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Movie: Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

A step up in terms of entertainment quality from Pocahontas.  However, Disney's version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame still made me bristle even after all these years.  I was amazed that this movie didn't earn a PG rating when it was first released.  Ah the dilemma of a parent trying to explain to the kids such joys as medieval instruments of torture, witch burnings, religious hypocrisy, and the ugliness of society.  Somehow the topics of parental death and mating inherent to most Disney movies seem tame by comparison.

I'm all for animated movies moving into the adult realm.  Shane Acker's 9 is a step in the right direction.  However, the Hunchback of Notre Dame is a wolf in sheep's clothing but with a lot of teeth missing.  It is disguised as a kids' movie, comes with thorny topics, but can't really decide just how adult it wants to be.  Somehow I'd rather be watching The Black Cauldron.

A lot of good talent goes to waste in this movie.  The lead pretty boy.  The lead pretty girl.  The lead pretty. . .goat?  A regular trio of boredom.  The same goes for the songs, although there is one notable exception.  It's such a good thing, then, that the lead hero and the main villain are so good that they practically save this movie from the weight of its own banality.  Quasi's snivelling cowardice that gives way to true guts makes him a great hero.  And Frollo is so despicable as a villain he props up the whole movie by himself.  The one song he sings, Hellfire, is the only good song in the whole movie, and it's such an electrifying experience it almost washes away the bad taste of the rest of the movie.

Almost. . . Time and again when the movie decides it wants to be a grating and adult movie, it slaps us in the face with sickly, light-hearted songs and utterly terrible puns from some of the worst sidekicks around.  Not only is the movie uneven in the narrative department, but it's a touch and go affair in the visual side as well.  Maybe it's just me missing the old days of Disney when everything was glorious detailed, but I easily spotted the seams of the often touted "crowd control" technique and determined that the background characters were indeed computer generated.  I'm not sure this is what Disney had in mind.

Bumps and bruises aside, there are rewards buried in this movie, unlike the previous film Pocahontas.  Although don't show it to the kids.  They'll never buy into the difficult resolution of Quasi quietly bowing away from the love triangle.

Grade: 72

Description
Movie: Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame

A step up in terms of entertainment quality from Pocahontas.  However, Disney's version of the Hunchback of Notre Dame still made me bristle even after all these years.  I was amazed that this movie didn't earn a PG rating when it was first released.  Ah the dilemma of a parent trying to explain to the kids such joys as medieval instruments of torture, witch burnings, religious hypocrisy, and the ugliness of society.  Somehow the topics of parental death and mating inherent to most Disney movies seem tame by comparison.

I'm all for animated movies moving into the adult realm.  Shane Acker's 9 is a step in the right direction.  However, the Hunchback of Notre Dame is a wolf in sheep's clothing but with a lot of teeth missing.  It is disguised as a kids' movie, comes with thorny topics, but can't really decide just how adult it wants to be.  Somehow I'd rather be watching The Black Cauldron.

A lot of good talent goes to waste in this movie.  The lead pretty boy.  The lead pretty girl.  The lead pretty. . .goat?  A regular trio of boredom.  The same goes for the songs, although there is one notable exception.  It's such a good thing, then, that the lead hero and the main villain are so good that they practically save this movie from the weight of its own banality.  Quasi's snivelling cowardice that gives way to true guts makes him a great hero.  And Frollo is so despicable as a villain he props up the whole movie by himself.  The one song he sings, Hellfire, is the only good song in the whole movie, and it's such an electrifying experience it almost washes away the bad taste of the rest of the movie.

Almost. . . Time and again when the movie decides it wants to be a grating and adult movie, it slaps us in the face with sickly, light-hearted songs and utterly terrible puns from some of the worst sidekicks around.  Not only is the movie uneven in the narrative department, but it's a touch and go affair in the visual side as well.  Maybe it's just me missing the old days of Disney when everything was glorious detailed, but I easily spotted the seams of the often touted "crowd control" technique and determined that the background characters were indeed computer generated.  I'm not sure this is what Disney had in mind.

Bumps and bruises aside, there are rewards buried in this movie, unlike the previous film Pocahontas.  Although don't show it to the kids.  They'll never buy into the difficult resolution of Quasi quietly bowing away from the love triangle.

Grade: 72