Kuzco’s Poison: David Spade’s Self-Deluded Narration In 'The Emperor’s New Groove'

The purpose of narration in TV and film is often to set a tone and underscore key moments or details. It's a literary device that does away with clunky storytelling and over-the-top world-building dialogue. A technique that adds years of rich story-telling or a birds-eye view when needed most. Suffice it to say, the narration is brought in to enhance the viewing experience for movie-goers - not help the narrator stroke their own ego.

So when a narrator favors themself instead of the audience they’re meant to guide, it’s worth taking a closer look at - especially if it’s a 20-year-old Disney film.

When we look at David Spade’s narcissistic narrations in The Emperor's New Groove, there’s so much to unpack for such a lighthearted Disney movie. There are layers upon layers of complex and convoluted voice-over narrations. Each intersects and cascades with how he thinks and feels throughout any given scene he chooses to pop in on. He uses his sporadic narrations to express his private thoughts about what’s happening around him and reveal how he interprets the world. 

It’s far less common to hear a narrator directing their narration at themself than you might think. Not a lot of films have done it - if any at all. Maybe Taxi Driver, if we’re playing fast and loose, but the truth is that Spade’s narration is surprisingly layered and deep. It’s a narrative as reflective and pointed as the character who voices it. Right from the beginning, Kuzco draws us into his world. 

He spares no time bragging about how great he is and why the world should revolve around him. He quickly fills us in on who he is and how he sees the world. It all seems straightforward - and on the surface, it is. Spade’s narration introduces the audience to characters, places, and plots. A standard narration on all counts. And he isn’t shy to redirect the story toward himself.

Whenever we’re shown Kuzco being in the wrong or a moment of exposition granted towards another character, he’ll chime in as a narrator with sarcastic questions like “Still think I’m not the victim here?” and “Can we get back to me?” At one point, he even stops the film entirely to walk on-screen toward a still image and draw on it with a sharpie as if he were animating a play-by-play in football. All of it fits his reinforcement of the narrative being about himself. 

True to his personality, Kuzco will take any opportunity to exonerate himself from wrongdoing and deviate from anything on the screen that isn’t about him. He doesn’t just narrate his story - he uses his narrations to control the ebb and flow of an entire movie. When we hear his narrations contrasted against the reality we’re shown on screen, it begs the question, who are these narrations really intended for? An audience who knows better, or, more deceptively yet, the narrator himself?

Superficially, it might seem like he’s trying to fill the audience in on who he is and where the story is going, but the truth is that he’s trying to reaffirm the narrative in his own mind.

I can go over dozens of reasons Kuzco might be narrating the story to himself and why. And, at the root of it, the most obvious assumption would be to say that he’s a narcissist, desperately attempting to reconcile reality with his self-image. And don’t get me wrong - he is (but more on that later). It’s one of the biggest misdirects of the entire film and a literary gem hidden with a kids' movie. The narrations aren’t there for the audience’s benefit - we just happen to be around to hear them.

There’s a much deeper and more tangible meaning to it. Kuzco is just trying to stay sane. If we look at Spade’s narrations from a slightly more nuanced perspective - it’s about Kuzco trying to keep it together despite his entire world falling apart. He’s playing reality up like a highlight reel that keeps him in touch with his sense of self. He’d woken up as an Emperor and fallen asleep as a llama. That would leave anyone a little unhinged. 

When we watch cartoons, it can be easy to forget that the characters we see and hear are actual people. The same animated personas who live through larger-than-life adventures and outlandish stories are, in their own rights, written as real people. They have thoughts, feelings, ideas, and plans. We take their situations at face value and forget how traumatic an experience might really be for them. And for a character as self-centered, narcissistic, and brimming with entitlement as Emperor Kuzco - it’s the worst thing that could have ever happened to him. 

Kim Handysides is an award-winning voice artist and coach. Among her 20K+ narrations you have heard her on Discovery, Netflix, and the major networks, in iMax, the White House and the Smithsonian.