Toon Talk
Page 4 of 4
(c) Disney
Audio Commentary
Participants: Director Mark Dindal, Producer Randy Fullmer, Supervising Animators Nik
Ranieri (Kuzco) and Bruce W. Smith (Pacha), Art Director Colin Stimpson, Character
Designer Joseph C. Moshier and Head of Story Stephen Anderson. (Audio Commentary
also available on The Ultimate Groove.)
The Top 10 Things We Learn From This Commentary:
The producers originally wanted Sting to sing "Perfect World", but he refused, claiming "I'm to old for that sort of thing. Get somebody young and hip." So instead of using the 50-year-old Sting, they chose the 60-year-old Tom Jones.
Remember that poor old man that got tossed out the palace window for throwing off the emperor's groove? Did his voice sound familiar? Well it should. It was John Fiedler, the classic voice of Piglet in the Winnie the Pooh shorts, as well as the church mouse in Robin Hood, the owl in The Rescuers and the porcupine in The Fox and the Hound.
Sting's songwriting partner for the film, David Hartley, makes a 'cameo appearance': he is the officer of the court who fills out Yzma's 'pink slip.'
In the dinner scene, after Yzma pours her poisoned drink into it, keep an eye on the cactus.
Patrick Warburton improvised Kronk's 'theme music' and had to sign a legal waiver relinquishing the rights to his 'composition' to Disney.
ChiCha is the first on-screen pregnant woman in a Disney animated film.
Bucky the Squirrel was originally thrown into the storyboard of the "Into the Jungle" scene as a joke, but the director got such a kick out of him that he was used two more times in the film.
After the mock funeral scene, Yzma was originally going to have her own reprise of the "Perfect World" song.
The waitress in Mudka's Meat Hut is patterned after Flo from the TV series Alice.
Note the aluminum foil llama 'doggie bag' Kronk is carrying when they leave the diner.
• • •
Check out next week's edition of Toon Talk for a full overview of the two disc collector's edition, The Emperor's New Groove - The Ultimate Groove.
Discuss It
Related Links
- Purchase Emperor's New Groove from Amazon.com:
VHS • DVD • Ultimate Groove 2-Disc DVD - Part 2 of this article - The Ultimate Groove Pack
- Jim Hill's look at the development of Emperor's New Groove
- Official Emperor's New Groove site
- Emperor's
New Groove on IMDB
Includes full cast and other film details
-- Kirby C. Holt
Took Talk: Disney Film & Video Reviews by Kirby C. Holt is posted whenever there's something new to review.
The opinions expressed by our Kirby C. Holt, and all of our columnists, do not necessarily represent the feelings of LaughingPlace.com or any of its employees or advertisers. All speculation and rumors about the future plans of the Walt Disney Company are just that - speculation and rumors - and should be treated as such.
-- Posted May 4, 2001