Disney Movie Challenge Bonus: The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002)

 Disney Movie Challenge Bonus

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (2002)

When Disney decided to do a sequel to The Hunchback of Notre Dame they looked at the response to the first one and thought “remember how everyone thought the first one was too dark for kids, let's do the opposite of that”. So a fun lighthearted love story was born.  

The sequel picks up years after the first one.  Esmerelda and Phoebus are married and have a kid named Zephyr. Quasimodo still lives in the bell tower but is frequently visited by Esmerelda, Phoebus, and Zephyr.  This year at the Le Jour d'Amour festival Quasimodo wants to explore the city and see if he can find someone to love, instead a beautiful girl named Madellaine comes to the bell tower and he falls for her.  She seems to be interested in him but once she sees his face she runs away frightened.  It turns out the girl was sent there by an evil magician, Sarousch,  who wants to steal a bell full of jewels called La Fidèle.  Sarousch wants Madellaine to pretend to like Quasimodo to distract him from the bell.  But of course Madline starts falling in love with Quasimodo.  Eventually Quasimodo figures out the scheme and is hurt that Madeleine didn’t really love him.  But she proves her love to him by betraying Sarousch in the end and Quasimodo finally finds love.  

First thing I need to do is be honest.  I watched this movie once and fell asleep towards the end.  Don’t think I missed much so never went back and rewatched it.  With that out of the way let's start with the most amazing thing about the film.  Somehow Disney got pretty much the entire cast of the first one to come back for the sequel, including Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline, and Jason Alexander.  Usually Disney animated sequels are a lot cheaper and they can’t pay for A-List talent but maybe by 2002 this cast wasn’t considered A-List.  Joining the original cast are some other high profile newcomers including Jennifer Love Hewitt as Madellaine, Haley Joel Osment as Zephyr, and Michael McKean as Sarousch.  Even with the stars of the film returning Disney didn’t put much effort into the film.  The animation doesn’t look good, the songs are bad, and the story is just bland. 

Overall: A mostly forgettable film.  The whole movie feels like a reaction to the complaint that the first one was too dark.  Here the hero gets the girl and Quasimodo finally gets his happily ever after.  Not having read the book I am going to assume Victor Hugo didn’t have any of this in his story. 

Disney Movie Challenge: The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Disney Movie Challenge

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

WHAT IS THE DISNEY MOVIE CHALLENGE: With Disney+ making available almost all of their films from the vault I thought it was a good time to watch all the theatrically released feature length Disney Studio Animated films. That’s a lot of qualifications so what does it all mean? It must be a film developed and released under the Walt Disney Animation Studios (so no PIXAR or Tim Burton stop motion films). Must have been released in theaters (no direct to video releases). And feature length (no shorts that played prior to the features). Currently there are 58 films. Starting with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937 going to Frozen II in 2020. 

I always thought that after The Lion King the 90’s Disney Animated films just got progressively worse.  I wasn’t a big fan of Pocahontas in 1995 and never felt the need to see any of the other films.  The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, and Tarzan are never really are talked about as part of the Disney Renaissance (As a Disney Princess Mulan is the exception).  All that to say I was surprised by how good The Hunchback of Notre Dame was.  

Loosely based on the book of the same name by Victor Hugo the film is about Quasimodo, Esmerelda, Captain Phoebus, and the evil Judge Frollo.  Frollo, wants to destroy anyone he sees as being sinful.  The movie starts with Frollo killing a gypsy (the worst people in Frollo’s eyes) and attempting to kill her deformed son by dropping him down a well.  Stopped by a Priest at the Notre Dame Cathedral Frollo is told by the priest to spare the child's life and raise him as his own kid.  Frollo reluctantly agrees, names the kid Quasimodo and forces him to live his life in the bell tower at Notre Dame.  Twenty years later Quasimodo has no friends except 3 gargoyles that keep him company.  Eventually he decides he will travel into the city to check out the Festival of Fools.  There he meets the beautiful Esmerelda who seems to not be scared of his deformity.  Also at the festival is Frollo who despises Esmerelda because she is a gypsy but also is enchanted by her beauty.  Captain Phoebus is ordered by Frollo to round up the gypsies but he also falls for Esmerelda.  When Esmerelda escapes into Notre Dame she claims sanctuary and Judge Frollo can not do anything to her.  Quasimodo and Phoebus team up to help her while Frollo promises to do everything in his power to destroy her.  It all leads up to a climatic battle at the end where Quasimodo has to save Esmerelda from being burned at the stake.

Not knowing what to expect, the movie took me by surprise.  While Pocahontas featured a rare on screen death this movie ups the ante by starting off with the bad guy actually killing someone and attempting to kill a baby.  It was a pretty shocking way to begin a kids movie.  In one of the standout songs “Hellfire” Frollo sings about how he lusts for Esmerelda and how much he hates her for that.  There is also the love story which isn’t your typical Disney love story.  The movie sets up a love triangle between Esmerelda, Quasimodo, and Phoebus.  Usually Disney films give the main character a love interest that they will get together with at the end.  But by setting up the love triangle we are never sure who Esmerelda will go with and actually makes Quasimodo’s story a bit more sad when even after he saves her she choses Phoebus.  That’s not to say the film is all dark.  The three gargoyles provide the comic relief and while most of their stuff just seems silly I can see kids enjoying their antics. 

After working on Pocahontas, Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz are back doing the music for this one.  This is one of the more unique films scores as it taps into the dark themes and “Hellfire” is one of the darkest songs in Disney Canon.  Bringing the characters to life is an All-Star cast including Golden Globe Nominee Demi Moore (Ghost) as Esmerelda, Oscar Nominee Tom Hulce (Amadeus) as Quasimodo, Oscar Winner Kevin Kline (A Fish Called Wanda) as Phoebus, and stealing the show from all those was Tony Jay as Frollo.  You know as soon as he starts talking that he is the villain and he never relents the whole film.  

I asked a question in my Facebook group who the best Disney villain was and someone said Frollo.  It took me by surprise because not many people talk about the film and I honestly had no idea who he was.  But, now that I have seen the movie I can see why.  While not as iconic as Maleficent, Cruella DeVille, or Ursula, Frollo is portrayed as pure evil and has no problem with killing anyone in his way.  It’s a chilling performance that should be talked about more.  

Overall: Did I mention it is dark? It’s hard to imagine kids liking this movie. For me I loved it and could have done without the silliness of the gargoyles.  If you are looking for a more mature adult Disney Film then check this out.  It really is an underrated film.  

Random Facts

The movie almost got a PG rating since during the song Hellfire the MPAA said there was a naked Esmarelda in the smoke.  The animators had to go back and make it clear she had clothes on. 

In the book Frollo is an Archdeacon of the church.  He was changed to a Judge so as not to offend any religions.  

The original names of the Gargoyles were originally going to be Chaney, Laughton and Quinn after the three famous actors who previously played Quasimodo (Lon Chaney, Charles Laughton, or Anthony Quinn).  Fearing they would be sued, Disney forced them to change the names.  It was then changed to Victor, Hugo, and Laverne.  Victor and Hugo being the names of the author of the book.  Laverne just randomly after Laverne Andrews from the Andrew Sisters band.