Who is the monster and who is the man?
Easily Disney's most ambitious film since Bambi and its darkest film since perhaps Pinocchio, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is potentially the undersold masterpiece of the renaissance films Disney churned out in the late 80s, 90s and early 00s. As a child I seemed to always remember the gargoyles and the Festival of Fools and not much else, which leaves me to say how everyone who saw this as a young lad or lass should most definitely watch again as an adult. Alan Menken's music, while not as catchy or pop-py as usual, is first-rate. The Bells of Note Dame and Hellfire are surely the highlights in the song reel (how I could listen to Tony Jay say just about anything).
Which leads to the perfect segue of what puts this picture a notch above the rest... its villain. The dark themes covered would not be nearly as vital to the plot (or nearly as memorable) if not for the superbly vile and despicable Frollo; caretaker of Quasimodo and deceiver of the people, he wrangles with his deepest and darkest desires (the sins of temptation, greed and lust) when the beguiling Esmeralda makes a fool of him at the very festival it is named after.
The film has many moments of absolutely stunning and breathtaking visuals capturing the beauty of Notre Dame herself; the whole building symbolizing God, peace and forgiveness. It is only because of people like Frollo that abuse the power of the church who give it a bad name (a foil to him being the archdeacon who intervenes humbly at certain points throughout the film). It's been a while since I've had chills sent down my spine from an animated feature, but this one did it when Quasi swooped down in the finale, saving Esmeralda and claiming "Sanctuary!" to the people of Paris.
I would be amiss if not to mention how Notre Dame burned down last year and that there is so much fire in this film. Very bizarre really, but seeing the beautiful architecture in this feature makes something like Notre Dame much more haunting and otherworldly. Shall we always remember what she stood for and symbolized.
This gets a major upgrade from 3.5 stars initially to 5.
Easily Disney's most ambitious film since Bambi and its darkest film since perhaps Pinocchio, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is potentially the undersold masterpiece of the renaissance films Disney churned out in the late 80s, 90s and early 00s. As a child I seemed to always remember the gargoyles and the Festival of Fools and not much else, which leaves me to say how everyone who saw this as a young lad or lass should most definitely watch again as an adult. Alan Menken's music, while not as catchy or pop-py as usual, is first-rate. The Bells of Note Dame and Hellfire are surely the highlights in the song reel (how I could listen to Tony Jay say just about anything).
Which leads to the perfect segue of what puts this picture a notch above the rest... its villain. The dark themes covered would not be nearly as vital to the plot (or nearly as memorable) if not for the superbly vile and despicable Frollo; caretaker of Quasimodo and deceiver of the people, he wrangles with his deepest and darkest desires (the sins of temptation, greed and lust) when the beguiling Esmeralda makes a fool of him at the very festival it is named after.
The film has many moments of absolutely stunning and breathtaking visuals capturing the beauty of Notre Dame herself; the whole building symbolizing God, peace and forgiveness. It is only because of people like Frollo that abuse the power of the church who give it a bad name (a foil to him being the archdeacon who intervenes humbly at certain points throughout the film). It's been a while since I've had chills sent down my spine from an animated feature, but this one did it when Quasi swooped down in the finale, saving Esmeralda and claiming "Sanctuary!" to the people of Paris.
I would be amiss if not to mention how Notre Dame burned down last year and that there is so much fire in this film. Very bizarre really, but seeing the beautiful architecture in this feature makes something like Notre Dame much more haunting and otherworldly. Shall we always remember what she stood for and symbolized.
This gets a major upgrade from 3.5 stars initially to 5.