The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

 “Emperors New Groove” is a fantastic, 2D animated comedy from Disney Pictures. Produced in 2000, this traditionally animated film stars a mesoamerican emperor from ancient times who, in his arrogant and cocky ways angers his adviser who then turns him into a llama , and Kuzcos only hope to returning to his human form and his throne is with the help of a lowly llama herder all while learning what it means to be kind and considerate of others. This film is an oddball in Disneys repertoire, being primarily a lighthearted comedy without impromptu singing and story driven songs. This focus on comedy allowed the animators to push beyond the norm. Disneys animated movies then and now always have to have some form of tragedy and suspense, which meant that many scenes had to be brought down to earth, where characters moved and behaved realistically so we can all relate. The world is darker, realistic, and somber. With “Emperors New Groove”, the setting was absolutely colorful and bright, even at the lowest points of the story when death seemed to loom over, the threats where comedic and the suspense was not so much about whether or not a character was in danger, but what sillyness would it take to get out of the situation. Many scenes in the movie are packed with typical and established jokes and and slapstick that includes things breaking our known laws of Physics for comedic effect. What I have discovered watching this film is that it does these things so consistently, that it can very well be said that it never does break the laws of Physics but it in fact establishes its own.

Character Durability

One thing that the universe of Kuzco differs in comparison to our own is that the humans of the movies world are immortal, or to be more precise, they are incredibly durable in comparison to everything else around them. Early in the film there is a scene where Pacha and Kuzco fall off a bridge and end up dangling precariously from rope. Here, a swarm of scorpions crawl into Pachas back, and in a panic he begins to smash his back against the side of a cliff. Pacha strikes the rock face with such great force that the back of his head begins to chip away at the rock face and even cracks it while suffering no pain or damage what soever.

In another scene, Izma, who is the emperors adviser, is destroying stone busts of Kuzcos head. She hands the hammer to her assistant Kronk, but she does this by swinging the hammer up with the same force she has been using to crush the busts, and Kronk grabs hold of the handle of the hammer with his bare teeth. The momentum of the hammer should have ripped Kronks teeth if the managed to bite down on it as it swung up, and even if his teeth held in place the force should of tossed his head back.

Near the end of the film, Izma is turned ito a cat with a magic potion, and while that itself debatable on whether or not it can be done, while in her cat state she is smashed between a stone slab of a window cover and a rock wall. Enough force is applied to squish the cat flat and to cause cracking in the wall, but Izma suffers no physical damage outside of slight dizziness.

Gravity: its effects or lack there of

While in our universe gravity is a force that applies to us all, a gentle force pulling everything towards the center of the planet, but where our gravity is a constant force, the gravity of Kuzcos world is delayed to affect things in free fall, but after a quick second characters in free fall will hit terminal velocity instantly. When the journey begins for Kuzco and Pacha, they walk across a rickety bridge held only by weak ropes, and when the bridge inevitebly collapses right under their feet, both of these characters are left hanging in mid air without being pulled by gravity downward. It isnt until a couple of seconds later that the force of gravity affects them, pulling them down immediately into terminal velocity without the need of acceleration.

Later, while Izma and Kronk are in hot pursuit of the two protagonists, they take off in a makeshift flying contraption to reach across the now bridgeless ravine. Mid way through their flight, a lighting bolt strikes them, to which they immediately stop their forward motion (even though it should technically not affect their momentum), they hang in mid air without any force to push them forward or downward, and a few seconds later the worlds gravity finally takes its immediate effect and plunges down down the cliff at high speeds.

Near the end of the film, Kronk and Izma become enemies, and Izma opens a trap door right beneath Kronks feet, and just like every other instance of characters in free fall, Kronk hangs in mid air for several seconds before plummeting at terminal velocity downward. The odd thing about this law of physics in Kyzcos world is that it applies particularly to other characters in free fall, and not objects. An instance of this is when the cook at a restaurant quits due to the crazy demands from Kuzco for proper food, and as he packs his bag everything he throws into the bag fall slowly and at a constant rate.

Characters out of curves

While on the subject of gravity we can also look into how everything in motion also retains momentum and a path of action, but in this particular movie everything moves to different rules. In this case, things don’t follow such paths of action, they don't follow through with curves or even obey the concept of momentum. For example, near the end of the film, Izma (as a cat) leaps out off a ledge to grab onto a vile filled with some magical potion. While normally there would be a curved path of action as the cat falls on an arc, instead, Izma goes forth half way the arc, reaches the apex, and then stops all motion and while in midair she plummets to the floor at high speeds, again, at terminal velocity.

Earlier in the film, Kronk is offered a cookie, and instead of being handed the cookie it is tossed out in front of him. Kronk leaps out to grab the cookie with his mouth, and as he reaches the apex of the curve he stops mid air, ceasing all forward and downward motion, and after hanging there for a split second he plummets downward.

Another example of this happens when there is a group of royal guards who, under the command of Izma, attack Kuzco and Pacha when they are suddenly turned into animals with magic. This transformation occurs as the group is sprinting forward, and once the light clears and the transformation is complete, it shows them in mid air, motionless, without that forward motion or coming down from the lunge upward (due to their run requiring having both feet off the ground, for whatever reason). After being suspended in this mid air position for a split second, they fall straight down.

Conclusion

Emperors New Groove is an incredibly funny and interesting movie, not just in its conception and direction that is totally strange even for Disney, the fact that it manages to recreate the laws of physics for its own devices is enlightening. It has its own laws and rules concerning physics and the things affected by it to maximize comedy and silliness that is expected and reliable, allowing us to not simply laugh at strange events and occurrences, but to predict and totally accept such strange changes in physics as things that are established and true in this particular world and thus believe it.