Disney: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

There are some movies that you see as a child that you don't appreciate at that time, either because the real greatness and depth of them goes right over your young head or because they're so mature and complex, your young, hyperactive mind isn't interested in them. In my case, one of those movies is Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I was nine years old when the movie was released in the summer of 1996 and my mom and I went to see it at the theater when we were on vacation in Destin, Florida (which was a summer tradition when I was young). I remember liking it alright but it wasn't one of my personal favorite Disney films at the time. I didn't rent it at all when I was a kid and the only other time I saw it during my childhood was when it was shown on ABC one Sunday night. As with most Disney movies, I didn't see or think about it again until I got back into Disney when I was in high school. I saw bits of it here and there but when I really got interested in it was when I was in college. That's when I realized that, for a Disney movie, this is a pretty dark and mature film. As I read up on it more and saw it all the way through a couple of more times, I became very enthusiastic about it and it started to become of more favorite Disney flicks. Now, I can safely say that, in my humble opinion, it's one of the best films produced during Disney's animation renaissance period.

Taking in Paris in the 1400's, the film begins with Clopin, a gypsy puppeteer, telling a group of children the story of the hunchback, saying that it is the tale of a man and a monster. A group of gypsies try to sneak into Paris but are trapped by the cold and cruel Judge Claude Frollo, who has devoted his life to stomping the gypsies out of existence because, to him, they practice witchcraft. A gypsy woman tries to flee with a bundle that Frollo takes to be stolen goods but when he chases her and grabs the bundle from her, accidentally killing her when he causes her to fall backwards and break her neck, it discovers it to be a deformed baby. Believing it to be a demon, he attempts to drop the baby down a well but is stopped by the archdeacon, who tells him that, to atone for his sin of shedding innocent blood, he must raise the child as his own. Frollo reluctantly agrees and twenty years later, the boy has grown up to the titular hunchback, Quasimodo, who stays within the walls of Notre Dame and works as the bell-ringer. Being isolated within the cathedral has made Quasimodo long for just one day out in society and, against Frollo's wishes, he sneaks out to take part in the annual Festival of Fools. There, he meets the beautiful and kind gypsy Esmeralda, whom Frollo develops a lusting attraction to. After Quasimodo is a made cruel spectacle of when he is found out and Esmeralda helps him, he returns to the cathedral while Frollo, with the help of his new captain of the guard Phoebus, who secretly does not approve of Frollo's cruel methods, trap Esmeralda in there as well. When Esmeralda befriends Quasimodo, he begins to doubt all that Frollo has told him over the years about himself, gypsies, and the world in general, while Frollo becomes determined to have for Esmeralda for himself or kill her if she refuses.

The movie was directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, the same directing team who did Disney's Beauty and the Beast and would go on to direct Atlantis: The Lost Empire. Both of them had had extensive involvement in animation; both of them had been storymen on The Lion King and Oliver & Company (which Wise also worked as part of the animation department on), as well as storyboard artists on The Rescuers Down Under, and the 1990 Mickey Mouse short The Prince and the Pauper. Trousdale was also a storyboard artist on The Little Mermaid and Wise had worked in the animation department on The Great Mouse Detective and The Brave Little Toaster. Trousdale hasn't directed anything spectacular since Atlantis: The Lost Empire, directing mainly short spin-offs from films like Madagascar and Shrek. Wise hasn't directed anything since that film and in recent years, has only produced the Disneynature documentary Oceans and acted as a dialogue director for the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's Spirited Away. I think it's a shame because I feel that they proved with this film and Beauty and the Beast that they are a proficient animation directing team.

It was really gutsy for Disney to adapt The Hunchback of Notre Dame into an animated film. Even though I've never read it, I am aware that Victor Hugo's original novel is a very dark story, dealing with deformity, religious taboos and hypocrisy, lust, determinism, social revolution and strife, and class issues. Some may feel that Disney, in an attempt to keep the story as family-friendly as they possibly could, wimped out on certain things but I think they did a pretty good job of keeping a lot of the mature aspects of the story in there. In fact, it's crazy that this film got a G-rating because, especially in the stuff dealing with Frollo, it is a very dark and adult movie. To me, this movie really should have been rated PG at least due its content. I know Disney said that they wanted another G-rating because they wanted to market it as much to kids as well as adults but I think they could have still pulled that off with a PG-rating (and yet, Atlantis: The Lost Empire, directed by the same team, does get a PG so go figure). While I do jeer at Disney for putting those gargoyle characters in the film (I'll get to them presently), on the whole, I applaud the studio for tackling some dark material and making the film as mature as they could while not going overboard with it and losing their family audience.

Tom Hulce gives a very sympathetic voice performance as Quasimodo. Despite being raised by someone as cruel as Frollo, Quasimodo is a gentle, kind person. His situation makes him a very pitiable character. Ever since he was a baby, he's been dominated by this evil man who forces him to stay within the dark walls of Notre Dame where his only friends are the gargoyles. Frollo tells him that he is a monster and that the world is a cruel place, especially to people who are as deformed as he is. Frollo has also told him that gypsies are evil, using his long-dead mother as an example by telling him that she abandoned him as a baby because of how he looks. You can tell that Quasimodo is deeply fearful of Frollo, slouching and talking very meekly whenever he's around. Despite what Frollo has told him, Quasimodo can't help but long for just one day out in the real world. Unfortunately, Frollo's warnings about the world's cruelty are momentarily proven to be true to Quasimodo when he is treated horribly at the Festival of Fools after his hideous visage is revealed to the crowd. (Some may find the crowd celebrating him one minute and then turning on him the next to be really sporadic but I see it as an example of mob mentality that happened when one of Frollo's soldiers humiliated him first by throwing a tomato at him.) One bit of good does come out of the situation though. Quasimodo makes friends with the gypsy Esmeralda and when they later meet up again at Notre Dame, she tells him that he is not a monster and that he has a good soul. That, coupled with Esmeralda's kindness in general, begins to make Quasimodo doubt what Frollo has told him. He becomes determined to help her escape from Notre Dame and he also develops a crush on her but he's initially shattered when he learns that Esmeralda loves Phoebus, which makes him think that Frollo was right about her. This makes him reluctant to warn Esmeralda that Frollo supposedly knows where the gypsy hideout, the Court of Miracles, is, saying that she already has her knight in shining armor and it's not him. But Quasimodo can't stop thinking about how kind she was to him and so, he decides to help Phoebus warn her. He becomes very despondent when he ends up unintentionally leading Frollo to the Court of Miracles and Frollo refuses him when he begs his master to spare Esmeralda's life. He's at first so depressed about the situation that he doesn't even try to stop Frollo from burning Esmeralda at the stake but he eventually gets the will to fight back against his former master (although I wish he had found the will himself instead of getting it on the part of those gargoyles but we'll talk about that later).

Quasimodo is also very strong despite his small size and hunched over posture, able to lift Phoebus up by one hand and able to easily overpower Frollo once he gets the gumption to do so. That latter part is a great moment when he confronts Frollo after he believes that Esmeralda is dead and he says, "All my life you've told me how the world is a dark, cruel place but now I see that all that's dark and cruel about it is people like you!" I do like how he's at first not too fond of Phoebus, even more so when he discovers that he's become romantically linked with Esmeralda but the two of them eventually become comrades and by the end, he has accepted Esmeralda and Phoebus' romance, placing one's hand in that of the other. It shows that Quasimodo has matured and learned that just because Esmeralda doesn't have romantic feelings for him doesn't mean that she's an evil, manipulative person. The final section of the movie where Quasimodo steps out of the cathedral and a little girl comes up to him and hugs him is a very touching moment. It's the very antithesis of what happened the first time he did so. He's treated not as a monster but as a hero and, more importantly, as a human being, finally being accepted into Paris' society.

I also liked Demi Moore's performance as Esmeralda. Those who criticize Disney princesses should admire Esmeralda because she's not like that. Although she is very beautiful and is a kind person, feeling bad for unintentionally causing Quasimodo to be treated horribly by the townspeople when she reveals his face to them, she's a street-smart, feisty woman, able to run circles around Frollo's guards. She's very independent-minded and not at all swooned by men. Even though they become romantically involved later in the film, the relationship between her and Phoebus is downright antagonistic at first, with the two of them having a bit of a skirmish in the church. I like when Phoebus says, "You fight as well as a man" and she responds, "Funny, I was about to say the same thing about you." Phoebus says, "That's hitting just a little bit below the belt, isn't it?" She says, "No, this is" and actually goes for a literal example of said hit. Now, some may accuse her of being something of a slut because of the provocative dancing she does but at one point, she says that she only does because she has to in order to receive money. Above everything else, she hates the way that Frollo treats her people just because of their different viewpoint and is determined to seek justice for them. That's also part of the reason why she becomes so close to Quasimodo. She hates that he was treated so terribly because of how he looks and is even more disgusted that Frollo orders her arrested and traps her inside Notre Dame simply because she helped him. From then on, she is ever loyal to Quasimodo, showing him that what Frollo is doing is wrong and encouraging him to stop his evil master, bringing justice to the city of Paris.

The best part of the movie by far is the villain, Judge Claude Frollo. This guy is one of the greatest villains that Disney has ever created. Tony Jay, God rest his soul, was an awesome voice actor and this was, without question, his best character. His deep, commanding voice gives Frollo such an overwhelming presence of menace and power and you can tell that Jay was giving the role his all, basing his performance on Sir Cedric Hardwicke's turn as the character in the 1939 adaptation of the story. The fact that they made Frollo a judge in this film instead of a priest as he was in the original novel may make some think that Disney wimped out on that score but he's still very religious here so I think it works. Also, whereas Frollo was characterized as an antihero in the novel, he's represented here as the very embodiment of religious hypocrisy. He's a cruel, ruthless man who rules Paris with an iron fist and because of his position, is above whatever laws the city has. He's also shown to be quite sadistic, giving a guard of his directions about how to whip a prisoner in order to make him feel the pain of every lash and letting Quasimodo suffer at the hands of the crowd at the Festival of Fools in order to teach him a lesson. He has a seething hatred of gypsies, seeing them as unclean, witches who live outside the established order of the city. He does so many horrible things to rid the world of gypsies that it's unreal: he kills a gypsy mother who tries to flee with her baby, thinking that the bundle she's carrying is stolen goods; when he discovers the deformed baby Quasimodo, he tries to drop him down a well because he sees him as a demon who must be sent back to hell; if any of his guards disobeys him, he has them executed (he tries to do so to Phoebus and you can imagine that he did the same to the captain he had before Phoebus); locks up several families of gypsies when they won't tell him the whereabouts of Esmeralda and even orders Phoebus to burn down one small house when he believes that the occupants have been harboring gypsies. Frollo does all these horrible things and yet, he makes the excuse that he does it all under God's will. Even though the archdeacon strongly disapproves of Frollo's methods, Frollo doesn't see any evil in what he does because he feels that he's doing it all to purge the world of sin.

Despite how cold and sadistic that he is, there is an underlying hint of tragedy to Frollo. When Clopin sings during the prologue that shows how Frollo came to be Quasimodo's guardian, he says that Frollo saw corruption everywhere except within himself. He has such a narrow view and an overwhelming feeling of self-righteousness that he can't see the evil in what he's doing and that he is the one who is corrupted. It's a lesson to be careful in your beliefs because if you let it, it will drive you crazy and turn you into someone that you don't want to be. It's only when the archdeacon warns him that he will be damned for doing something so horrible as to kill an innocent woman on the steps of Notre Dame that Frollo has a moment of realization about his actions. You can see the terror in his eyes as at he looks at the statues on the cathedral, who do look like they're judging him. That's when he is told that he must raise Quasimodo in order to attone for his sin and he reluctantly agrees, hoping that one day the child could prove useful to him. Another aspect of Frollo's character that Disney didn't sidestep around is his lust for Esmeralda. The scene where he sniffs her hair while holding her hands behind her back is extremely mature for a Disney film and so is the exchange between the two of them afterward: "What are you doing?" "I was just imagining a rope around that beautiful neck." "I know what you were imagining!" Frollo then accuses her of twisting the truth around in order to taint it and a person's mind. Even keeping it as subtle as that, Disney was still taking a huge risk by making that part of the film. That leads to the most controversial and amazing part of the film, the Hellfire song, which I will go into detail about when I talk about the songs themselves. Frollo's lust for Esmeralda drives him crazy and he decides that she will either be his or burn at the stake. He gives her that choice right before he burns her, to which she responds by spitting in his face. Frollo tells the crowd that was a sign that Esmeralda refused to recant and proceeds to attempt to burn her but she is saved by Quasimodo. Frollo has really lost his mind by this point and he has his men break down the door of Notre Dame, throws the archdeacon down the stairs when he attempts to stop him, and tries to kill both Esmeralda and Quasimodo. To the end, he thinks he's doing God's good work. Just as he's about to stab Esmeralda, he yells, "And he shall smite the wicked and plunge them into the fiery pit!" He's ultimately killed when the gargoyle he's standing on top of breaks off and he falls to his death in the molten lead that is now surrounding Notre Dame. The lead and fire is clearly meant to symbolize that he has fallen into the fires of hell for what he's done. My only complaint is that I wish that Quasimodo was the one who dealt the fatal blow and that Frollo didn't die just because the gargoyle came loose. Also, I'm not exactly sure why the gargoyle snarled at Frollo right before he fell. Did that really happen or was it in Frollo's mind? Maybe it was meant to be a sign of divine punishment for his actions, which was foretold in the prologue when the statues of Notre Dame seemed to be judging him. As you can probably tell, Frollo is one of my favorite Disney villains and for good reason. He's unapologetic in his evil, complex, and the ballsiest character that the studio has ever created. In short, he's awesome.

A big problem that Disney has always had with their animated features is that the romantic interests of the lead females, the princes, if you will, tend to be the blandest, most uninteresting characters in the film. Disney did something interesting with that here by making the character that would be the typical handsome leading man in other features a supporting character and actually giving him a personality. I like what they did with the character of Phoebus, voiced by Kevin Kline. They make him a wise-cracking and yet, very honorable soldier. He only becomes the captain of Frollo's men because he's ordered to and from the start, he does not approve of Frollo's cruel, inhumane methods. When Quasimodo is being tortured at the Festival of Fools, he asks Frollo's permission to stop what's going on (although he didn't reprimand the member of his guard who started the riot) but Frollo tells him not to stop it just yet because Quasimodo needs to be taught a lesson. Knowing full well that Esmeralda did nothing wrong and Frollo's reason for wanting her arrested has no good basis, Phoebus "traps" Esmeralda inside of Notre Dame because it's the only way that Frollo can't get her (he tries to but the archdeacon stops him). When Frollo orders Phoebus to burn down the house of an innocent family because Frollo suspects them of having harbored gypsies, Phoebus decides he's had enough of this, saying, "I wasn't trained to murder the innocent." Frollo tries to have him executed for his insubordination but with the help of Esmeralda, Phoebus manages to escape, although he's gravely injured in the process. If I do have a problem with Phoebus, it's that, while I appreciate Disney giving him a personality, I didn't find his romance with Esmeralda to be that interesting. Granted, they didn't fall in love from the moment they first met (they did see each other here and there before that scene) and Esmeralda isn't that sure if she trusts him after he forces her to stay inside of Notre Dame, but after she saves him from Frollo, that's when they fall in love. Now, there is a build-up to it when she is suturing his wound and you could argue that she loves him now because she knows how honorable he is but still, being this is only their second dialogue scene together, it felt a little contrived. But that's a minor nitpick. I like Phoebus for the rest of the movie as he tries to warn the gypsies that Frollo seems to know where their hideout is, leads the people of Paris to revolt against Frollo after Quasimodo saves Esmeralda, and ultimately saves Quasimodo from certain death at the end of the film. Plus, he's a funny guy with dry humor, constantly telling his horse, Achilles, to sit on the guards' heads, and Esmeralda is forced to pour wine on his wound, he says that particular wine isn't of a good year. Some may find Phoebus to be as bland as most of Disney's handsome leading men but I like him much more than the majority of them.

As for Clopin (voiced by Paul Kandel), the mischievous gypsy puppeteer, I kind of like him but I don't really have an opinion on him. I like his introduction of the film and the story of Quasimodo as well as his singing of the Bells of Notre Dame but as for the rest of his antics throughout the film... I just don't know. I wasn't that amused by his silly use of hand-puppets, particularly in the opening of the movie when he first talks about Quasimodo, or by his other songs. I don't hate his other songs or scenes, I just wasn't that into them. Don't know what else I can say about that.

Oh, boy, now we have to discuss the gargoyles: Victor (voiced by Charles Kimbrough), Hugo (ha, ha, it's not funny) (voiced by Jason Alexander), and Laverne (voiced by the late Mary Wickes). It's ironic that in the making of documentary that was made at the time of the film's release, Alexander said that the gargoyles would become three of Disney's most beloved characters. I know he was paid to say that and probably wasn't serious but I just smirk at that because the characters are universally hated by almost everyone, including hardcore fans of the movie. While I won't say I despise the gargoyles, I do agree with the criticisms people put forward about them: they're distracting and don't need to be in the movie. Some may feel that they needed to give Quasimodo some characters to interact with other than Frollo before he meets Esmeralda but I felt that being completely isolated would have given him more incentive to go out into the real world and therefore, making him meeting Esmeralda more meaningful. And if they wanted to give Quasimodo some supportive friends, they should have done them better. I think we know why the gargoyles were created the way they were: because every Disney movie has to have some goofy sidekicks or comic relief characters that will appeal to kids. But when you're working with such dark source material, that is going to be jarring when compared to everything else. I think Jason Alexander is a funny guy but the schtick they give him as Hugo (the obnoxious, loud wise-cracking, sight gags, and his infatuation with Esmeralda's goat, despite the fact the goat is male which must mean that Hugo is gay!) is so intrusive to the proceedings. It really hurts the dramatic climax of the movie where Quasimodo is trying to stave off Frollo's attack on Notre Dame for Hugo to chew up a bunch of rocks, fly around while imitating a bomber, and spit the rocks at the guards like a machine gun. For that matter, it's also demeaning to it for Victor to delicately drop a brick on a guy's head and apologize for it, or for Laverne sending a bunch of pigeons out to help with the battle while acting like the Wicked Witch by saying, "Fly, fly my pretties!" and then cackling like her on top of it. Speaking of the other gargoyles, while I don't think Victor is as jarring as Hugo, he's such a stereotype (the refined, sophisticated, yet meek in the face of conflict type of character) that it is distracting when something serious is going on. The one gargoyle I felt was kind of nice was Laverne because she really cared about Quasimodo and tried to do what's best for him but her shtick of being a slightly grouchy old lady who has to put up with pigeons constantly nesting on her wasn't needed. Phoebus' dry wit and Clopin's antics were enough comic relief. The film didn't need this stuff, particularly in the midst of dramatic moments. Moreover, that musical number that they do stops the film cold and doesn't add anything at all to it (again, I'll go into greater detail on that later).

I agree with what Doug Walker said about the gargoyles: it would have been great if they had made it unclear whether they were real or just in Quasimodo's mind. For a lot of the movie, it does feel that they could be just figments of his imagination and perhaps different sides to his personality because no one else sees them. That would have been an awesome concept because it would have shown the effect that Quasimodo's isolation had had on his mind. But, they drop the ball because Hugo making a kissing face at Esmeralda's goat (again, what the hell, Disney?) and the goat responding to it and the gargoyles taking part in the climactic final battle does indicate that they are real. That also poses the question about how they are real and where did their souls come from. That also ties in with the aforementioned gargoyle that comes to life and snarls at Frollo right before he falls to his death. If that was meant to be a sign of real spirits in the cathedral and not something that was simply in Frollo's unhinged, overly religious psyche, then why are the three main gargoyles such goofy characters? Did they just decide to get to know Quasimodo while the others wanted no part of him? I know I'm looking into this too deeply but it does bug me. Also, some could say that the gargoyles were important because they're the ones who gave Quasimodo the confidence to break his shackles and save Esmeralda from Frollo. Like I said earlier, I would find it to be much more inspiring if Quasimodo is at first depressed about the situation and finds the will to do so himself. If they had been all in his mind, that would have worked but they weren't, so there it is. To sum up my thoughts on the gargoyles, while I don't out and out hate them, I do agree that they're distracting, unneeded, shoehorned in, and hurt the film's far more serious aspirations.

One last character I have to mention is the archdeacon (voiced by David Ogden Stiers). While he's not in the film much, when you think about it, he's the basis for why Frollo is eventually overthrown because he stops him from dropping the infant Quasimodo down the well. If he hadn't intervened, Quasimodo wouldn't have existed and Frollo would have ruled Paris with an iron fist much longer than he did. On top of that, he is the exact opposite of Frollo and you could see them as two sides of the same coin. Whereas Frollo represents religious hypocrisy with his cruelty despite his insistence that he's doing it in the name of God, the archdeacon is the true embodiment of the church. He is kind and accepting of those who are different, including Esmeralda, whom he comforts when Frollo traps her inside of Notre Dame. He strongly disapproves of Frollo's methods and knows that what he is doing is wrong but the church is the only place where he has authority over him. He can't do anything to stop Frollo out in the rest of the city. Because of that, he tells Esmeralda that she can't stop Frollo by herself and encourages her to put her trust in God. Frollo despises the restraints the archdeacon places upon him in the church and by the climax of the movie, he has become so determined to kill Quasimodo and Esmeralda that he defies the archdeacon's authority and shoves him down a flight of stairs, saying that he will not interfere with the business between him and Quasimodo this time. That's the last time you see the archdeacon. You know he wasn't killed because you can see him starting to get up. I kind of wish he was in the movie after that, congratulating everyone for ending Frollo's tyranny. Moreover, I wish there were scenes between him and Quasimodo period, with him telling Quasimodo that Frollo isn't right about everything (although, Frollo could have probably overruled him on that score because he is Quasimodo's legal guardian). Again, I'm just nitpicking but I really liked the archdeacon and the dichotomy between him and Frollo.

In my humble opinion, this is the most beautiful looking film that Disney made in the 90's. Everything just pops. The colors are magnificent, particularly during the climax where there is a red glow engulfing everything. You would think that it would be due to the molten steel that Quasimodo pours around Notre Dame but it's there even before that happens so I guess you could say that it's coming from the fire that's being prepared to burn Esmeralda at the stake or from the fact Frollo had gone mad and had torched a good portion of Paris in order to find Esmeralda. Or, as Disney tends to do, it could just be colored that way to represent the emotions of the scene. Whatever it is meant to be, it looks gorgeous. The scene with Quasimodo and Esmeralda on the roof of Notre Dame with the orange from the setting sun and the purple color of the growing darkness is also a knockout. Everything is used to give a mood to the scenes. Besides the colors, there are the lighting effects. The overcast look with rain pouring down as Quasimodo retreats back into the church after being humiliated at the Festival of Fools works perfectly in bringing out the somber feeling of the scene. A great moment of shadow-work is when Frollo is about to stab Quasimodo near the end of the movie and you see his shadow as he raises the knife. That looks just unreal. The movie is very well designed as well. The buildings, both large and small, look authentic to the time period and so do the clothes the people wear. Notre Dame itself is a knockout. It looks exactly like the real Notre Dame, albeit remodeled to look 15th century, and the inside of it especially looks like a real church, with its stain-glass windows, the candles, the beautiful, golden bells (all of which Quasimodo has named), the wood-carvings, and so on. Quasimodo's actual living quarters in the cathedral look good and the roof, with all the gargoyles, columns, rails with water running through them, also looks great. In short, you can't say that Disney doesn't do their homework. On top of that, the scope of the film is just huge and has some amazing set-pieces. The very opening of the movie is a breathtaking spectacle that starts in the clouds as the camera pans toward Notre Dame, comes down through the clouds, and moves throughout the village. My favorite set-piece though is when Quasimodo breaks free of his chains, grabs a rope, swings around the side of Notre Dame, over the enormous crowd (which in itself looks amazing), saves Esmeralda, carries her up to the cathedral, and yells, "Sanctuary!", with the crowd cheering every time he does so. That is freaking awesome! The closing scene of Quasimodo being treated as a hero and carried away by the crowd as the camera pulls back past Notre Dame and back up into the sky where it started is such an effectively uplifting way to end the movie. In short, if you don't find The Hunchback of Notre Dame to be at least a visual feast, I don't know what to say to you.

Disney is a family company, of course, and they are well known for putting a lot of slapstick silly humor in their films that would appeal to little kids. That's fine most of the time but like I said earlier, when you're doing a story as dark as The Hunchback of Notre Dame, you need to be careful about how much silliness and humor you put in there because you could hurt some of your loftier aspirations. As much as I love this film, I do think that Disney did succumb to that in some ways. I've already talked about the gargoyles and how they're the most distracting, unnecessary obnoxious aspects of the movie but there are others. In my opinion, Phoebus' dry wit and Clopin's antics would have been enough humor. Phoebus ordering Achilles to sit on the heads of some of the guards may seem a little childish and immature but I felt it wouldn't have mattered if that was the extent of how slapsticky and immature the film's humor got. But on top of that, you've got this running joke that centers around an old man who's being held prisoner for some reason, is released through some silly circumstance, says, "I'm free! I'm free!" and ends up stumbling into something else that traps him and he says, "Dang it!" I guess that was funny but was there any point to it? No. And that happens again during climactic battle at Notre Dame where the guy falls down a manhole and there's even a sign that reads Mon Sewer. That's too much. In fact, the climactic battle has a lot of antics that undermine its seriousness. I've already mentioned how the gargoyles bog it down but there's other stuff like the Goofy scream being heard at one point when some guards are knocked off a ladder and a closeup of guard's teeth getting knocked out in a humorous way. Granted, there was some slapstick when Esmeralda ran from Frollo's men at the Festival of Fools but there was so much silly stuff at that festival to begin with that Esmeralda's antics fit with it. Plus, I feel that it showed how much of a sarcastic, fun, streetwise woman she can be. I even think the banter between her and Phoebus when they have a little duel inside the church was appropriate at that moment, mainly because Kevin Kline's acting could pull it off well. But a very serious climax where a lot is at stake is not the place for silly stuff such as what I've mentioned. There is a moment at the very end with Laverne interrupting the joyousness of it by having to yell at the pigeons to get off of her one last time but by that point, I'm so uplifted that it doesn't bug me (however, Hugo yelling, "Good night, everybody!" after the credits does irritate me slightly because it's the very last thing you see). Bottom line, I know Disney likes to put in humor to keep the kiddies entertained as much as the adults but here, they should have been much more careful and subdued with it.

In his Disneycember video on this film, Doug Walker brought up something rather interesting: this movie's depiction of gypsies is rather confusing. Frollo sees the gypsies as evil people who live outside of the established order and has vowed to wipe them out completely. Also, the people of Paris don't seem to trust them either because there's a moment when you first see Esmeralda where a woman tells her kid to stay away from the gypsies. And yet despite this, there is the Festival of Fools, which seems to celebrate them. At first, I didn't think anything about it and just thought it was an annual celebration that the city of Paris itself puts on but after I heard what Doug said, I realized that he may be right. Even if it's not entirely a gypsy festival, Clopin and Esmeralda are very prominent during it (in fact, Clopin acts like showman of the entire thing) and Frollo himself even attends it! Moreover, Esmeralda tells Quasimodo that not all of the gypsies are untrustworthy thieves and yet, when you see the Court of Miracles, they seem to have a lot of stolen stuff down there. I always thought the wagons, parchments, clothes, and everything else you see down there were stuff that belonged to the gypsies but maybe it was stolen. Now that I think about it, I do agree that that is a very unclear part of the screenplay and could well be a big plothole. It doesn't completely destroy the movie but it is puzzling.

As with most Disney films made around that time, the score is composed by Alan Menken and man, does it make an already spectacular film ever more amazing! The film's scope and visuals are enormous to begin with but the music just makes everything feel all the more grand. The scale of that opening shot I described earlier is elevated even more so by the incredible main theme, whose melody actually forms the skeleton for several of the film's songs. The score is also often accompanied by a choir singing in Latin which, I can't explain why, but it helps the actual music in making everything feel big and epic. The drama of the flashback where we see Frollo pursue Quasimodo's mother is elevated tenfold by both the music and that choir, as is the moment when Frollo is about to drop the baby Quasimodo down the well. Another such moment is when Quasimodo saves Esmeralda from being burned at the stake. The chanting choir helps make that scene as unforgettable as it is. It does the same for the final battle with Frollo where he's trying to kill Quasimodo and Esmeralda as they jump across the ledges on the side of Notre Dame. It's hard to describe how this music works but you'd understand perfectly if you heard it, trust me. Besides the dramatic stuff, Menken's score works well with the sad moments, like after the main title when Quasimodo watches the baby bird he's been caring for fly away and he wishes he could be free like him or when he walks through the crowd back to Notre Dame after being disgraced; the soft moments such as the scenes between Quasimodo and Esmeralda; and the silly moments. To sum up, like most of Menken's Disney scores, the music goes with the visuals perfectly.

There are a lot of unforgettable songs in this movie. The opening song, The Bells of Notre Dame, which is sung mainly by Paul Kandel as Clopin but there are bits that are sung by David Ogden Stiers and Tony Jay as their respective characters. It bookends the movie, as it helps to tell the story of Quasimodo at the beginning and it is sung briefly again at the end as Quasimodo is hailed as a hero. It really is an amazing and beautiful song, which, as do most of the songs in the movie, does exactly what a song in a musical should do: tell a part of the story through song and thereby, advance it instead of bringing it to a halt. It also has a message for the kids, which is, in referring to Quasimodo and Frollo, "Who is the monster and who is the man?" The meaning behind it is obvious from the moment you hear it: don't judge someone due to their outward. Quasimodo may seem like the more monstrous one of the two but from their actions, it's clear that he is the man due to his kindness whereas Frollo is undeniably the monster. When I was a little kid, even I figured that out the minute I heard it. It may be obvious but it still thought the message was conveyed well during the song.

There are two songs sung by both Quasimodo and Frollo which feature each of them singing differently about the same thing. The first is Out There, which begins with Frollo warning Quasimodo that the world is a cruel, dark place and that if he goes out in public, he will be reviled because of the way he looks. A little duet that the two of them have is really heartbreaking due to what's being said: Frollo sings, "You are deformed" which Quasimodo repeats "I am deformed" and Frollo says, "And you are ugly", to which Quasimodo says, "And I am ugly." Frollo tells him, "And these are crimes for which the world has little pity." As this first part of the song ends, Frollo makes his point clear to Quasimodo: stay within the bell-tower. He even sings, "Stay in here," which is a contrast to the very title of the song and what the rest of it ends up being about. Quasimodo, out of song, apologizes to Frollo for thinking of going to the Festival of Fools, to which Frollo says, "You are forgiven. But remember, Quasimodo, this is your sanctuary." Once Frollo leaves, both the song and the scene itself become much brighter, as Quasimodo sings about his dream to leave the cathedral and live as part of society. Tom Hulce has a pretty good singing voice in my opinion and the way he sings the song is so joyous, sincere, and full of hope that it's beautiful. It really makes you hope that he does get his wish and therefore, makes the heartbreak he endures at the Festival of Fools all the more tragic.

The first comedic song, Topsy Turvy, sung by Clopin, is a very wild, bouncy song that takes place during the Festival of Fools. It's meant to be nothing more than out and out silly as Clopin describes what goes on during the festival, where everyone is encouraged to let loose and act crazy. Not much else to say about this one. It's not the best song in the movie by far but it serves its purpose. Since I talked about that, I might as well go ahead and mention the other comedic songs as well. The worst song in the entire movie in my opinion is A Guy Like You, sung by the gargoyles. It's their attempt to reassure Quasimodo that Esmeralda loves him as much as he does her and it's essentially this movie's version of the song A Friend Like Me from Aladdin, because, like that song, there are a lot of moments and references to stuff that wouldn't exist for centuries in relation to the film's setting. It's also the song that comes after Frollo's Hellfire (which I'll save for last) so it's also meant to give the audience a sense of relaxation after such an intense and dark song as that. I get that. But this song is way too over the top and comedic. It also stops the movie dead in its tracks. I'm aware that some people may have a problem with the Genie making so many references during A Friend Like Me (or during that entire film and franchise, in general) but I bought the pseudo-explanation that he's able to do that because he's an all-powerful being who can travel from one time period to another. In a movie like The Hunchback of Notre Dame whose story is very dependent on the time period that it takes place in, that just doesn't work and it undermines the film. Bottom line, this song did not need to be in here (although it was interesting to find out that Jason Alexander has a nice singing voice). The final comedic song is The Court of Miracles, sung by Clopin and the gypsies after they capture Quasimodo and Phoebus and, thinking they are acting as Frollo's spies, set them up to hanged. This one is based on black humor, with lyrics like, "It's a miracle if you get out alive" and the like. The main action of the song is Clopin setting up a mock trial for the boys, changing costumes rapidly, including putting on Frollo's judge suit, and preparing to hang them. I think it's a nice attempt at black humor in a Disney song but it's not one of my preferred songs from the film.

God Help the Outcasts is a song sung by Esmeralda (Heidi Mollenhauer instead of Demi Moore) when she is trapped inside of Notre Dame by Frollo. It has a beautiful sound to it, as Esmeralda sings about how she wishes God would help her people as well as anybody who's shunned because of their social status, which I think says something about Esmeralda's character. There's also a chorus that backs it up with random people in the church singing about what they hope for from God. Not one of my favorites but a nice song nonetheless. It actually replaced a song called Someday that supposed to be sung during this scene. A pop version of that song performed by All-4-One plays over the ending credits. Some may think that I would object to a modern pop song playing in a movie like this but since it's not actually in the movie and its lyrics do fit with it, I don't mind. For some reason, modern pop songs never bug me as long as they are played over the ending credits of a film.

Finally, we have the two songs by Quasimodo and Frollo where they each sing about how they feel towards Esmeralda. Quasimodo's song Heaven's Light happens after he has helped Esmeralda escape from Notre Dame. It's a quiet, gentle song with him wondering if she cares about him the same way that he does her. It's a sweet song that starts out sad because he says that he's always felt that no one as hideous as he is would ever be loved but then it becomes lovely and hopeful when he starts singing about Esmeralda and how she was the first person to not be repulsed by his appearance. It draws to a close with Quasimodo ringing the church's bell and it soon leads into the song Hellfire. The first, sad part of the song is reprised in Quasimodo's mind when he sees that Esmeralda has fallen for Phoebus and he is absolutely devastated by it. His hope in the latter part of the song juxtaposed with his seeing the two of them kiss and remembering the sad beginning of the song makes it all the more heartbreaking.

In his Nostalgia Critic video of The Top 11 Villain Songs, Doug Walker put Frollo's song Hellfire as number 1 and I'm not inclined to disagree with him. It was really ballsy for Disney to leave in Frollo's lust for Esmeralda and even more so for them to make it the focus of a song. The end result is unquestionably the best scene in the film and one of the darkest songs the studio has ever produced, if not the darkest. The very lyrics are so sexual in nature that it's amazing. Frollo says that he is "so much purer than the common vulgar, weak, licentious crowd" and goes on to sing that he sees her dancing and that "her smoldering eyes still scorch my soul. I feel her, I see her, the sun caught in her raven hair is blazing in me out of all control." Where it becomes very adult is when he says, "this fire in my skin", takes out the scarf he got from her at the Festival of Fools, and rubs his face against it while singing, "This burning desire is turning me to sin." Since the stuff went over my head when I was a kid, when I watched this movie again years later, I was like, "Oh, my God!" I couldn't believe the blatant sexuality on display here. My mom doesn't get or rather, is in denial about, the notion of any sexuality in a Disney film (yeah, like Ariel wasn't sexy at all) and when I let her hear the lyrics of the song, I said, "What do you think he's talking about?!" This is when the song becomes visual and they match what Frollo is feeling perfectly. He sees a curvaceous, dancing image of Esmeralda as he sings and after that last lyric I described, this vision of these red, hooded figures suddenly pop up around him. I have no clue what these figures are or what they represent but they chant the Latin words, Mea culpa, which means my fault. Their purpose is probably meant to symbolize Frollo's internal struggle with his lust, how, deep down, he senses that it is coming from him and him alone but he, feeling that he couldn't have such vulgar thoughts on his own because of his "purity", is blaming it on Esmeralda, saying that she cast some black magic on him. He even hints that she could be of satanic origin, singing, "He made the Devil so much stronger than a man!" Those figures then become flames, envelop Frollo, and then swerve back into the fireplace, as if dragging him into Hell (which could be a foreshadow to his eventual fate which does look like he fell into Hell).

Frollo sings for the Virgin Mary to protect him from Esmeralda's spell, saying that she must either be destroyed or be his prisoner, when he can do with her what he pleases. The image of Esmeralda during the song perfectly symbolizes both sides of his decision. When he says, "Let her taste the fires of Hell", the image of her in the fire changes from a provocative dance to her screaming in pain as she is burned alive (implied, mind you) and when he sings, "Or else let her be mine and mine alone", a smokey image of her comes out of the fireplace and Frollo attempts to passionately embrace her. The song is then interrupted by a guard entering the room to inform Frollo that Esmeralda has escaped from the cathedral. It might just be my dirty mind but I know I've heard some other people suggest this as well: when the song is interrupted and Frollo swings around at the sound of the door opening, he looks like somebody who's been caught masturbating. I'm just saying. After telling the guard to leave, Frollo becomes determined to find Esmeralda, even if he has to burn down Paris in order to do it. He continues singing by saying, "Now gypsy, it's your turn. Choose me or your pier, be mine or you will burn!" This finale of the song is the most incredible part of it to me. Frollo throws Esmeralda's scarf into the fire and we see the flames consume it with a sound like a muffled explosion. He then backs against the wall, singing, "God have mercy on her. God have mercy on me," as shadows of figures holding crucifixes stream across the wall and the music and Latin chanting builds and builds, with him finally declaring, "But she will be mine or she... will... burn!" After that powerfully charged final moment, Frollo passes out on the floor, with his body forming the shape of a crucifix. I can't encourage anyone who thinks that Disney is all kids' stuff to check this movie and this song, in particular, out more. This song is an absolute work of visual and auditory art, from the visuals, the mature subject matter, Tony Jay's excellent singing, and because of it, I'm doubly ashamed of what Disney has become nowadays because I know that they're better than that.

If there was any Disney movie that didn't need a sequel (though some would argue that about all of them), it was The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Everything is wrapped up nicely at the end: Quasimodo is accepted into Paris' society, Esmeralda and Phoebus are together, and Frollo's tyranny is ended with his death. You didn't need to say anything else about these characters and this story. But, as Disney had a habit of doing around that time, they just couldn't leave it alone and so the direct to DVD sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, was released in 2002. I have never seen this movie and I don't ever intend to so I might as well briefly mention it here. Looking at clips of it, the animation is dreadful. I know I shouldn't expect good animation from a direct to video film but when compared to the amazing animation on display in the original, this is a HUGE step down. The story sounds so contrived: Quasimodo finally gets something of a girlfriend. Just couldn't keep it as perfectly resolved as it was, could you, Disney? Also, the villain just sounds lame. No villain was going to be able to live up to the awesomeness that was Frollo and this guy, who looks at himself in the mirror and says, "I could kiss myself" certainly doesn't. Amazingly, save for Tony Jay and Mary Wickes (the original voice of Laverne who died during the production of the first movie), all of the original voice actors return, including Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, and Kevin Kline. That just blows my mind, man. Why would they do this bottom-of-the-barrel movie?! Bottom line, this movie does not exist in my opinion. The first movie is one of Disney's finest 90's films, a sequel wasn't needed or wanted, and I will NEVER watch that movie.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame may not have been what audiences wanted from Disney (even though it was the fifth highest grossing movie of 1996) and it may not have been the best movie to do in order to bounce back from the disappointing box-office of Pocahontas but in my opinion, the risk that Disney took paid off artistically. Despite its flaws (the unnecessary gargoyle characters, the inappropriate humor, the confusing depiction of the gypsies), I find it to be one of the studio's finest. It's a well-constructed, surprisingly mature movie with complex characters, dark subject matter, one of Disney's greatest villains, unforgettable songs and music, and incredible animation and production design. Even though I still feel that it deserved a PG-rating, I don't think it went too far with the mature themes it deals with and it did them well enough that a family can watch the movie. If you haven't seen this movie or even if you're not that big of a Disney fan, I would still recommend it if you like good animation or good movies period. It truly is a mature work of cinematic art to me.