The Hunchback of Notre Dame

 

The 1996 Disney animated classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, is a French tale of a deformed bell-ringer, Quasimodo, who must look within to discover the strength and confidence to support a new friend while also finding his way within a society that doesn’t understand him. 

For a movie that is over 25 years old, it holds up surprisingly well from a visual standpoint. The plot was easy to follow and engaging I did have an issue with the lack of authenticity. The movie is set in France but there were zero hints of French in the language or accent of the characters.

I liked the musical numbers and thought that Heidi Mollenhauer who was Esmeralda’s singing voice and Tom Hulce who was Quasimodo were both beautiful singers. I’m surprised that I never knew Demi Moore was the speaking voice of Esmeralda but I enjoyed it.

Socially speaking, for a movie designed to be kid friendly, it was dark and had a number of mature themes. Some of the content surrounding infanticide, torture and genocide towards gypsies and some of the things that were said, in regard to desire, damnation and sin, would make one think twice before giving the G rating now a days.

This is not your typical Disney movie. Even though it will not be one that I would seek out again and won't go down as one of my favorite Disney movies, but it wasn’t the worst either.