I have not read the book by Victor Hugo, but I do understand that, as the other adaptations of theirs, this has been "Disney-fied", gotten something of a heavy dose of sugar injected, to direct its aim toward children. In spite of this, it's actually quite watchable for those of us who aren't, anymore. The tone has a lot of maturity, and the themes are universal. The plot is very good, well-written and it develops nicely throughout the entire feature. Colors are used effectively. At the same time, the visuals are rather naturalistic and realistic, all the way. The dialog is well-done. The comedy works, and a lot of it is enjoyable to the older audiences, as well. The DVD holds a cute special feature or two, and none of them are bad. The game isn't the best of these Disney DVD games. Casting surprised me, Kline and Moore both suit their parts and as with Gibson in Pocahontas, and much more so, Williams in Aladdin, first-mentioned actor gets some of his recognizable traits transferred to his animated alter ego. Alexander is a lot more tolerable than he was in The Return of Jafar, in fact, he's downright funny, herein. The music isn't bad at all. This has moments of creativity and energy like that of Aladdin, which is still my favorite Disney animated musical. The dramatic portions are effective, and the 3D elements are masterfully done. I recommend this to any fan of Disney's feature-length musical cartoons, young and old alike. 7/10
