The Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of Disney's darkest ventures, surpassing even that of the Black Cauldron. Despite being well known as a kid friendly company, they took this film down a much darker route and included more adult themes. This, of course, is what makes Hunchback such a great film. It has something for all ages, just as Walt had always intended during his lifetime.
I'm not going to spend a lot of time, if any, discussing the plot since I see very little point in doing so. Instead I intend to focus more on our characters. I do however want to point out a few scenes that I really enjoyed. Once again we get a really strong opening for Hunchback, setting up the relationship between Frollo and Quasimodo, as well as establishing who they are, and what we can expect as the conflict. This film also has a lot of smaller scenes that are still a lot of fun, or that help to provide an impact and drive the story. Examples of these scenes include Frollo ordering Captain Phoebus to burn down a home with a family trapped inside, Captain Phoebus and Esmeralda's interactions both early in the film and later on when they've grown closer together.
Since we are on the note of characters, this film has a great group of four main characters. We get a really strong, yet twisted, relationship between Frollo and Quasimodo, and a rather sweet, yet sad, relationship between Quasimodo and Esmeralda, while Captain Phoebus and Frollo have the relationship of loyal soldier to a cruel superior. All four of our characters play off of each other really well in all of the scenes where they are interacting with each other. Even on their own, we still get some really fun, twisted or sad scenes from them as we watch their character arcs develop and grow from start to finish. While the main four are really strong, we also get some supporting characters who all fill their roles to a fairly satisfactory degree. While two of the gargoyles can be rather fun, the third one played by Jason Alexander feels more like an annoyance in the way he acts and seems to provide the kid related jokes.
The majority of the songs in this film are really well done and all of them, save for one, are fully enjoyable to watch. Out There is a great song from Quasimodo that really helps us learn about how he sees himself in the scheme of things, and what he really wants. God Help the Outcasts is really pretty visually for the most part, and also helps show Esmeralda's character as wanting to find acceptance for her and her people. Possibly the strongest of the songs, Hellfire is a really great villain song as we see how twisted Frollo is and how he's slowly going mad from his lust to the point that he's willing to do anything it takes. The only other song I really want to note is the song A Guy Like You which is SO out of place that it can be slightly jarring. Paris is burning and many innocent people are being arrested, if not worse, and we get a song to help cheer up Quasimodo who is having relationship woes. It's.... just so odd. It would have worked better if we had it earlier in the film not long after Quasimodo and met Esmeralda and was still doubting things.
The animation here is really great, it may not be quite as top notch as the Lion King, yet it's still really well done. The cathedral of Notre Dame looks amazing, and a lot of scenes are visually pleasing to watch. Some of the best looking scenes are the opening sequence when we first meet Frollo, the Hellfire scene, and the scene of the family's home being burnt down.
So. The question becomes are the two flaws big enough to keep this from being a full 5 star rating? As much as I want to give this a full 5, I am also unable to really give it a 4 either. To give it a 4 would be too much of a step down I feel, so instead I will happily give Hunchback the following rating.
4 1/2 /5
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