The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Great Film overall

A Masterpiece!

it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

One of the few Disney films I can watch over and over. The voice talents are fabulous, the songs are written and sound spectacular. A very dark/ thrilling children's film with so much sexual attraction that you may not notice as a child, but as an adult watching you catch some of the inappropriateness that this film has. And that's okay. Aside from Jane and Megara, Esmeralda is drawn with so much beauty. She looks so real as opposed to the various characters we see in these films that look unrealistic.

One of the best and most underrated Disney movies ever. Very well executed and the soundtrack is amazing! I loved it when I was a kid and I love it now. Rewatch it so many years later was so good and made me understand some things that I couldn't as a child.

Despite being an approved family film with a G rating, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is profoundly mature and deeply religious. But that is exactly why I love it. The very first frames are a beautiful indicator of the nature of this story. A black screen with real Gregorian chants being sung alongside the haunting echoing of church bells. It sets up the film's tone perfectly. As if to warn parents and families that this is not the usual Disney fan fare that they're used to. Indeed, Hunchback delves into deeper and darker territory than any Disney film ever had before. And they are not likely to ever return to this dark place again. During the prologue of the film, we are given a riddle by one of the film's chief characters: "Who is the monster and who is the man?" This of course refers to the opposing personalities of the hero and the villain of the story. However, it's possible as children that the answer was not immediately obvious to us. I know it certainly wasn't for me. But to be fair, this is a very complicated question for a supposed "children's film" to be asking it's audience: what makes morality? Is it the face you wear? Or the deeds you do?Speaking of complexity, I've found that the more I re-watch Hunchback, the more I begin to suspect that this film was not made for children at all. Or at least I would believe this if not for the film's very appalling tone problem. Scenes vary between extreme highs and lows of Disney-esque wonder and excitement and then completely reverse into scenes of depravity and danger at the drop of a hat. Comedy is injected at inopportune moments, causing shifts in mood that are almost bi-polar and hard to ignore. However, this is the film's only glaring flaw. In it's entirety, it's a well written and well executed story that delivers glorious emotional moments that feel just as real and raw as any sequence from a live action film.The voice acting therein is some of Disney's best. Tom Hulce, Tony Jay, Demi Moore and Kevin Kline are all so genuine they seem to completely disappear into their characters. It is this that makes them feel all the more human and so tragically real. Visually, the characters are compelling and well designed. It becomes very enjoyable to catch the little micro-expressions and small facial quirks of the characters as they move and speak. This is without a doubt some of Disney's finest hand drawn work. In addition to it's visual majesty, Hunchback also has one of the best soundtracks of any Disney film, if not the best. The loud, Latin choirs are intense, epic and chill inducing. The strength the music alone lends to the film is phenomenally powerful. It is sinful that Alan Menken did not win an Oscar for the score. It would have been more than well deserved. Overall, the film is magnificent. It is a grand and exciting tale that feels just as huge and gargantuan as Notre Dame herself. Nearly every frame could be a painting. The craft and artistry that went into this film is without equal. Even with all of it's mature themes of religious symbolism, sexual desire and corruption of the church, it still manages to be a wholesome film of the Disney brand. At it's core, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a story about heroism, justice and self-acceptance. Children and adults alike would greatly benefit from the messages and morals it has to tell.

There have been so many version of the Hunchback over the years. This animated one is one of a kind. It takes the basic story of Quasimodo and Esmerelda and the evils of the Cathedral and softens them. Quasimodo is made to look cute and cuddly, even though he is routinely abused. He is usually made so ugly, that he frightens people who meet him. Actually, the abuse is there all the time, from the townspeople to the clergy and on and on and on. When Esmerelda shows kindness toward the bell ringer, it does not have the edge that is in the other films. We don't get the sexual tension here and the longing of Quasimodo. This film is done well enough, but it suffers from a holding back that Disney Studios has to do to be marketable. While it doesn't measure up to a kind of golden period, but it's better than most animated films.