The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
2.5/4
Starring (voices): Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline, Jason Alexander, Mary Wickes, Charles Kimbrough
Rated G
Even with much of the creative team returning (including directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, producer Don Hahn and Brenda Chapman among the many writers), it would be unfair to expect "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" to match up to "Beauty and the Beast." The 1991 film is an instant classic that will be deservedly remembered for as long as there is film. Few movies can make that claim. But even that knowledge doesn't change the fact that the Disney version of Victor Hugo's novel is a disappointment.
The film takes place in the Middle Ages in Paris. Judge Frollo (Jay) is an outwardly pious man who sees sin everywhere, particularly with the gypsies whom he persecutes voraciously. While running after one of them, he accidentally kills one of them and is prevented from killing her newborn child by the archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers, another carryover from "Beauty and the Beast), in a cameo). Instead, he "raises" the child as his own, keeping him forever locked in the bell tower.
The infant grows up to be Quasimodo (Hulce), the deformed dreamer who longs to be part of the crowd. With the encouragement of his three gargoyle friends Hugo (Alexander), Laverne (Wickes) and Victor (Kimbrough), he escapes his lonely attic and joins the Festival of Fools. There, he meets the bewitching, exotic gypsy Esmerelda (Moore). Quasimodo is instantly in love with this woman, for the is the first person to show him kindness. But Frollo will not stand for any threat to his authority, and pursues Esmerelda and the gypsies with a fevered intensity.
This movie is in badly need of focus. It is all over the map and badly organized. One minute Frollo is on a murderous purge to root out the gypsies. The next has the gargoyles singing a lighthearted number about how to woo Esmerelda. The film is so busy covering its bases and explaining the plot that the characters don't gain any traction. They feel like types rather than people we can care about. An obvious reason for this is the number of screenwriters, of which there are nearly two dozen. No wonder the film is so confused.
It's a shame, because what we see of them is interesting. Tom Hulce plays Quasimodo as a man tortured by his insecurities about his appearance and bound to a sadistic wretch simply because he has no other point of reference. He really doesn't know any better. Demi Moore is in fine form as the woman of his dreams, whose interactions with Quasimodo feel paternal and caring. Kevin Kline is solid, but fails to disappear into the role of Phoebus, the hunk with a heart (and suit of armor) of gold.
By far the most interesting character in the film is Frollo, played with frightening viciousness by Tony Jay, who got the role because he so impressed the crew with his performance as the asylum owner in, naturally, "Beauty and the Beast." Frollo is a ruthless psychopath with a sadistic streak that he hides under the cover of piousness. Some of his scenes are guaranteed to give kids (and adults) nightmares. But he's also a hypocrite, for as he pursues Esmerelda, he also lusts after her. The deep, silky voice of Tony Jay turns what could have been a colorful villain like Scar or Jafar into someone who is at times as scary as Hannibal Lecter.
In the end, the film is just too disorganized to really recommend. It's so scattershot that it feels like a sequential list of necessary scenes rather than a complete story. I never felt carried through the film. I felt jerked around. Even the songs, a necessity for a Disney animated film, feel generic (many of the lyrics don't sound especially singable).
If you're going to watch it, watch it for Frollo. And not with the lights out.
Starring (voices): Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Tony Jay, Kevin Kline, Jason Alexander, Mary Wickes, Charles Kimbrough
Rated G
Even with much of the creative team returning (including directors Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, producer Don Hahn and Brenda Chapman among the many writers), it would be unfair to expect "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" to match up to "Beauty and the Beast." The 1991 film is an instant classic that will be deservedly remembered for as long as there is film. Few movies can make that claim. But even that knowledge doesn't change the fact that the Disney version of Victor Hugo's novel is a disappointment.
The film takes place in the Middle Ages in Paris. Judge Frollo (Jay) is an outwardly pious man who sees sin everywhere, particularly with the gypsies whom he persecutes voraciously. While running after one of them, he accidentally kills one of them and is prevented from killing her newborn child by the archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers, another carryover from "Beauty and the Beast), in a cameo). Instead, he "raises" the child as his own, keeping him forever locked in the bell tower.
The infant grows up to be Quasimodo (Hulce), the deformed dreamer who longs to be part of the crowd. With the encouragement of his three gargoyle friends Hugo (Alexander), Laverne (Wickes) and Victor (Kimbrough), he escapes his lonely attic and joins the Festival of Fools. There, he meets the bewitching, exotic gypsy Esmerelda (Moore). Quasimodo is instantly in love with this woman, for the is the first person to show him kindness. But Frollo will not stand for any threat to his authority, and pursues Esmerelda and the gypsies with a fevered intensity.
This movie is in badly need of focus. It is all over the map and badly organized. One minute Frollo is on a murderous purge to root out the gypsies. The next has the gargoyles singing a lighthearted number about how to woo Esmerelda. The film is so busy covering its bases and explaining the plot that the characters don't gain any traction. They feel like types rather than people we can care about. An obvious reason for this is the number of screenwriters, of which there are nearly two dozen. No wonder the film is so confused.
It's a shame, because what we see of them is interesting. Tom Hulce plays Quasimodo as a man tortured by his insecurities about his appearance and bound to a sadistic wretch simply because he has no other point of reference. He really doesn't know any better. Demi Moore is in fine form as the woman of his dreams, whose interactions with Quasimodo feel paternal and caring. Kevin Kline is solid, but fails to disappear into the role of Phoebus, the hunk with a heart (and suit of armor) of gold.
By far the most interesting character in the film is Frollo, played with frightening viciousness by Tony Jay, who got the role because he so impressed the crew with his performance as the asylum owner in, naturally, "Beauty and the Beast." Frollo is a ruthless psychopath with a sadistic streak that he hides under the cover of piousness. Some of his scenes are guaranteed to give kids (and adults) nightmares. But he's also a hypocrite, for as he pursues Esmerelda, he also lusts after her. The deep, silky voice of Tony Jay turns what could have been a colorful villain like Scar or Jafar into someone who is at times as scary as Hannibal Lecter.
In the end, the film is just too disorganized to really recommend. It's so scattershot that it feels like a sequential list of necessary scenes rather than a complete story. I never felt carried through the film. I felt jerked around. Even the songs, a necessity for a Disney animated film, feel generic (many of the lyrics don't sound especially singable).
If you're going to watch it, watch it for Frollo. And not with the lights out.
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