Hunchback of Notre Dame....pure genius

[Kenai]

I bought this DVD a week or so ago, and finally got the chance to watch this movie, and let me say, WOW!

I mean, people have different opinions on what's the greatest Disney movie of all time. Could be Lion King, could be Brother Bear, could be Beauty and the Beast. Tastes do differ. But me personally, I think HOND is one of the greatest! If not for the stunning visuals and breathtaking animation, to the star-studded voice cast and drama.

There were certain scenes which just got you in the heartstrings, like Quasi being heartbroken when Esmeralda kisses Phoebus and when the crowd taunts him. I can't understand, among Disney's greatest, why this one seems to be so overlooked.

Oh, and did anyone catch the other Disney cameos? Like when Quasi sings "Out There", you can see Belle walking in the street (just barely of course) and a peasant shaking out the Carpet from Aladdin. Apparently, there's a Pumbaa cameo,too, but I can't find him. I'll have to keep my eye out.

A great movie. And Esmeralda can be considered a true, unsuperficial Disney heroine.

[Mr. Toad]

Talk about differing tastes. You ask me to rank the 44 animated classics and this one goes at 43(only the Black Cauldron beats it in lameness). The book by Victor Hugo was a masterpiece on the human condition. Disney reduced his work to ashes and took all the meaning out of it. They have trashed great literature in the past to make a feel good movie but this one took the cake.

I also find it interesting that of all the movies you mentioned for discussion on Disney's best ever contained no movies from the Walt era. Do we not consider Snow White, Fantasia, 101 Dalmations as possiblities for greatest Walt Disney movies anymore?

[Kenai]

Talk about differing tastes. You ask me to rank the 44 animated classics and this one goes at 43(only the Black Cauldron beats it in lameness). The book by Victor Hugo was a masterpiece on the human condition. Disney reduced his work to ashes and took all the meaning out of it. They have trashed great literature in the past to make a feel good movie but this one took the cake.

I also find it interesting that of all the movies you mentioned for discussion on Disney's best ever contained no movies from the Walt era. Do we not consider Snow White, Fantasia, 101 Dalmations as possiblities for greatest Walt Disney movies anymore?

Oh of course. 101 Dalmatians rocks! In fact, that is a movie I really really want to have a platinum release soon.

And yeah yeah, a lot of people talk about the movie not faithful to the book at all, which makes me glad in a sense. It doesn't matter to me. In fact, makes it all the more creative. No movie made from literature is ever true to the book.

[Jayden]

Talk about differing tastes. You ask me to rank the 44 animated classics and this one goes at 43(only the Black Cauldron beats it in lameness). The book by Victor Hugo was a masterpiece on the human condition. Disney reduced his work to ashes and took all the meaning out of it. They have trashed great literature in the past to make a feel good movie but this one took the cake.

I also find it interesting that of all the movies you mentioned for discussion on Disney's best ever contained no movies from the Walt era. Do we not consider Snow White, Fantasia, 101 Dalmations as possiblities for greatest Walt Disney movies anymore?

I'm with Mr. Toad on this one, HOND is easily one of my least favorites (although, I would put it at 43 as well, I wouldn't place Black Cauldron (A great movie!) at 44, that place would be held by Brother Bear) While it does have a great song ("Hellfire"), and a cool villain, that's all it has.

The "best" movie has very different meanings to different people. There is "the most enjoyable" (Aladdin, in my case), "the most inovative" (Easily Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs), "the best sounding" (Hard one to say, but I think Fantasia would win that one, if just for Sorceror's Apprentice), etc. I think "Best" should be more defined in here, because it's such a broad term. Maybe use "Most Enjoyable", etc.

In terms of innovation, the Walt era pictures hold most of the spots in the top 10 because no one here could deny their inovation, especially at a time when Animated Feature Films were just beginning, or non-existant. These films defined what the genre is, and it is regretable that sometimes they get lost on peoples "best" lists

[Disneykid]

I find Hunchback to be absolutely brilliant. I don't care if it deviated from the source material (yes, I've read the book). The book was merely an inspiration for the film, not a complete crutch. The point is that the film still retains the book's messages of fate, dealing with the problems life throws our way, and the tolerance of others. Looking at it purely as a film, Hunchback is excellent. The characters are incredibly well-rounded, and the style is arguably the darkest Disney's ever dished out (I don't think even Black Cauldron was this somber). It also has some of the most breathtaking cinematography ever found in animation, with extremely drawn-out (pun not intended) takes and sweeping crane shots. The score is magnificent and and totally unlike anything else Disney's done (in a positive way). Deep story+Rounded characters+epic cinematography+Latin chorus score=Amazing film, Disney or otherwise.

[Dan05]

I just watched this movie for the first time last month on CBC and it wasn't as bad as some of you make it out to be. I actually found it enjoyable, interesting, and very different from all the other Disney films. It may not be one of my favorites but it definately isn't one of the worst. I think Disney did a great job on The Hunchback of Notre Dame! It was a great movie with an excellant story.

[Timon/Pumbaa fan]

Well the movie couldn't be 100% the book because then it would be to unappropeate. Besides, how many Disney films follow the book?

Anyways I found the movie to be okay. Not one of my personal favorites, but certaintly not the worst Disney film ever.

[Isidour]

well, the music it´s great, and what a way to begin a movie!

many of the Frolo scenes are very good drawed ones,like the one at the end or his song of "Make her mine"

[Disney-Fan]

I can't believe people refuse to like it because it's different from the book. In that case, The Little Mermaid should also be one of Disney's "worst"...

[ichabod]

It certainly is underrated imo. And even though I don't have a " favourite" Disney film, becasue my mind is changing all the time. It is certainly one of the ones that always ties for the top spot!

[Wonderlicious]

I've always had a tricky relationship with The Hunchback of Notre Dame. As a child, I didn't really like it. To tell the truth, I got pretty bored. I always considered it to be the worst Disney movie, until around September 2003 when I watched it again. I must admit that I liked it as a whole, but I still felt it was fairly lackluster.

This isn't due to the music or the animation. It's due to the fact that this is probably one of the films that management poked their noses in and mucked up in order to make it "family friendly"; it often feels lost. In some scenes, the film is trying to give a dark, complex tale and in others, it's trying to give comical Be Our Guest style numbers and Timon and Pumbaa style gags so the kids don't start to cry. At times, both come together and puff, the film gets messy and it starts to plod. Of course, it's generally nice, but if I were to make a list of Disney's movies ranking them from 1 to 44, Hunchback would probably fall inbetween 44 and 34.

Yet this is only my opinion. I consider films like Snow White, Pinocchio, Alice in Wonderland and The Little Mermaid to be Disney greats, whilst others wouldn't. I know that people call Hunchback a great Disney classic, so I'll just disagree and not make a fuss.

I'm also hoping that this will get a Masterpiece/Special/Anniversary Edition soon, as I'm interested to see what bonus features were on the Laserdisc release, which like with Alice in Wonderland and Pocahontas should get ported over onto a 2 Disc DVD set.

[tu]

i love everything Disney done from Mermaid to Fantasia2000,
Hunchback is certainly a great one to me,i love the grand feeling in this movie,and it's serious.( i always love serious disney movie moment,like the first half hour of Mulan ) Disney just do no wrong in that period!

[Andy]

I never liked Hunchback.
I seen it when it was first released and wasnt into it much then, but then afew months ago it aired in the UK so i thought id watch it and perhaps this time id enjoy it. But i didnt.
Im not sure what it is i dont like about it, in a way i dont like the characters much, which is ashame as i think some of the animation used was great.

Oh well i suppose we all have disney movies that we dont like.

[Jayden]

I can't believe people refuse to like it because it's different from the book. In that case, The Little Mermaid should also be one of Disney's "worst"...

I do not think people are saying it was bad because it deviated from the source material so much, but they just didn't enjoy the movie. Deviation from the source material is expected in a movie adaptation. However, it's how that deviation is handled, and whether or not it keeps the central message of the story the same that is important.

I've not read the book, so I can't say anything more on the subject, but that's my two cents on the issue

[Disney-Fan]

I can't believe people refuse to like it because it's different from the book. In that case, The Little Mermaid should also be one of Disney's "worst"...

I do not think people are saying it was bad because it deviated from the source material so much, but they just didn't enjoy the movie. Deviation from the source material is expected in a movie adaptation. However, it's how that deviation is handled, and whether or not it keeps the central message of the story the same that is important.

Read imdb.com reviews. Seriously, people there are really narrow minded, only because it isn't the book copied on screen...

[Jayden]

I do not think people are saying it was bad because it deviated from the source material so much, but they just didn't enjoy the movie. Deviation from the source material is expected in a movie adaptation. However, it's how that deviation is handled, and whether or not it keeps the central message of the story the same that is important.

Read imdb.com reviews. Seriously, people there are really narrow minded, only because it isn't the book copied on screen...

Okay, that is really narrow minded. Geez people! Oh well, guess you can't please everyone

[Noriel]

I think HOND is an entertaining movie. Yes, it is one of Disney's darker movies combined with satire, but I have to agree the animation is wonderful and the time the artists had to have spend sitting in front of Notre Dame itself in Paris to get the correct feel is dedication.

However, I wouldn't put HOND as part of my "favorite" list. The movies on the top of the list are more from Disney's era (Bambi, The Sword in the Stone, Robin Hood) with a few exceptions (Aladdin, The Emperor's New Groove).

[Kenai]

Yeah, as mentioned, if it copied the book exactly, it truly wouldn't be creative and original. No film is ever true to a story, whether live action or animated.

I can say that they didn't hype up the animal sidekick too much in this movie (the animal sidekick being Djali). Makes me want to get a pygmy goat now.

And I'd still like to know where that Pumbaa cameo is.

[Jens]

[Zoltack]

So are all of you saying that I shouldn't buy it because it's a bad movie. I think I'll at least give it a try but I always kick myself for not listening to people before.