DKC: Return to Krocodile Isle - Animated Short 

Its been an incredible ride for the past 2.5 years. From working alongside Martin to develop the story outline, to helping build our team, to kasting voices- all of this…on top of what was already an incredible honor being able to provide the voices of Krusha/Kaboom/Swanky/The ‘K. Rool Rap’ Announcer, and even *sing* as some of the backing khoir! Absolutely INSANE. I’ve long wanted to bring the world of DKC to modern audiences with my world-building and endless knowledge of the games and series. I couldn’t have made it happen with Martin, Alex and Al. It’s been the highest honor.

If anyone at Illumination is watching this, please let me make your Donkey Kong movie, I promise there's a decent chance that I might not screw it up, so please call me

DK completely forgetting about King K Rool is so in character

"...Remind me if I ever were to kill myself, I could scale to the heights of your blind devotion and _leap down towards _*_YOUR IQ!"_* Pure poetry.

WHAT!?! These are the OG Voice Actors for K.Rool, Klump, & Skurvy! No wonder they sound so authentic.

I love the implication that K. Rool's whole musical number, including him revealing himself to the rest of the Krew, was just a fever vision brought upon by the madness of his self isolation. Too ashamed of his failures as a leader to show his face to his Krew, but unable to bring himself to truly abandon them. He is only discovered by the others after his psychotic breakdown causes the basement to erupt in flames, as you can see by the boxes marked "Rool's Stuff (Fire Damage)" in the background of the mid-credits scene.

You can really tell how badly K.Rool wants both himself and the Kremlings to be seen as a legitimate and worthy adversary. Even if it means one final climactic showdown with his arch-rival where he may potentially meet his end, the King of the Kremlings wants to go down swinging, not to decay and be forgotten to time.

Can't believe fans make a better villain song than a multi-billion-dollar entertainment company.....

I love the idea that King K Rool missed all of the other smash games because he was too busy going nuts in the Kremling basement and Klump has cultivated a huge stack of letters inviting K Rool to smash lmao

On the one hand: K.Rool going mad(der) after locking himself in the basement for 10 years is tragic. On the other hand: The Kremlings not thinking to check the basement for 10 years is hilariously on point for them. Oh, Klump earned that burn!

Probably one of the best things about this short is that we finally get to hear Campbell say the word "Kremling", something that has oddly never happened in the original series

I find the funniest part is sometime after his initial smash reveal, he’s casually chilling in DK’s own home for Banjo’s reveal. They finally got K. Rool some therapy and was able to make amends.

the donkey kong fanbase is one of the most dedicated ive ever seen, seeing the return of k rool’s and dk’s actors from the tv show is incredible.

This is like I stepped into a time machine and the DKC Cartoon was still current. Nobody sounds like they've aged a day. These are the real voices of these characters in my eyes

Remember, if Nintendo takes this down it's canon. Seriously somebody fund this. I need a full series like this.

"Remind me, If I ever want to kill myself, I could scale to the heights of your blind devotion, *And leap down TOWARDS YOUR IQ!!!"* And the reward for best insult spoken by a villain to their minion goes to...

I can't believe they got the DKC cartoon voice actors in on this glorious project.

The Fact that Alex managed to bring almost every single VA from the Donkey Kong animated series in to voice the characters once again is amazing.

I love that Campbell mixes that typical ham with a lot more restraint and some legit chilling line delivery like his first line and “am I enough for you now?!” Hard to describe but it’s not the typical Saturday morning cartoon villain ham, I can buy this is a K Rool that’s been isolated for ten years and gone mad from his defeats. 65 years old and he’s still got it. I love it

"I don't even like bananas!" I can't tell if this is a deep cut to DK Jungle Climber, but if it is... well done.

the delivery on the ''I could scale to your blind devotion, and leap down to your IQ'' insult is 👌👌👌

That parody of the DK Rap honestly sent chills down my spine. And the fact that this was all leading into King K. Rool joining Smash Bros at last makes this even better than it already was.

"Am I enough for you now?!? Am I!?!" Is potentially one of the greatest villain lines of all time. K.rool always had that love hate relationship with DK in the show. That line perfectly encapsulates his feelings. God damn. Fantastic work with this entire project. Absolutely fantastic.

I love the implication that K Rool was invited to be in Smash for years but didn’t because of his minions incompetence

The fact that the voice acting and directing is all near identical to the animated series easily makes this some of the best Donkey Kong fan work I've ever seen

K. Rool's crumbling mental stability is exemplified so greatly in this animation. Almost every scene leading up to his volcanic breakdown is a symphony of madness. Truly a stunning homage to the Kremling Kommander's video game history and exile.

What’s also extremely amazing is that it’s been more than twenty years, but Ben Campbell and the others still got it. They don’t sound like they aged a day. Their voices are absolutely incredible. Especially Ben as King K. Rool

If Nintendo and Illumination ever make a Donkey Kong movie, it has to be as amazing as this

This project just drips with talent and passion, y'all killed it!

If any of the original voice actors are reading the comments. Just wanted to say thank you for joining in on this, I know a lot of people trash on the show from way back then but you guys seriously made my childhood so fun I tuned in to see each episode and hearing most of you guys again in these roles just put the biggest and dumbest smile on my face!

“So he’s finally back, performing for you, If you know your place, You can join him too. Put your claws together, For a villain most cruel, Cau-Cau-Cause this time; *He’s here to Rool.* “ Chills, man. My spine is tingling.

The monologue at 5:40 made me realize that Benedict Campbell would be a 10/10 Joker.

I love when the Kremlings were theorizing about K. Rool’s death, the scenarios were based off his defeats in his appearances “too many kong-induced conks to the head” - DKC1 “eaten by sharks” - DKC2 “electric barbecue” - DKC3 “higher power” - Nintendo itself

Nintendo should 100% revive the donkey Kong cartoon with you as head writer and animator. This could be the pilot. Its so well-made

"A mulish ape by the name of Kong." Mule = Donkey... Thus: Donkey Kong, Ha! I only just got that, this short is so well written.

"Bear thee witness, to our redemption-" I'm trying, but the tears of joy are making it difficult.

That insult about climbing to the heights of Klump's devotion then taking the lethal plunge down to his IQ was an amazingly high quality burn. Perfectly in character too!

I love the difference between the imposing, emotionless DK from K Rool’s fantasy contrasted with the goof he is when we actually see him. A really nice creative choice that works on a ton of levels.

Never knew K. Rool had such a lovely singing voice!

I can't believe I didn't know this existed and they got Benedict Campbell the voice of K Rool from the DKC cgi cartoon to voice him again! Thank you Joshscorcher for bringing me here and thank you Benedict and everyone who worked on this magnificent animated masterpiece. The king has returned indeed!

There's only 1 man who can voice a speaking King K. Rool, and he did AMAZING here!

I love the "MISS ME?" written with banana peels. Say what you will about K Rool being forgotten, he wouldn't need to sign his name or anything, DK would know exactly who took his hoard.

Gotta love how quickly Krusha runs once K. Rool starts shooting at the end. He might be a simpleton, but even he's not that dumb.

I’ve never seen the Donkey Kong cartoon but Benedict Campbell has an absolutely amazing voice that absolutely fits K.Rool despite being nothing like what I thought he’d sound like in my head

My man got the OG cast for K. Rool and the gang, holy shit dude well done. This was awesome!

The fact that we got to hear the DKC cartoon VAs reprise their roles here makes it even more golden than before. That's how you Rool the day, mate! Good one.

4:26 it’s truly criminal that nobody talks about the background theme here. Its truly not a lot but it tickles that part of my brain that makes it sound absolutely amazing

this is the Disney villain song we haven't had in AGES - its giving Ratigan meets Captain Hook vibes but with a Don Bluth animation style and I am ADORING it also massive kudos to Benedict Campbell's performance here, esp given he's reprising a 20-25 year old role. I don't often say this in terms of casting what-ifs, but if Illumination ever actually makes a Donkey Kong movie? it would be an actual, literal mistake not to bring him back as King K Rool. he's brilliant 👏👏👏👏👏

5:42 “I knew you’d be back! Fate entangled! Destined forever! Yin and yang! I did this all for you. Wanna know the funny part? *I don’t even like bananas!* Am I enough for you now? AM I?!?!?” Chills. Actual chills. Bravo 👏

K. Rool is so glorious in this! His mannerisms, his musical aptitude, the way he weaves words together. That description of how dumb Klump is at the end was a thing of beauty.

This short is dedicated to the memory of Len Carlson (the voice original of Krusha), Aron Tager (the voice of Cranky Kong) and Erika Strobel (cartoon writer) who died in 2006, 2019 and 2017

2:35 LOVE that he pronounces it “KUH-ruel-tee,” in reference to how the show pronounced his name.

Give these guys a Netflix budget ASAP, this is the best DKC content in years. DK definitely belongs to the fans now.

The K Rool rendition of the DK rap is so GOOOD. Like actual chills! This whole video is amazing. Massive props to the whole crew!

I cannot stop rewatching this. I'll just be walking down the hall and suddenly my head will start bobbing with the thought "♪ Tip the scale, I'll send them all to jungle jail! ♪"

I love how he's obsessed with DonkeyKong like Joker is with Batman.

The fact that Adrian Truss, Richard Yearwood, and Ben Campbell reprised Klump, DK and K. Rool for this is amazing! Edit: Ron Rubin as well!

It makes me so happy to see Benedict Campbell still doing voice work. I hope he continues taking roles

Kan’t believe we’ve reached 1 million views! Thank you all so much for making this a possibility! - Stuart A. Hutson(Krusha)

It’s funny, in a way, that in K’Rool’s delusion, the Crystal Coconut was included. It was a major element in the cartoon, and it implies that it was eventually found to be useless, cause Donkey Kong wouldn’t just leave it, even in K’Rool’s delusion.

It’s pretty neat how the Kremlings are making it look like their taking back DK island. But in reality, they really want to take back their role as Donkey Kong’s villains. What’s rightfully theirs.

I like how despite being based on the incarnation from the cartoon, K. Rool here still has an intimidating presence here, a perfect blend of comedy and a genuine threat, with a dash of tragedy.

I want a whole ass show about the Kremlings now. Holy shit, that was amazing.

I don't know if I'm biased, but is genuinely one of the best villian songs I have ever heard, you can totally tell how he managed to command loyalty, even from those who previously opposed him.

Hearing Benedict Campbell as K Rool again was such a treat, i *always* loved his voice for K Rool in the the show , he stole the show and his energy was always a treat to see

It is nice to see that fans still support the Kremlings. I hope Nintendo will do it one day as well. Until then, we can enjoy fan works like this one. Maybe it will inspire Nintendo to finally use K. Rool and his army again as villains.

If K.Rool ever appears in the DK movie, I really hope Benedict Campbell comes back

This is the most absolutely, utterly glorious love letter to K. Rool and the Kremlings that I’ve ever seen. I also just wanna appreciate 1:46 where K. Rool’s crown iconically boomerangs back and returns to him after he throws it. You can really tell that the creators really love the Donkey Kong franchise. Also love the classic sound at 4:41

I didn’t even watch the TV show, and I still want Alex and Krew to write a sequel. Nintendo, please hire this man.

It's awesome to see such a high quality tribute to such a widely overlooked character. This feels like a classic Disney movie.

don't mind me, just rewatching this video for the 1,438,673rd time in commemoration of its one year anniversary. still one of the best fan animations ever made.

“Take on asunder as we cry blood and thunder” goes insanely hard

8:07 "keith" and "krudd" are both references - after k. rool was announced for smash, gregg mayles said in a tweet that the k didn't have anything it officially stood for, and suggested it could be something silly like keith. in early concept art, there was a sketch for a kremling named "krudd," whose design evolved into k. rool. so, keith krudd rool (it's a very handsome name!)

It's kinda funny how K Rool portrays DK as this menacing, dangerous Kong that would be absolutely ruthless, and then the post-credits come in where it's shown that DK is more of a goofball like that weird DKC show

I watched this a few days ago. Naturally, I was blown away, absolutely everything was perfect. It really stuck with me, and mulling over it for a few days I've come to a realization; this short felt like it had what the recent Mario movie was lacking. The Illuminations Mario movie gets all the details of the Mario series down perfectly. Visually, it's a perfect macrocosm of the brand. It worships its source material to a fault. However, it shows little interest in the people, the artists, behind the series and characters. A beloved voice cast is set aside for celebrity actors, ill-fitting to the characters, so the studio may pat themselves on the back when one of them wins an award, making them look good by association. Grant Kirkhope, who's voice is literally in the movie, is not mentioned in the credits. Same with David Wise, who's compositions are used. Pop songs are implemented for broader appeal and so forth... It is a love letter to a brand, but not its creators. Meanwhile, this short, is the other side to the coin of the Illuminations Mario movie. This short has reverence not just for the series and characters, but also all the artists behind them, that brought them to life. It has admiration for the community ever dedicated to these creations. The star of the show, King K. Rool, is not voiced by the biggest name they could hire, nor the cheapest option who'd still do a decent job. It is the very same man who voiced him nearly 30 years ago, reprising his role once more, delivering a performance as if he has not aged a day. DK himself only plays a small role in this short, yet is also voiced by the original actor from the show. The DK Rap is parodied, yet its original creators still credited. A song from the DKC TV show is used as credits music, again, the original creators are acknowledged. Cast members who have since passed away are honored. K. Rools real name being "Keith Krudd Rool" is a nod to his original character designer, Steve Mayles. The "#KROKTHEVOTE" carved into the table, in reference to how it was the fans, under the banner of the Kremling Kampaigner, who in the end brought the Krokodile King back into the spotlight once again. Every tiny little aspect of this short oozes with this reverence of the media and the people who's work and artistry went into crafting it! And all this is not to mention the incredible production values here! From the animation to background to lighting to acting, everything feels perfect! The writing is dark, yet humorous, perfect for a tale about a villain! Another gripe I have with the Mario movie is its shallow and rushed character motivations, something I do not feel here at all, despite the drastic difference in runtime between the two productions. The moment where all the Kremlings are chanting and K. Rool joins in and declares "I am Kremling! I am King!!", I get goosebumps. I want to see this krook succeed! I want him to get away with stealing the hoard and torching the jungle! I want him best his lifelong adversary and rival! I want to see evil triumph this time! I think that if a villain song makes you feel such things, it's a highly successful one. Ultimately, the realization should be that most big corporate productions simply cannot achieve the spirit that lives in this short. They're bound by brand identity and studio politics and have to appeal to the sensibilities of advertisers. Independent creators meanwhile lack many of these chains and as a result can soar. Bravo!

I like the combination of King K Rool’s personality from the games and the cartoon. Like the show he has a faux-posh accent, robust vocabulary, and seems to frame himself as a benevolent boss (and sometimes might actually be at times), but beneath that lies his game-variants attributes: that being someone who values abject cruelty as a virtue and wants nothing more than to feed his desire for petty vengeance and conquest regardless of consequences, even if it means his kremling krew suffers.

The fact that I was a part of this means the world to me. Benedict Campbell IS the voice of K. Rool. So much has already been said but this is the perfect portrayal of the king and I sincerely hope someone at illumination sees this and hires you. This is brilliant.

I like how they try to make us feel bad and take the Kremling side then the bartender’s just like “yeah, if he wasn’t such an imperialist we woulda been fine” 😂

Not to "hire this man" Alex Henderson but if they ever make an official DKC movie the directors should absolutely see this for inspiration

It's about time the masses became fully aware of just how good the cartoon's songs and the singers were, 6/10 show but the voice actors and singing were a 10/10

Just gotta say that this homage to our old series makes my big old head swell. Thanks to everyone involved.

i came here from seeing vinny react to this, and honestly it's criminal that this only has a million views. this 9 minute short contains more quality than most modern movies. yall should be proud of yourselves, i would love to see nintendo pick this up as canon somehow

The original show wishes it could have looked like this.

Massive respect for getting voice actors that could do the OG cartoon voices so well. That's some good stuff.

5:39 I love how that one level quirk from DKR makes Donkey Kong look so intimidating when its from K Rool's perspective. Real sense of "You done fucked up, King"

Learnt about this through a JoshScorcher video and had to watch the whole thing to see if it was truly as awesome as he made out.... He was wrong This is far better than I could have imagined

"While It's true I won't deny it, that they've hit and run my bell My many hat's and all this lunacy, I know I've made this hell These failure's running through my mind like monkey jumping in my head My finest hour, cast aside and rendered positively dead" Part hits hard, especially considering the ending.

Everyone’s talking about 5:42 but that “we are Kremlings” part goes inspiringly hard

"So he's finally back, performing for you. If you know your place, you can join him, too. Put your claws together for a villain, most cruel, 'cause this time... *_he's here to r u l e."_* Best Nintendo villain intro, full-stop.

I love how knowing his musical number was him going insane and trying to redeem himself proves he feels very bad about the current dental plans along with everything else

Nintendo doesn't like fan projects, but even they have to acknowledge this level of quality.

"I heard that a higher power determined that he and, by proxy, us were unfit to continue coexisting with our Kong rivals, forcibly removing all contact with them and thus leading to a life of hiding." That is possibly the smartest thing Krusha has ever said. Nice jab at Nintendo's grudge against Rare.

Donkey Kong mentioning Winky when the interviewer asks him about any old green friends is a great touch!

This short is not only a love letter to the DK series, but the end (SPOILER) ... This is sending us back to when K Rool made it to Smash, oh man the memories.

I love the continuity and how K. Rool doesnt like bananas.

Got to love how accurate this is to even the most minuscule of facts about the character- Primarily how he doesn’t even like Bananas in the first place. DK Jungle Climbers will forever hold a place in my heart growing up.

5:42 -5:58 is proof that no one other than Benedict Campbell deserves to play K. Rool. The energy he brings to this character is unlike anything else Well I mean, this whole video is proof, but that part gave me chills

Anyone else love that Skurvy just happens to have the Crystal Coconut and yet it doesn’t seem to be that big a deal?

2:58 I just realized the line “An individual’s insanity is ‘Rare’” is a reference to Rare, the people who made Donkey Kong Country. Turn on captions to make it more convincing.

K Rool Has An Almost Joker Level Obsession With DK And I Love It This Way