Top 10 Emperor's New Groove Jokes Only Adults Get

When Kuzco-as-llama wanders alone in the jungle, he hears a cry for help from a fly stuck in a spider’s web, moments before it gets eaten. This reminds us of a similar scene from 1958’s “The Fly”, a horror-sci-fi flick in which a freak accident causes a man and fly’s anatomy to fuse together. The man-fly also gets caught up in a spider’s web and meets an equally gruesome end. If that’s not creepy enough, one fan theory suggests Kuzco only understood the talking fly because, like him, the insect was once human. Maybe it’s better that this one went over our heads back then.

Oh my, do we love a good ol’ “The Wizard of Oz” throwback. In a race against time, Kuzco and Pacha search through Yzma’s lair, looking for the potion that will return the Emperor to his human form. When Pacha finally finds her potions cabinet, he takes a closer look at each bottle within. Yzma’s organizational skills are the perfect setup for this joke and she even arrives just in time to land the punchline. Apparently, the creative team were very reluctant to include this reference but, Disney’s head of Feature Animation, Thomas Schumacher insisted. It might be an oldie, but it’s a classic.

From what we can gather, Yzma has a certain type when it comes to choosing her henchmen. Kronk is actually quite sweet and gentle but, several nuts short of a full pouch, if you know what we mean? Still, what he lacks in brains, he more than makes up for in brawn. This seems to lead Kuzco to believe that Kronk and Yzma’s relationship might not be just professional. As children, we probably took this moment at face value - after all your late 20s did seem quite old back then. But the older viewers in the audience knew exactly what Kuzco was implying.

As a kid, you probably weren’t familiar with “Mission: Impossible” or its instantly recognizable theme tune. So you probably missed that this is what Kronk was alluding to when humming his own theme music. But, if anyone’s going to find the fun in disposing of a llama-shaped Emperor, it’s going to be him. Unsurprisingly, Kuzco isn’t particularly impressed with Kronk’s humming but someone over at Disney clearly was. Patrick Warbuton, who voices the henchman, improvised this melody whilst in the recording booth. There must be more to it than meets the eye as Disney allegedly made him sign over the tune’s legal rights to them.

Evidently there were some big movie buffs working on this animation, as they managed to squeeze not just one but two movie references into one scene. After Kronk’s “Mission: Impossible” moment, he has hesitations about fatally sending the Kuzco-filled bag down the pretty intense waterfall. As he grabs the bag, the camera pans out, shrouding the empire in mist and focuses on a primate feasting on an insect instead. If you thought this shot looked familiar, then chances are, you’ve probably seen “Citizen Kane”. This one was definitely for the adults as we doubt many kids had likely seen the classic mystery drama.

As children, our movie knowledge probably wasn’t refined enough to understand the concept of a trope. But this scene, which is arguably one of the funniest in the entire animated film, also serves to educate us on the history of movie clichés. After Pacha saves Kuzco from a pack of big cats, the pair find themselves in yet another predicament. Pacha only has to utter two syllables and Kuzco knows exactly what’s headed their way. Don’t get us wrong: we always found this scene hilarious, even as kids. But watching it back now, we can also appreciate the nuanced meta humor behind this moment.

When Yzma has Kuzco and Pacha cornered in her lair, the emperor learns that he actually got off quite lightly by being turned into a llama. But now Yzma is ready to finish the job and starts to lift her dress, much to their horror. Kuzco and Pacha panic until she reveals the dagger hidden underneath. Now, as a child you were probably quite confused as to what she could possibly be hiding under her dress that would be more terrifying than a dagger. We imagine the adults weren’t ready to explain this one and simply said that you’d get it when we were older.

Some people take real joy in pointing out plot holes but, in this case they were beaten to the punch by the movie’s writers. Kuzco and Pacha are surprised to learn that Yzma and Kronk beat them back to the lair. Kuzco questions how this is even possible and an equally befuddled Yzma throws the question to her right-hand man. Kronk concedes that it doesn’t make any sense and then they get straight back to the action. As children, we probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought. However, this self-aware joke urged older audiences to suspend their disbelief for the sake of the story.

Let us start by saying that we certainly don’t condone threatening people at all. All we're saying is that if you want to get your point across, you better be sure that your grammar is immaculate. Yzma learns this the hard way when she uses the wrong conjunction whilst threatening Pacha’s family. And although back in the day this joke totally went over our heads, today we'd still probably keep her locked up without some clarification first. This was a witty and valuable lesson in just how crucial conjunctions are. Even if we didn’t get it then, we can totally appreciate it now.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

Mahogany
You Probably Didn’t Always Appreciate the Fine Craftsmanship of “Hand-Carved Mahogany”

‘Til the Cows Come Home
Be Honest: Even as an Adult, It Took a Few Re-Watches to Get This Joke

The Collapsing Bridge
Did You Notice That the Planks of Wood Spell “Damn” as They Fall Into the River Below?

In the past, Disney has proven to be partial to some subtle adult-oriented humor. In this case, after a long hard day of chasing Kuzco, Yzma and Kronk stop for the night. While Yzma puts the glam in glamping, Kronk’s tent raises a few… eyebrows. The sight of a grown man in a tiny tent, clutching his teddy bear is hilarious for kids. But we all know that this wasn’t why the grown-ups were snickering. Kronk’s tent is very strategically placed on his body and stays, erm, erect without any visible support. We can’t even see any poles holding it up…well, perhaps there’s just one.