The Emperor's New Groove

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"A llama!? He's supposed to be dead!" "Yeah. Weird..."

A very atypical animated movie from Disney. Hugely self-aware and a lot more naughty than most of the studio's canon, The Emperor's New Groove is a film that trolled the deepest levels of development hell and finally emerged as a spoof of a parody of its original concept. Very loosely based on "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen, it's well-loved, but probably not intended for Disney's youngest fans.

Kuzco (David Spade) is the spoiled teenaged Emperor of a mountainous jungle nation (based loosely on the ancient Incan empire of South America). On the eve of his eighteenth birthday, he becomes the target of an assassination attempt by his incredibly ancient advisor Yzma (Eartha Kitt) and her borderline idiot-savant lackey Kronk (Patrick Warburton), after he unceremoniously fires them from their high-profile jobs. Their plan fails, and Kuzco is accidentally turned into a llama. He's forced to team up with burly and good-hearted peasant Pacha (John Goodman) on a dangerous trek through the jungle to reclaim his throne — while Pacha tries to teach Kuzco just a little bit of humility in the process.

The film has no love story apart from Pacha and his very pregnant wife, only two significant songs (one performed by Tom Jones and one by Sting), and the spurned would-be cute animal sidekick vengefully attempts to get Kuzco eaten by a pack of jaguars. As you can see, this all plays out more like a classic Warner Brothers cartoon than a typical Disney flick, though it was successful enough to spawn a (significantly less well-received) made-for-video sequel and then a TV series.

It's irreverent, hilarious, and provides several example-quotes here on All The Tropes. In addition, it was extremely well-received by critics, but this sadly wasn't enough to save it from being a box office failure. However, the film has garnered a new lease on life in the post-Shrek world as an example of how to do a timeless animated comedy right — many of the gags aged far better than the heavily modern pop-culture based humor of Shrek and its knock-offs, and the character of Yzma is now viewed as one of the best Disney villains.

Tropes used in The Emperor's New Groove include:

• Accidental Hug
• Actor Allusion: Yzma is voiced by Eartha Kitt, who is well known for portraying one version of Catwoman. She displays an example of To the Batpole and later gets transformed into a cat. A cute one, but still demonic.
• Aesop Amnesia: Completely averted in the sequel, where Kuzco is shown to have become a much better person, but done hard in the television show.
• All Animals Are Dogs: The alligators in Yzma's trap door moat whine like dogs when slapped.
• Amazing Technicolor Population: Yzma, possibly due to being unfathomably old, is an inhuman purplish-gray in a movie where every other character is a more natural light brown.
  • And her face turns bright red when she gets angry.
• Ambiguously Jewish: The waitress says "mazel tov" at one point in the movie. It's possible the film just takes place in a universe where all the Inca are Jewish. Or something.
  • The humor is heavily influenced by Borscht Belt sensibilities.
• Anachronism Stew: Oh, so much (what's an American-style Greasy Spoon — complete with incomprehensible orders and an Expy of the Big Boy — doing in the pre-Columbian Andes?). Most of it can be chalked up to Rule of Funny, except for the wheels. The writers actually spent quite a while debating whether to include wheels before realizing this just wasn't the kind of movie that needed to worry about historical accuracy.
  • A floor waxer gets a few seconds of screen time as part of a joke.
• Angel Face, Demon Face: Kuzco starts out very hard-lined and softens to more Disney-appropriate features after he learns his Aesop. Yzma looks like she's going to have the demon face but ends up turning into something much cuter than her original "scary beyond all reason" appearance.
• Animorphism
• Anti-Hero: Kuzco starts as a Type I, and by the end becomes a Type II.
• Anti-Villain: Kronk is a Type IV
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "...[And] I never liked your spinach puffs! Never!" Made even more hilarious because this cut Kronk deeper than anything else she said. Even his Shoulder Devil did a Heel Face Turn after that.

"That's it. -Trident- She's going down."

• Artistic Licence Biology:
  • Real jaguars are largely solitary, yet in the movie there are multiple large (so presumably fully grown) jaguars that hunt together.
  • As a narrator, Kuzco refers to a monkey as a "chimp". Chimps are apes. (You can tell the difference between an a monkey by the presence or absence of tails.
  • Spiders don't eat like we do. They liquify their food and then drink it.
• Art Shift: The animation which accompanies Yzma's Evil Plan
• Asexuality: Kuzco seems to lean toward this. Until the TV series, that is.
• As You Know: Pacha's wife says this to Yzma
• Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny / Cloudcuckoolander: Kronk's inability to concentrate more than 10 seconds on Yzma's plans because he always gets distracted (generally by his own cooking). It quickly becomes a Running Gag.

Yzma: So, is everything ready for tonight? Kronk: Oh, yeah. I thought we'd start off with soup and a light salad, and then see how we feel after that. Yzma: Not the dinner. You know... Kronk: Oh, right. The poison. The poison for Kuzco, the poison chosen especially to kill Kuzco, Kuzco's poison. That poison? Yzma: Yes! That poison. Kronk: Got you covered. Yzma: Excellent. A few drops in his drink, and then I'll propose a toast, and he will be dead before dessert. Kronk: Which is a real shame, because it's gonna be delicious.

• • Kronk's cooking is apparently that good to warrant the lack of focus, since he even convinced Yzma that they should wait until after coffee and dessert before dumping Kuzco.
• Award Bait Song: Perhaps the most traditional aspect of the film is "My Funny Friend and Me," sung by Sting over the end credits.
• Baleful Polymorph: The Emperor's transformation into a llama is the result of Kronk bumbling Yzma's attempt to assassinate him, mistaking a transformation potion with the intended poison. Later, chaos ensues during the finale when they acquire the rest of Yzma's transformation potions, and Yzma herself never fully recovers from being turned into a cat.
• Bamboo Technology: Yzma's secret lab.
• Better Than a Bare Bulb: The movie runs almost entirely on Rule of Funny and Lampshade Hanging.
• Be Yourself: Completely deconstructed (in a Disney movie no less). Kuzco's selfish Jerkass personality is exactly what makes him unloved by pretty much everybody. He suffers heavy consequences for it, ending up abandoned and alone in the middle of the jungle, which leaves him at the edge of the Despair Event Horizon. He realizes he can't continue to behave this way or he'll live as a lonely llama the rest of his life. It gives him enough sense to start acting like a decent man and asking Pacha for forgiveness.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: This film basically demolishes the fourth wall with a truckload of dynamite, then reconstructs it behind the audience.
  • In the second act, Kuzco-as-narrator appears on-screen to complain about the plot focusing on Pacha, then proceeds to draw on the fourth wall.
  • During his Heel Realization, in-movie Kuzco actually argues with Narrator!Kuzco. The madness must be seen to be believed.
  • Towards the film's climax, Kuzco & Pacha race against Yzma & Kronk to reach the palace first. The movie shows the audience a map of Team Kuzco's and Team Yzma's paths, represented by red arrows and blue dots respectively. Then the film cuts back to Yzma... and she realizes that they actually are following a line of red arrows, left on the ground by Team Kuzco. Then she looks back and sees that Kronk is inexplicably leaving behind a trail of blue dots.
    • Kronk's and Yzma's line ends with a sudden thunderstorm dropping them to the bottom of a conveniently-placed canyon. Yet when Kuzco and Pacha arrive at the laboratory, Yzma and Kronk are waiting for them.

Kuzco: No! It can't be! How did you get back here before us? Yzma: Ah... uh... how did we, Kronk? Kronk: (pulls down the map with the dotted lines) Well, ya got me. By all accounts it doesn't make sense.

• Brick Joke:

Yzma: Why do we even have that lever? 3/4 the movie's running time later* Kuzco: Okay, why does she even have that lever?

• By the Lights of Their Eyes: Kronk and Yzma in the closet, Lampshaded in the DVD commentary.
• By Wall That Is Holey: In the scene where Kronk slices the rope holding the chandelier over Yzma.
• The Caligula:
  • Kuzco is a milder version, but he does have an elderly man defenestrated for the crime of "throwing off the emperor's groove".
  • Yzma also fits this trope during her time of regency.

Yzma: It is no concern of mine whether or not your family has... what was it again? Peasant: Umm... food? Yzma: HAH! You really should have thought of that before you became peasants!

• Camp Straight: Kuzco is the best Disney Princess.
• Carnivore Confusion: A Shout-Out to The Fly.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: See Inevitable Waterfall below.
• The Cat Came Back: Yzma and Kronk's inexplicable and speedy return to the lab. Heavily lampshaded, in that even they didn't know how they did it. They even show a map of their route, which goes down a canyon and never reappears.
• Catch Phrase: "No touchy!"
  • Also "Boom, baby!"
  • "It's brilliant, brilliant, BRILLIANT!"
• Catgirl: In the sequel, Yzma manages to turn back into a human, but she has a cat tail and ears. You could say she's a Cat Woman.
• Cats Are Mean: When they're Yzma, anyway.
• Change the Uncomfortable Subject
• Chekhov's Gun: "You know, in my defense, your potions all look the same. You might wanna think about re-labeling some of them."
• Chekhov's Skill: CLEARLY the bridge scene was going to be just for the laughs... OH WAIT CLIMAX.
  • Kronk's talking to squirrels.
• Chewbacca Defense: Courtesy of Kronk's shoulder devil. It works better on the angel than on Kronk, who just gets confused.
• Circling Birdies: Kuzco sees llamas after Chicha whacks him with a frying pan.

You have a lovely wife! Both very pretty!

• Coincidental Accidental Disguise: Actually a coincidental intentional disguise.
• Comforting Comforter: Pacha with Kuzco.
• Conscience Makes You Go Back: Played straight with Pacha, later subverted with Kuzco; see Was It All a Lie? below.
• Contrived Clumsiness: As Kuzco and Pacha try to get the potion that will turn Kuzco human, Yzma knocks over the other potions so they can't tell which is which, saying "Oops, clumsy me!" as she does.
• Cucumber Facial
• Cue the Rain: Llama-Kuzco gets hit with a sudden downpour when he's alone and abandoned in the jungle.
• Cute Kitten: Yzma at the end.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Yzma's initial plan to kill Kuzco is as follows:

Yzma: I'll turn him into a flea, a harmless little flea. Then, I'll put that flea in a box, and then I'll put that box inside another box, and then I'll mail that box to myself. And when it arrives (Evil Laugh), I'LL SMASH IT WITH A HAMMA!

• Cut Song: Just about every song was cut from the movie, except for one, with another played over the end credits. They're still on the soundtrack, though. There's a whole documentary, The Sweatbox, about the film's troubled production (see Troubled Production below) which puts a great deal of focus on these songs (which were written by Sting).
  • The most notable of which was Yzma's Villain Song, "Snuff Out the Light", which, while a fantastic song, was actually a necessary cut, because the plot of the movie changed and made the motivation and ultimate goal described by the song irrelevant.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kuzco and Kronk.

Kuzco: Y'know, it's a good thing you're not a big fat guy or this would be really difficult! [All while pushing Pacha up a cliff.]

• Death as Comedy: "C'mon men! Nobody lives forever!" — (Although see Disney Villain Death below...)
• Destination Defenestration: The punishment for Musicalis Interruptus.
• Deus Ex Machina: Hilariously lampshaded:

Kronk: Wow...what are the odds that trapdoor would lead me out here?

• • There's another even more blatant example shortly before that one, when Yzma (and the human-potion) are falling to their doom; see Disney Villain Death right below.
  • As mentioned in Breaking the Fourth Wall, Kronk and Yzma have no idea on how they get to the palace before Kuzco and Pacha.
• Development Gag
• Discreet Drink Disposal: Yzma and Kronk do this when the latter is forced to mix all the drinks together after losing track of which one has the potion in it.
• Disney Acid Sequence: Essentially the entire movie, without even having musical numbers, but see particularly the chase sequence near the end of the film.
  • The rollercoaster scene to get to the "secret" lab is also somewhat acidic, though the effect is for comedy rather than confusion.
• Disney Villain Death: Wonderfully subverted:

Palace Guard: For the last time, we did not order a giant trampoline! Delivery-man: Ya know, pal, you could've told me that before I set it up.

• DIY Disaster: Subverted/played for laughs when Kronk pulls the lever that was supposed to take him and Yzma to the "secret lab," but instead opens a trap door that causes Yzma to fall into a crocodile-filled moat. It's subverted when you consider the fact that that particular lever really is supposed to do that.
• The Dog Bites Back: After putting up with all of her abuse, Kronk finally turns against Yzma when she claims to have never liked his spinach puffs. Or at least, he tries to.
• Do I Really Sound Like That?: Yzma, after becoming a kitten and finding her voice is much higher and squeakier: "Is that my voice? Is that... MY voice?!"
  • Rumor has it that that was an outtake that got animated. Certainly fits with the rest of the movie!
• Dolled-Up Installment: Some unused elements from the original concept for the film (Kingdom of The Sun), such as the llama-herder Love Interest, Malina and Yzma wanting to regain her youthful looks, were revived for the TV series.
  • This basic conception of an old woman wanting to gain back her youthful looks was later reused with Mother Gothel, chief villainess of Tangled. The Kingdom of Corona in that film, even has the sun as its symbol, thus making it a Kingdom of the Sun!
• Don't Explain the Joke: See Ironic Echo below.
• Door Judo
• Dramatic Gun Cock: See Even Evil Has Standards below.
• Dumb Muscle: Kronk; somewhat subverted in that in certain narrow areas he displays razor-sharp competence.
• Easter Egg: It requires frame-by-frame and a little imagination to see it, but when Kuzco breaks through the rope bridge, the falling planks look like stylized versions of the letters D-A-M-N.
• Egopolis: Kuzco is also planning to build a place named Kuzcotopia.
• The Elevator From Ipanema: Actually a dining room, but close enough.
• The Emperor: Obviously.
• Eureka Moment: Seemingly remembering what Kronk had told her about how her potions resemble one each other, Yzma deliberately mixes up the potion that would turn Kuzco back to his human self with a bunch of her other potions. She then complicates matters by calling in the Royal Guard and framing Pacha (and ironically Kuzco himself) for the murder of the emperor.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Hilariously played with in the case of Kronk's Shoulder Devil, when Yzma reveals that not only does she hold the lowest opinion of Kronk possible, but also that she never liked his spinach puffs! NEVER!

Shoulder Devil: That's it! (cocks trident like shotgun) She's going down!

• Everything's Better with Llamas: Goes without saying.
• Everything's Nuttier With Squirrels: Bucky.
• Evil Chancellor: Yzma.
• Evil Gloating: Both Yzma and Kuzco do this. Kuzco turns back into danger to gloat after he leaves Pacha to die, and karmically falls into the same peril. Yzma does it more effectively much later, but Kronk ruins the moment by lampshading it.
• Exact Eavesdropping: Kuzco didn't believe Yzma conspired to kill him and as a result had a falling out with Pacha. Kuzco would have gotten himself killed by showing himself to Yzma if he didn't hear her griping how Kronk blotched their assassination attempt.
• Evil Plan: See Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon above.
• Evil Sounds Deep: Subverted when Yzma makes her final transformation. An ominous smoke appears and she starts laughing evilly in a deep, booming bass, but once the smoke clears, she's a tiny kitty with a squeaky voice.
• Excessive Evil Eyeshadow: Yzma.
• Falling Chandelier of Doom: Subverted:

Kronk: Strange, that usually works.

• Fan Disservice: Yzma, until she gets turned into an absolutely adorable little kitty.
  • This is, naturally, lampshaded:

Yzma: Then I bet you weren't expecting this! [hikes up her skirt] Pacha: GAAAAH! Kuzco ACK! NOOOO! Yzma: Ah-HA! [pulls out a vicious-looking dagger] Pacha:: Phew. Kuzco: Oh, Okay.

• Fate Worse Than Death: As noted in Fan Disservice, apparently, the idea of being propositioned by Yzma is so horrifying, that the thought of being hacked to death with a long dagger is greatly relieving by comparison.
• Filing Their Nails: After Kuzco fires Yzma, he dismisses the stunned, stuttering woman from his mind and instead contemplates his fingernails.
• Foreign Queasine: Steamed giant pillbug. Smack it with a spoon to uncurl it, use the spoon to eat its guts. Kuzco runs out and barfs.
• "Friend or Idol?" Decision: Kusco is within inches of getting the vial that will turn him back into a human, but Pacha is slowly losing his grip on the edge of the palace wall at the same time. At the very last second, Kusco runs over and grabs Pacha's hand, and the vial falls off the wall.
  • But it's Subverted when not two minutes later, they use their Chekhov's Skill and The Power of Friendship to get it back.
• Frying Pan of Doom: Chicha uses one on Kuzco when he startles her.
• The Fun in Funeral: "Well, he ain't gettin' any deader! Back to work!"
• Funny Background Event:
  • During the dinner scene, there's a small potted cactus. Yzma ditches her llama-transformation drink into it... Guess what it looks like in a later shot?
  • In one scene, Kronk is talking to himself while, in the background, Yzma is being chased across the screen several times by a swarm of bees.
  • After Kuzco insults his prospective brides and turns back to the matchmaker, you can see one of them getting angry and moving to hit him, but another bride holds her back.
• Gale Force Sound: The balloon popping creates a wind that blows Kuzco's fur.
• Genius Ditz: Kronk again. While the ditzy part is unquestionable, he knows how to be liked by anyone he meets (another kind of intelligence), is a great cook, has a lot of practical knowledge about things and can survive in the wild all by himself, plus he's fluent in squirrel and Hash House Lingo.
• Genre Savvy: Kuzco manages at least one moment of this; see Inevitable Waterfall below.
• Gentle Giant: Kronk.
• Getting Crap Past the Radar: See above under Fan Disservice.
  • Also this very, very awkward conversation:

Kuzco: So... Kronk seems, uh, nice. Yzma: Oh, he, um, he is. Kuzco: ...He's, what, in his... late twenties...?

• • Kuzco is a llama and dressed as a woman:

Pacha: We're on our honeymoon. Mudka's Meat Hut Waitress: Bless you for coming out in public.

• • Shortly afterwards, Kuzco heads to the kitchen on all fours, his hips swaying a good deal. Another restaurant patron watches "her" go, then leers and gives Pacha a thumbs-up.
  • And in the Norwegian version of the movie, they didn't bother with subtlety and the dialogue goes (directly translated) like this:

Pacha: We're on our honeymoon! Kuzco: (girlish giggle) Waitress: Brave of you to come out of the closet.

• • The sequel has one moment where Yzma is leaning over Kronk, telling him she's got a proposition. Kronk freaks out... until she reveals it's a business proposition. What kind of proposition wouldn't he be fine with, I wonder...?
• Good Angel, Bad Angel: Parodied by Kronk, whose angels are just as dim as he is.
• Greasy Spoon: Mudka's Meat Hut, complete with incomprehensible order lingo and an expy of the Big Boy statue outside.
• Gross Up Close-Up: Yzma's scary enough at a distance...

[As the camera pans over Yzma's face] Kuzco: Whoa! Look at those wrinkles. What is holding this woman together? What the!? [sees a piece of spinach in Yzma's teeth] How long has that been there?

• • The scene which shows Kuzco attempting to eat grass like the other llamas could give the creators of Ren and Stimpy a run for their money.
  • From the sequel:

[Over a shot of Yzma's Evil Gloating] Kuzco: So, I bet you saw that coming, didn't you? Well, I bet you didn't see this coming! [Extreme closeup of Yzma's armpit hairs] Kuzco: Aaigh! I'll be seeing that in my nightmares.

• Hand Wave: Wonderfully subverted near the end of the movie, where a handwave is directly asked for and the reply is: "Well, ya got me. By all accounts, it doesn't make sense," complete with handy chart showing how it doesn't make sense. Everyone immediately stops worrying about it.
• Happily Married: Pacha and Chicha
• Happy Birthday to You
• Hash House Lingo: Somehow, Kronk gets it right away.
• Hates Being Touched: Kuzco, at least at first.
• Heel Face Turn: Kronk, not that it required a very big step.
  • A bigger, if less obvious example, would be Kuzco himself. Bear in mind that at the beginning of the film he plans to bulldoze an entire village for his own profit, and later leaves Pacha to die (after admitting he was planning on locking him up anyway.)
• How We Got Here: The film begins with a sad llama sitting all alone in the middle of a rainstorm. The voiceover informs us this llama once was a powerful emperor. The first half of the movie focuses on how he got there.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Pacha and his wife Chicha, Kronk and Yzma.
• Humiliation Conga: After the Door Judo sequence.
• Hurricane of Euphemisms:

Kuzco: Oh, and by the way, you're fired. Yzma: Fired? W-W-What do you mean, "fired"? [Kuzco snaps his finger and a servant comes in and writes down Yzma's "pink slip"] Kuzco: Um, how else can I say it? "You're being let go." "Your department's being downsized." "You're part of an outplacement." "We're going in a different direction." "We're not picking up your option." Take your pick. I got more.

• • Then turned back on him when.. well, see Ironic Echo below.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Implied about Yzma in this film. In Kingdom In The Sun, it was an actual plot point that had to do with her back-story and villain motive.
• Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Yzma and Kronk. Well, Yzma may not be so sympathetic, but she is pretty ineffectual.
• Inevitable Waterfall: With a nice Genre Savvy Lampshade Hanging:

Pacha: Uh oh. Kusco: Don't tell me. We're about to go over a huge waterfall. Pacha: Yup. Kusco: Sharp rocks at the bottom? Pacha: Most likely. Kusco: ... Bring it on.

• • Also a prime example of Casual Danger Dialogue and This Is Gonna Suck.
• Ink Suit Actor: Most of the cast, although Eartha Kitt, (despite her best efforts), was not scary beyond all reason.
  • Apparently Disney was worried that this trope would offend Eartha Kitt, seeing as how Yzma is... less than appealing. Fortunately, Kitt loved the character.
• Intergenerational Friendship: Kuzco and Pacha.
• Ironic Echo: Several examples: "Nobody's that heartless!" "...why do we even have that lever?" "...scary beyond all reason?" "You're being let go.." with the last example receiving a Lampshade Hanging from Kronk:

Kuzco: Okay, I admit it. Maybe I wasn't as nice as I should have been. But Yzma, you really wanna kill me?! Yzma: Just think of it as... you're being let go. That your life's going in a different direction. That your body is part of a permanent outplacement. Kronk: Hey, that's kinda like what he said to you when you got fired. Yzma: I know. It's called a "cruel irony". Like my dependence on you.

• It's All About Me: Kuzco, of course. He is the current page image for this trope.
• Jerkass: Kuzco starts out as one of these...
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: ...and develops into one of these.
• Kiss of Life
• Lampshade Hanging: A good chunk of the dialogue, taken from various points of the film. As noted above, see Inevitable Waterfall for a particularly fine example.
• Large Ham: While this trope is typical of most Disney villains, Yzma is in a class all to herself. Naturally, this is due to being voiced by the late, great Eartha Kitt.

I'LL SMASH IT WITH A HAMMA!!!

• Lean and Mean: Yzma is the most extreme example of this in Disney's animated history.
• Leitmotif: In several places.
  • Yzma's is the most noticeable, as it doubles as the main theme of the movie.
  • Pacha has a theme that's also pretty noticeable, as it plays prominently in both his entrance and the scene where he returns to his family for the first time.
  • Kronk's leitmotif is a bit more subtle, but the theme that plays when Kronk is sleeping in his tent, recurs in some of his other scenes.
  • Ironically, Kuzco, despite the movie being all about him, doesn't appear to have one: he does have a kick-ass theme, but it doesn't recur.
• Lemony Narrator: Kuzco, for the first half of the movie. Eventually his onscreen self tells his narrator self to shut up, and the rest of the movie has no narration.
• Loophole Abuse:
  • "Y'know, the funny thing about shaking hands is — you need hands!"
  • In the end after Kuzco changes back, he claims he was being literal about wanting a singing hill in order to have an excuse not to build Kuzcotopia on top of Pacha's property.
• Mad Scientist: Yzma.
• Mayincatec: The visual designers had a lot of fun with a fantasy Pre-Columbian South America look. Aside from Kuzco's name (Cuzco was capital of the Incan Empire), the relationship with history is understandably remote.
  • Pacha's name comes from Pacha Camac ("Earth-maker"), an Incan creator god.
  • Whereas "Yzma" seems to be taken from Izmachi, an ancient Mayan city.
• Magic Antidote
• Meaningful Echo: "Come on, nobody's that heartless!" First uttered by Pacha when Kuzko says he's still going to demolish Pacha's village after Pacha helps him. Later said by Kuzko when Pacha points out he could have let him fall to his death.
• Meaningful Name: Kuzco means "the center of the world"
• Minion with an F In Evil: Kronk, of course.

Kronk: My spinach puffs!

• Minor Insult Meltdown

Yzma: Kronk! Why did I think you could do this? This one simple thing... It's like I'm talking to a monkey... Kronk Good Angel: Whoa now. Yzma: A really. Big. Stupid. Monkey. Named. Kronk. Kronk Evil Angel: Ouch. Yzma: And do you want to know something else!? I never liked your spinach puffs! All Kronks: *gasp* Yzma: Never! Kronk Evil Angel: That's it! (cocks trident like shotgun) She's going down!

• Misplaced Wildlife: About 27 minutes in, there is a lizard that looks like a chameleon. The Inca were in North America. Chameleons aren't endemic to the Americas.
• Missed Him by That Much: Kuzco and Yzma in the diner.
• Morphic Resonance: Kuzco the red and black llama, and Yzma the purplish kitten.
  • "Kuzco-the-everything-else" when he tries several other potions near the end...
• Musicalis Interruptus: Don't throw off Kuzco's groove.

Guard: I'm sorry, but you've thrown off the Emperor's groove.

• • "SOOOOORRY!"
• Nice Hat: Yzma wears nine or ten different hats, wigs and headdresses throughout the film. Several of them defy gravity.
• Noisy Nature: Squirrels don't squeak, they bark.
• No Fourth Wall: So much medium awareness and lampshade hanging, too.
• Non-Indicative Name: Apart from being about a foolish and materialistic emperor, this movie has nothing to do with The Emperor's New Clothes.
• No OSHA Compliance: The lever that flips you into Yzma's secret lab is right next to a lever opening a trapdoor to a crocodile pit. Even Yzma wonders why the second lever is there.
• The Not-Secret: "Yzma's got that 'secret' lab."
• Not So Different: From what we see of them both in the beginning of the film, rule under Yzma would be the same as rule under Kuzco — they're both thoroughly self-centered people who care little for others and their well-being. Yzma is what Kuzco is poised to become — him plus a century or two (or three). Kuzco learns to become a better person, while Yzma doesn't bother. The characters never explicitly call this out, but the film does noticeably lampshade it, just like everything else.

Yzma (after being fired): How could he do this to me? Why, I practically raised him! Kronk: Yeah, you think he would've turned out better. Beat Yzma: Yeah... go figure...

• Number Two for Brains: Kronk is one dim dragon.
• One-Winged Angel: Subverted.
• Opt Out: "Hey, I've been turned into a cow. Can I go home?" "You're excused. Anyone else?" "No, no, we're good."
• Overly Long Gag:

Tipo: (to Yzma) I don't believe you're really my great-aunt. You're more like my great-great-great- (cut to another scene, then later back to Tipo and Yzma) Tipo: -great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great- Yzma: Grr! All right! Are you through? Tipo: ...great-great aunt.

• Parental Abandonment: No mention whatsoever is ever made to Kuzco's parents, presumably the previous rulers of the empire. Apparently, he was raised by Yzma: it's easy to see where he got his mean streak from.
• Personal Raincloud: With lightning, as the plot requires!
• Pigeonholed Voice Actor: Patrick Warburton as Kronk and Eartha Kitt as Yzma. Incidentally, this was before Patrick Warburton was pigeonholed in voice acting — in fact, this movie probably caused it.
  • Incidentally, this is used as a subtle joke: Yzma's "One-Winged Angel" form is in particular a kitten possibly because Eartha Kitt had previously played Catwoman on Adam West's version of Batman. She becomes an even more literal Catwoman in the sequel.
  • Turns out this seemingly unnatural role was perfect for Warburton as this movie launched a long and successful voice acting career.
• Pimped-Out Dress: All of Yzma's outfits.
• Plot Hole: Kronk and Yzma fall into a literal one — see Hand Wave, above.
• Plummet Perspective: In both the bridge-scene and the climax.
• Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: Note what happens to the cactus that Yzma dumps her dose on...
• Pop Star Composer: Originally, had a whole bunch of songs by Sting, but... well, see Cut Song above.
• Pregnant Badass: Yes, in a Disney animated film.
• Pride Before a Fall: Kuzco, and how!
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Like everything else in the movie, done as a joke as Pacha's children have horrible visions of his fate.
• Punch Clock Villain: Kronk.
• Puppy Dog Eyes: Pacha's children unsuccessfully deploy these at one point.
• Purely Aesthetic Era
• Reactive Continuous Scream: "Demon llama!"
  • "DEMON LLAMA!? WHERE?!? AAAAH!"
• Real Men Wear Pink: Kronk and baking, arguably.
• Regent for Life: Yzma.
• Relatively Flimsy Excuse: Yzma is lying that she's Pacha's third cousins' brother's wife step nieces' great aunt...Twice remove.
• Riches to Rags: Happens to Kuzco at the beginning.
• Right-Hand Hottie: Kronk, to Yzma.
• Rope Bridge: Subverted in that the bridge-crossers actually fall into the chasm.
• Rule of Funny: The driving force behind the entire movie seems to have been, "How can we make this funny?" And they did. And it is glorious.
• Rule of Three: Kuzco puts out Pacha's campfire three times in a row; first by spitting it out, then by shaking himself dry, and finally by throwing a blanket onto the fire.
• Schizo-Tech: The roller-coaster, the "secret lab", roadside diners...
• Sealed Evil in a Teddy Bear: Yzma is transformed into a nearly harmless kitten near the end of the movie.
• Shadow Discretion Shot: Subverted.
• Should Have Thought of That Before X: See above under The Caligula and for a more borderline example, Disney Villain Death.
• Shout-Out: The movies The Fly and The Wizard of Oz, among others.
  • The jaguar-chase is almost certainly a homage to the Headless Horseman scene in The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad.
  • In the sequel, the old man snatches a bottle of youth potion and says:

My preciooouusssss...precious wants to keep it...we must not let him...

• Show Some Leg: To quote Kuzco and Pacha: AAEEEIIII!!!
• Speaks Fluent Animal: It's something you learn in the Junior Chipmunks.
• Spoiled Brat: Kuzco

"Now I feel bad. Bad llama."

• Squick: In-universe example, with the Gross Up Close-Up on Yzma's face, and later the aforementioned Show Some Leg scene.
• Staggered Zoom: Parodied: "Um, what's with the chimp and the bug? Can we get back to me now?"
• Strange Minds Think Alike: When Pacha and Kuzco return to Pacha's village and learn that Yzma and Kronk have gotten there before them:

Pacha: (to a pair of old men playing a board game) What'd they look like? Old Man: Well, there was this big guy, and this older woman who was... well, (turns to his friend) how would you describe her? Old Man's Friend: Ah... "scary beyond all reason?" Old Man: Yeah, that's it.

• Tar and Feathers: Yzma gets covered in honey and feathers before being used as a pinata.
• Technicolor Science: Above and beyond, even!
• That Poor Plant: Two examples.
• This Is What the Building Will Look Like
• "To the secret lab!"
• Travel Montage: At one point the characters wonder why their feet are tracing lines across the map, but they quickly shrug it off; it's not the strangest thing that happens in this movie.
• Traveling At the Speed of Plot: Memorably lampshaded; see Hand Wave.
• Treacherous Advisor: Yzma at least tries ruling the empire behind Kuzco's back. It's what causes him to fire her.
• Troubled Production/What Could Have Been: Originally, it was going to be a more traditional Disney epic called Kingdom of the Sun, with a typical Prince and Pauper storyline. After a Writer Revolt, Executive Meddling, and a Retool (as the two directors were going in opposite directions, and the film had only a short span of two years to get completed), they scrapped the idea of doing a serious epic, and the resultant film was completed in an entirely different style at great expense and at the last minute. Several animators, such as Andreas Deja who wanted to work on "a great film", left in a huff, as well as many other staff members who just left Disney entirely. The results were awesome.
  • Related to Troubled Production: Mrs. "Sting", Trudie Styler, filmed a (slightly unfinished) documentary on the film's production, The Sweatbox. It was screened once, but since Disney owns this document of chaos, they make sure it never gets released (very likely due to there being a large amount of swearing in it), though it did end up being leaked on the internet in March 2012.
  • Related to What Could Have Been: Owen Wilson was originally cast as Pacha. He recorded all his dialogue but when the film was retooled, his voice work was thrown out. There also used to be a short talking Incan statue sidekick to be voiced by Harvey Feinstein. Kronk was nowhere in the story. Yzma's original incarnation was creepier, less neurotic, far more threatening, and obsessed with becoming young and beautiful again.
• The Unintelligible: Bucky the squirrel.
• Unreliable Voiceover: Kuzco both stars in and narrates the movie; at one point the two Kuzcos argue with each other. Also commenting on a segment where Kuzco-on-screen is unconscious.
• The Un-Reveal: How exactly did Yzma and Kronk beat Kuzco and Pacha back to the palace?
• The Un-Smile

Kuzco: So, no hard feelings about being let go? Yzma: ...None whatsoever.

• Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: Kuzco.
• Viewers are Morons: Kuzco's attitude when he's the narrator.
• Villainous Valour: Yzma.
• Was It All a Lie?: "Well, yeah! No, wait... Uh, yeah. Yeah, it all was a lie... Toodles!"
• What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?

Yzma: Our moment of triumph approaches! AHAHAHAHAHAHA! It's...dinnertime! *Dramatic Thunder*

• With Catlike Tread: Kronk "sneaking" out the palace to dispose of Kuzco.

Kuzco-as-narrator: Ugh, he's doing his own theme music? Big, dumb, and tone-deaf. I am so glad I was unconscious for all of this.

• Worst Aid: Played totally for laughs. Beware the pop-out llama tongue.
• You Have Failed Me...: A vicious tongue-lashing as opposed to outright death.