The Emperor's New Groove

The 78 minutes you get are what survived a six year production cancelled midway. It began as Kingdom of the Sun, an Incan epic by Roger Allers on a Prince and the Pauper frame, with mysticism and songs. Roughly a quarter of the animation was finished at the shutdown. Mark Dindal took over and rebuilt it as a road comedy, keeping David Spade and Eartha Kitt while the film around them changed. Sting agreed to write the music on condition that his wife Trudie Styler could film the process. When the tone changed, most of his songs went out with the scenes they belonged to; he said he was angry and perturbed at first, then wanted vengeance. Only the opening and closing numbers remain. Styler’s The Sweatbox screened in Toronto in 2002, but Disney holds the rights and has never released it. Pacha changed too. He was first designed as a boy Kuzco’s own age, then rebuilt as a middle aged man with a family, and the part passed from Owen Wilson to John Goodman. That is where the pairing gets its shape: Kuzco is stuck with someone with no reason to impress him. A good fit if you enjoy Kuzco halting his own film to comment on the frame. Not for anyone expecting Incan mythology and a sung epic.