3:02 Timestamp so y’all can watch their lil guy dance around to this banger whenever you want :3

It does not surprise me that the movie was pieced together that way. It absolutely has that energy of "oh my god, guys what if THIS happened?" "OMG YES LMAO!"

See, I think Ysma is honestly a perfect villain. She gets fired and then decides to go ballistic. Simple and perfect.

- So is the script ready for archives? - Oh, the movie is finished. - Not the movie. The...you know... *Waves frantically at interns to have them put some pages together* - Oh, right. The script. The script for the movie. The script written specifically for the movie. The movie's script. That script? - Yes! That script. *Hands over a stack of haphazardly stapled notes and documents wrapped in a sticky tangle of tape.* - Got you covered.

The only response to Kronk being added solely because of the funny is: Oh yeah. It's all coming together.

The "By all accounts it doesn't make any sense" might be one of my favorite gags in all of animation.

Fun story: In my Spanish class, we got to watch a movie, so I brought in Emperors new Groove ON DVD, and the class instead voted to watch Home Alone 2 over this. I have never forgiven the Home Alone franchise

Someone needs to start a petition to get Cusco recognized as a Disney princess.

"For animation, the script is locked down before any animation is done because to do so is inefficient" Emperor's New Groove crew flying by the seat of their pants: we ain't got time for that. If it's a good pitch, it's in the movie.

It's like a bunch of the disorganized chaotic creatives somehow got their shit together long enough to actually make something and this was it. It's beautiful.

I think Emperor's New Groove is an inspiration, because it's a cult classic. Disney snobs don't really like it, and Disney tries to forget it, but it has a dedicated fan base. It shows that you don't have to have something planned out and grandiose to make something that people will enjoy.

hearing Izma's voice talk about Izma is not something I was emotionally prepared for

“Do you have the script?!” “Riiight. The script. The script for Groove. The script drafted specially to shoot Groove. Groove’s script. That script?” “Yes, that script!”

Fun fact: In the LAT spanish dub, the voice of Kuzco was made in a day, that's because the original actor (who was more known for soap operas than dubbing, they do that a lot to promote movies) made such a poor job that they just decided to make a last minute replacement, it was a success and the dub of the Emperor's New Groove is one of the many loved ones here

I feel like this is the closest we'll ever get to a fully improved animated movie.

"What. How did you guys get your movie to theaters!?" "Well you see, we- Spade, how DID we get this movie finished?" *David Spade pulls out a board with sticky notes pinned to it* "You got me, by all accounts it doesn't make any sense.."

Literally watched this as a kid so much to the point that our VHS caught fire. Never before has the fear of God been put into me more than seeing kuzco catch fire along with the television.

So THATS why emperors new groove feels like an animated dnd campaign

This movie is the embodiment of "F*ck it, we ball" and hits a slam dunk from the 3 point line to win the game

Emperor’s new groove legit was written like a dnd campaign lol

3:44: "[The Sweatbox] has never been released officially. I'm actually unsure of why Disney wants to burry it." It's because "The Sweatbox" is a little too honest about how the sausage gets made at Disney. Their entire brand as a company is predicated on being "The Happiest Place on Earth" where everybody's dream comes true; to the point where they adopted "When You Wish Upon a Star" from Pinocchio as their corporate theme song. The experience of Roger Allers contradicts that narrative and the documentary paints Allers as being more sympathetic than the Disney executives he's answering to.

At 4:14, you ask why Disney would bury a documentary about the art and making of a movie. That's because it highlights how these things are made: by people. Disney does not want people to think about how F-ing hard it is to make quality art, they just want us to consume cheaply-made content.

I never knew any of this! I knew the movie had been a flop in the US, but here in Brazil it was a hit. This makes it all the more special to know how spontaneous its creation process was! I wonder if this "no script" method would ever work again for other movies, I'd be curious to see them.

Kronk's chad walk in the background as you say "two weeks after the movie was in theaters" is everything

My youngest sibling would loop the sequel all summer for multiple summers when we stayed at our grandparents. The line "They say eyes are the windows to the soul; hers were like triple-locked steel doors with a combination I just HAD to crack" is engraved into my soul and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Anyone else think the og concept fo Ezma got turned into Mother Gothel? A villain obsessed with getting her glamor and beauty back and wanting to live eternally beautiful, sounds exactly like Mother Gothel. Heck could Corona not be described as a kingdom of the sun? Food for thought. (Side note Pacha's wife hitting Kuzco with pan immediately made me think of Rapunzel lol)

Movie: *just artists and directors having fun Audience: “Man that was so fun! I love this movie!” Hollywood: “Wait a minute, what just happened”

Your note about CN using a more board-driven approach for their shows reminded me of something- Recently, Ian JQ (writer for Steven Universe and creator of OK KO) wrote on twitter advising people to beware of fake 'production scripts' for Steven Universe being sold on eBay and such. He noted that ANY listing for a script for the show was guaranteed to be a fake, because they NEVER USED SCRIPTS! The production of every episode was entirely storyboard driven!

Emperor's New Groove defined my sense of humor for the last twenty-four years.

It's funny cause after this video, I can see each scene play out as its storyboard form, and picture how it just went directly into the film.

It was a MIRACLE that this film turned out as fantastic as it is. I also agree Kronks New Groove is a great movie and I will die on this hill. Great video EJ! :D

"Eh, how would you describe her?" "Scary beyond all reason" "Yeah that's it!"

Omg the fact the guy that made this also made cats dont dance makes so much sense. The vibe is so similar its insane, I would have never called it out of my own accord but once the fact is said it seems so obvious

4:12 My cynical guess here is that Disney (and many other companies that want to be like Disney) doesn't want general audiences to think of media as being made by "people," they'd rather you associate movies with the company instead, or a studio that they can simply buy the name of. You see this a lot in video games as well, when it comes to credit the work done by individual people is often downplayed compared to the name recognition of studios. It doesn't mean Disney is going to start burning records and hiding credit (because they're literally not allowed to, thank you labor unions), but it does mean that they have no real interest in highlighting older documentaries like this one.

my sixth grade art teacher was a storyboard artist for emperors new groove and she said it was her favorite project shes ever worked on :)

Yep. I was lucky enough to work at WDFA at the time and...pretty much what you said. Crazy times. Bonus fact: In one of the many attempts to fix Kingdom Of The Sun, they renamed it to Kingdom In The Sun (I think I still have some crew gifts with the logo)...then eventually reworked it all into The Emperor's New Groove. Fun stuff.

A few years ago I made a 7 minute video without a script. It was extremely difficult, so I can't imagine doing an entire movie like this! Great essay! You had me captivated.

There are two things that Disney has irrevocably altered in my mind: 1) The phrase "Let's get down to business" 2) The ability to pull a lever, or worse, instruct someone else to pull a lever.

I’ve always stood by this movie as the best Disney film of all time (followed closely by Lilo and Stitch) Literally just the other day, I was thinking about the old man that gets tossed out the window in the opening, particularly his voice bc, going purely off of memory, I was like “huh, he kinda sounded like Piglet from Pooh Bear”. Forgot about that random shower thought until I saw this video and turns out I was right (not that it matters lol) So yeah, fun fact! John Fiedler: original voice of Piglet; also gets tossed out a window by order of Emperor Kuzco

"Tell us where the talking Llama is, and we'll burn your house to the ground." "Uh, don't you mean Or?" "UGH, Tell us where the talking Llama is OR we'll burn your house to the ground!'

it's a well known secret amongst disney animators that there's a statue of walt whipping ub iwerks like an egyptian pharoah at the animation studio.

I'm pretty sure this has been said a hundred times whenever the making of Emperor's New Groove is brought up, but I really wish there was a way for Kingdom of the Sun to somehow coexist alongside New Groove. Great video! I rarely see people mention the final film having no script whenever discussing the making of the movie. Also, glad to hear someone else that also doesn't think Kronk's New Groove is bad lol, but what do you think of the series? It's been like a million years since I last watched it, so I don't know how well it holds up.

I saw this for the first time as a freshman in college. Dorm room full of like 7 people just all laughing ourselves to tears. Obviously it became an instant favorite for all of us, and I couldn’t wait to show my kids (favorite of theirs now too). I am in awe that there was no script, but it also kinda immediately makes sense, since it always felt like a long-form comedy sketch by really funny people. Thank you for sharing this with us all!

No wonder the movie felt alive, because it was, it wasn't just any old project, it was a passion project.

This is one of my favourite childhood movies. It weirdly makes sense that this movie was just thrown together with whatever made everyone laugh the hardest. It's still one of the funniest movies I've ever seen.

Even the title makes sense when you think of the movie being made from the remnants of another film

I am so glad this happened, it seems when you let artists loose, very funny things are made. I dread that alternate timeline in which this movie didn't happen, they don't have Llamaposting.

Honestly no wonder so many several jokes are just so perfect: Kronk talking with his angel and demon and Yzma pointing it out at Kuzco and Pacha, Kronk and Yzma literally noticing map-markers on the floor, the whole sequence of Kronk becoming a cook. All of these were jokes that just made me crack up.

It's obvious to me why disney will never release the sweatbox-go look at the comments anywhere it's uploaded (and some here too) and you'll see people pining for the bad movie that got scrapped instead of the incredible, perfect movie that got made. (I saw new groove something like five times in theaters when it came out-100% obsessed) and the audience getting that takeaway makes sense-because that's ultimately what ends up being the incorrect message of the documentary itself: disney execs kill a beautiful project and make a rushed soulless cash grab comedy instead.

The problem with Kingdom of the Sun is that it wanted to do a Prince and the Pauper storyline… with the Prince being a Llama and ultimately unable to fill that Pauper role the switch is supposed to give him. One aspect needed to be discarded, and Emperor’s New Groove stuck to the Llama transformation storyline. I’m fine with that. Kingdom of the Sun, from what we know, feels like it needed a few more drafts before it had any chance at being the epic masterpiece it was envisioned as. What does blocking out the Sun have to do with Llamas thematically? Do we need a romance with the female Llama herder when we have the role swap, the evil sorceress, the Llama transformation, and the peasant trying to fit into the role of prince all in an hour and a half? Half of Sting’s songs don’t sound like completed musical numbers. What I’m saying is, it sounded ambitious, but the more I think about it, I’m glad it was retooled

One of my favorites is the canon continuity break. "By all accounts it doesn't make sense"

Emporers new groove is one of those movies that didnt grab me very much as a kid but i enjoy it more and more as i get older. Its aging like a fine wine

What's interesting about the Ysma in Emporors New Groove 2 is they brought back that side of her that wanted to be youthful and it definitely didn't work in their favor.

the sequence of your lil animated self losing it to Tom Jones brought me so much joy, the funniest thing I've seen this week, good video thank you

The original idea was rightly criticized for being confusing. It was The Prince and the Pauper...but the then the real Prince leaves he gets turned into a Llama? Then Yzma is trying to summon the Sun god to devour the planet but the fake Prince falls for the Fiance and the Llama Prince falls in love with a Sheppard woman and then its also a Musical? It's too much at once.

Emperors new groove is great, but I personally will always mourn the loss of Kingdom of the Sun. I’m a sucker for Prince and the pauper stories. 😂

really good video!! also i feel like i need to mention it since i'm currently obsessed with it but, Yellow Submarine. Kinda like Emperor's New Groove but in its case, it didn't have a final script or storyboard, had a production of 11 months with over 200 artists working on it, which is insane to me. there should be more movies like this, no script. Since it's so fascinating..

Fun fact, in Germany it's name was (translated) "a kingdom for an Llama"

"No script" "What the F*** do you mean- NO SCRIPT?!" *ahem* "No script"

This is a good example of what an animation studio could do with a budget and a co-op style development process. Focusing on the simple "what do we enjoy and want to see?" and just making that. So much of these productions goes into all the red tape and minutia that so little is left for the creative touch of those actually making the product, but that's what I want to see. I want to see something created by creative people, not the product of some conglomeration of HR, Sales, Marketing, Logistics, and Management with maybe a few creatives allowed at the table, but almost always the top brass. It just leads to the same safe, basic, predictable stories getting told over and over again.

no one will ever truly know how much of a hold this had over me as a kid. i remember age 12 i watched it, made all my cousins watch it, bought the sequel on dvd for christmas, discovered empire of the sun was meant to be a thing and read about the whole sweatbox situation, and then proceeded to send an email to disney that probably no one ever read about how if they ever wanted to do a more serious toned live action movie they should adapt the plot of empire of the sun. honestly younger me probably had a point there considering whatever is going on with disney remakes right now, but oml hearing the word sweatbox gave me flashbacks and i completely forgot i did all that for a mo.

This makes me SO much more happy with my own creative process for my book; I take the themes relevant and decide how I want to progress them, I write scenes to that effect using ideas I think would be cool, then I write the scenes into chapters.

Honestly I never knew the movie had no script, which speaks to the quality of the movie in that it still holds up regardless and that you would never know it had no script just by watching it alone. That aside it's definitely one of my all time favorite movies & I always enjoy watching it even today.

I would LOVE to write a story like this “What if [insert funny prompt]” “YES”

The saddest part of Kingdom being scrapped to me is that simply, Snuff out the light, Ysma's supposed villian song was scrapped along with it. Its still one of my favorite songs period.

The way this movie was made kind of reminds me of Surfs Up. The movie probably did have a script of sorts, but almost all of the dialogue and shots were improvised. They had real cameramen walking around on a virtual stage with motion tacked rigs just filming the animated characters like they were in a documentary. They also used real audio recordings of actual surfers giving interviews in public that they got specifically for the film. It was really just a love letter to surfing, dressed up with animated characters.

Love when productions come together when they're down to the wire and blow everyone away. Like you said, stuff like this is a pure testament to the talent and chemistry of those working on it. Reminds me of how the work done on Halo 2 was scrapped with roughly a year before release and the team just shrugged and went on to revolutionize early 2000's gaming.

I desperately want to read more of the notes when they were creating the scrips. Knowing the actors and writers took so much delight in Koronk’s focus being on the dinner brought me just as much delight

I LOVE Emperor's New Groove, but I gotta say I feel a little pain knowing there was an epic tale in there somewhere. That said I can't regret the funniest disney film imo

This is insane always and forever, and I will forever love Emperor's New Groove. But, honestly, I kinda just wanted to take a moment to thank you for bringing back my memories of Eartha Kitt as Yzma. It was my introduction to her, and she quickly became my idol. Thank you for the memories, and RIP Eartha Kitt.

Honestly, so many more movies should be made like this. It's just a perfect formula.

Ng I read the title and went "yeahh."

Oh man, Cats Don’t Dance was a favorite of mine!

You're telling me my favorite animated movie was all IMPROV?!? THAT'S AMAZING!!

This is one of my favorite movies of all time. It was always so different and I loved it so much, and honestly knowing this background makes it makes sense. They worked off a movie and threw humor everywhere and that’s honestly how most movies should be. So long as they are meant to be funny.

This gives me the vibe of iterative design-how many games and products are made. Keep testing till the thing works. Probably also why portal is such a great game. I don't think they did quite the same thing, but it certainly feels like they went down the road of "yo guys wouldn't it be funny if ..."

An old person with an obsession of youth?!? That's never happened before! So original! Nobody has ever done something so original! Oh wait, that's very common.

already seen the move, loved the movie, and can't believe it was WITHOUT A SCRIPT! such a masterpiece must be re-watched in light of this new knowledge. Also that end-screen is adorable.

I think it would be so amazing to see what a movie that went for this idea from the beginning I love the idea of such a collaborative and intertwined process

It's sad that more movies aren't made without a script

I dont normally comment on videos, but I loved this video, for 11 minutes it went very fast and held my attention, you should totally make more like this, maybe a video about the thief and the cobbler

People seriously don't realize how good this movie was. Took my gf to it when it came back to theaters a few years ago because she thought she remembered thinking it was just okay, she never stopped laughing and now it's one of her favorites.

The music sequence and the thanks for watching card 😭😭 beautiful, thank you. And thank you for sharing this info cause that's actually insane but amazing!

I watched the "it was a sh*t show" on this a couple weeks back. They made it seems way more dire and stuck in production hell.

“Are you kiddin’ me? That’s solid mahogany”

Emperor's New Groove is in my top 5 all-time favorite movies. It's just SO. FREAKING. GOOD.

It's like they made it through a DnD session

:D honestly, quite nice to get more insight on the movie's creation process

This was fantastic! Thank you for including the text of the stories behind different comedic moments 😂 I loved pausing and reading them all

To be honest, I'm not that surprised. The movie always had this chaotic feel, even as a child. Still one of my favourites tho.

I’m glad they did not use a script, it explains why the movie and humor is all over the place, actually one of my favorite Disney movies.

If the current state of disney is anything to go by, can you really not think of any reason they'd want to burry that documentary? Or how they've been shunning their older works due to, allegedly, being unfitting of today's standards? It shows that the people working on it loved what they were doing, the creativity and care, the soul poured onto their work. THAT did not align with disney's future plans. They can't go around promoting QUALITY, they have to label themselves as a malleable entity that is willing to kiss the feet of its' investors and shareholders. To show their work process is super safe, linear, standardized. Make another movie by winging it TODAY? Straight to jail.

Kronk is just the animation team self inserting. Neither of them knew what the fuck was going on.

When creativity is the focus instead of "target audiences" and "projected numbers at the box office", it's amazing what can get accomplished.

I remember being at my aunt's house during summer break and had Netflix in my room and watched Emperor's new groove for 4 nights straight, good times

This is fascinating... I'm only halfway through, but I have to say: How is it "deep" and "profound" to have a female villain obsessed with staying young and beautiful forever, isn't that kind of hackneyed at the very least?

Hey this is one of the students from animation class! Loved your video! We should collab on something if ur down for it!

Fun fact: Disney brought in legendary hungarian animator Marcell Jankovics to work on the first version. But he left when the project shifted from mythological to a comedy

When this movie first came out, people were not so sure it was going to be any good. I knew it would be and I needed to see it. When I did, I ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! I got it on VHS (yup, that old) and would watch it over and over again. Sadly, no one else enjoyed it that I knew. Well they can all suck it! I’m not a David Spade fan (did like his work in Just Shoot Me), but I thought he did an excellent job in The Emperor’s New Groove. I actually liked everyone especially Poncho’s wife. I don’t know why… she wasn’t even in much of the movie but that woman was BOLD as heck

BINGUS!