The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of those movies that did okay when it was first released but over time has risen a lot more in popularity, often considered to be the best of the post-Disney renaissance of the late 90's. A lot of the criticism of the time was that the story was too mature to appeal to Disney fans, but not mature enough to appeal to fans of the original book (which is much darker might i add). But with audiences craving more mature stories in kids entertainment, people these days actually love how different this film is, they love the dark themes, they love the mature conversations and gruesome implications and religious imagery. So does the movie deserve all the attention it's getting or were audiences right the first time around?
*Spoilers Ahead*
The film takes place in 15th century France where Quasimodo, a deformed and ugly man is locked away in the Notre Dame bell tower for his entire life, raised by his master Frollo (The town Judge) in secret and is forbidden from travelling down to the city and interacting with other people. Eventually he sneaks out during a festival and befriends a gypsy woman named Esmeralda. Frollo soon finds out and becomes infatuated with Esmeralda and calls for a witch hunt to execute all of the Gypsy's and find Esmeralda. Quasimodo with the help of a soldier named Phoebus find Esmeralda and protect her from Frollo's wrath, everyone lives happily ever after with Phoebus and Esmeralda getting married and Quasimodo being accepted by the public.
So just from that quick description there was something that I instantly noticed...Tangled totally ripped this movie off, the villain kidnaps the main character as a baby and raises them as their own, cutoff from all of civilisation despite the fact that they're a free spirit who wants to see the world. I mean i know Hunchback wasn't the first to use this plotline, but come on Disney, be less obvious about it. But that's not really a problem with this movie, i just wanted to bring it up. In reality this is a very functional plot, i say that because for the most part you can predict where everything's coming from a mile away, you know how every relationship is going to end, you know where the story is going to go, there's not much to discuss there. The only major issue I have with this film's plot is the Gypsey's for how...inconsistent they are. At first they love Quasimodo, but then they all turn on him in an instant, and the film makes a point how they're mistreated and misrepresented as thieves, but then it turns out they are thieves, and are just as quick to judge as the villains, but we're supposed to be on their side yet they're acting just as bad as the actual bad guys.
As for characters I could say the same for most of them, Quasimodo is likeable but simple, Esmeralda is nice but cliched and Phoebus is respectable but generic. Then there are the gargoyles, the comic reliefs that interact with Quasimodo, a lot of people hate these characters, and consider them to be some of the worst comic reliefs Disney has ever made. I personally don't hate them, they could have been better, but they could have been worse. I'd say the worst thing about them is when they interact with people other than Quasimodo, i mean for the first 2/3rds of the film they make it look like they're not real and it's all part of Quasimodo's imagination, but then in the climax they start interacting with other people and i thought how stupid that was because it was actually pretty clever before to have them just be imaginary.
But none of this matters, let's get to Frollo. Good god, this is one of the great Disney villains, everything about him is fantastic. He has a devious voice, he has a dark view on life, he's supposed to be keeping the law of god, but is so blinded by his own bias that he's actually the one committing the most sin. Not only is his manipulation of Quasimodo enough to make him a great villain, I mean in Tangled the mother at least pretended to love Rapunzel, here, he completely convinces Quasimodo that he is a monster, and it only get's worse from there. He wishes to kill Esmeralda because he lusts after her (Yeah, they actually use the term 'lust' in this movie) and if she doesn't be with him then he'll burn her alive. And he doesn't love her, the film makes it very clear that this is just physical attraction, and of course that's a sin, and he blames her. That's another great thing, he never believes he's at fault, when he does acknowledge he's committed a sin, he always has an excuse, he always has someone else to blame, his conscience is clear and he legitimately feels no guilt. Hell, the death of Quasimodo's mother is surprisingly one of the most disturbing, there's no dramatic murder, Frollo just accidentally pushes her down some steps and breaks her neck, and of course feels no guilt about it, what makes it so effective is how normal of a death it is, she's not getting trampled by wildebeests or stabbed by a friend, it's a quick and ordinary kill, and that makes it feel more real and disturbing than any of the other parental deaths. He murders, arrests, bribes and kidnaps for his own selfish gain and is able to claim he's doing it all in the name of god. What a sick bastard, but damn do i love him for it.
But Frollo is one of the big draws to the themes of the movie, safe to say the film does have a bit of a religious message, but what I like about it is that it's not saying religion is bad, after all, the archdeacon is probably the kindest character in the movie, offering shelter and protection for everyone as long as they're good in the eyes of god. Religion can be a good thing, it can bring people joy, hope and safety but it can also bring corruption and selfishness if not viewed in the right way. When it comes to any debate, especially one as topical as religion it's always important to show both the good and bad parts of it. But despite the heavy religious imagery and setting of the film, that's not actually the message people take away from it, but rather the idea of dealing with heartbreak, yeah, Quasimodo doesn't get the girl, and that's surprisingly one of the more striking images in this film (and that's saying something) is when you can see the shock and pain in his eyes when he realises Esmeralda is in love with another man, in fact, it's scary how accurate that is to how it feels in real life. Give credit where it's due, Disney so often will end things with the happy ending, while granted this one still does, it's really more of a bittersweet ending, atleast by Disney standards.
Then there are the songs, the best way to describe them is think back to the Circle of Life from The Lion King, it was grand, bombastic and felt larger than life...now imagine an entire soundtrack like that. Or atleast, that's what they try and go for with this film, because every single song tried to be like this, a lot of the middle songs just sort of blend together. But the ones that stand out are the opening song Bells of Notre Dame, which screams epic in more ways than one and is probably the best opening song to a musical...ever, the follow-up Out There which really doesn't do much from a narrative or compositional stand point that's all too unique, it's just a good listen and the villain song Hellfire, a song that has such gothic imagery, such creative visuals and such a dark tone to it that it may be my favourite villain song of all time.
Then there's the animation, well it's a Disney movie so you know it's going to be phenomenal, but then again this is just after they did Pochahontas which I maintain is one of the worst looking Disney movies. But this film looks amazing, the movement is fluid, the designs realistic, but the best part is the backgrounds, the architecture of France, and the angles of the cathedral, the lighting, the shadows, the grand epic scale of everything, oh good god, it looks so good.
Overall, while the plot & characters may be standard (Except for Frollo who rocks) the music, atmosphere, themes and animation more than make up for this, and make this film worthy of the Disney title to be held above it's name. 8/10.
-Danny
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