The Hunchback of Notre Dame, 1996.
Directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise.
Featuring the voice talents of Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline, Paul Kandel, Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough, David Ogden Stiers, Tony Jay and Mary Wickes.
SYNOPSIS:
At the urging of his gargoyle pals, Quasimodo leave the solitary safety of his tower, venturing out to find his first true friend, the gypsy beauty Esmeralda. The most unlikely of heroes, Quasi fights to save the people and the city he loved and, in turn, helps us to see people for who they are, rather than how they appear.
Among a line of hits for Disney in the 1990s – including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Mulan – The Hunchback of Notre Dame is little remembered, but it’s one of the more striking and entertaining, and deftly engages with themes of religious prejudice and state power, sin and damnation, and social injustice, for a very young audience.
Adapted from Victor’s Hugo novel and with score and songs by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, we follow Quasimodo, Judge Frollo, the gypsy Esmeralda, and Captain Phoebus, and the disenfranchised of Paris. The voice cast are uniformly great, though a couple stand out in particular – Tom Hulce, known best as Mozart in Milos Forman’s Amadeus – makes for an endearing Quasimodo, much too nice a guy to have grown up trapped in a belltower but believable nonetheless; Kevin Kline is of course enjoyable as the swaggering, debonair Phoebus, his proud baritone shifting unnoticeably into classic male hero. But most memorable is Tony Jay as Judge Claude Frollo, the odious, God-fearing villian. His snide voice entirely befits the reedy frame, but is deep and clear like the best orators. Frollo and the dangerous piety he stands for are at the centre of the film’s unexpectedly fearsome undercurrents.
The animation is among Disney’s recent best, be it during the Feast of Fools, where confetti rains across the screen, or the more expressive, religious moments, such as Frollo’s vision of red-cloaked judges or the scenes of Paris burning, all lit by fires. The songs are also for the most part terrific, particularly the opening, ‘Bells of Notre-Dame’, which provides a lean and thrilling preamble and is brilliantly sung by Paul Kandel.
There are areas which might prove disappointing. In relation to most of Disney’s more recent films there are few out and out gags or comedy sidekicks, and those there are – such as Quasimodo’s gargoyle friends – feel if anything a little perfunctory. It is when Hunchback is at its earnest best when it is scariest and most entertaining, and worth reviewing upon this re-release.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Stephen Glass
Originally published March 25, 2013. Updated April 11, 2018.
