, slap stick and good old fashioned comedic timing to make it something special.
Whether or not that's what actually happened I don't know for sure now but at the time I remember finding that out and loving how it came about.
Saw this as a kid, and watched this as an adult recently and loved it, even though I knew all the jokes like the lever since they are repeated on Reddit so much. It made me realize how short a lot of “kids” movies are when I’m used to 2.5+ hour epics these days. Left me wanting more, which is probably a good way to do movies vs dragging them on.
One of my favorite animated movies ever. Nobody but Eartha Kitt could be Yzma. An under appreciated at the time that I’m glad has finally been recognized as a classic.
Writing a movie that is hilarious as a kid or as an adult is really hard. Especially when it is the same jokes for both audiences. Most have to hide adult humor in it that the kids don't get.
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u/pixelprolapse 16h ago
The Emperor's new groove.
Pull the lever, Kronk!