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The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996 film)
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an Academy Award-nominated, 1996 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While the basic structure remains, the film differs greatly from its source material. The plot centers on the Gypsy dancer, Esmeralda; Claude Frollo, a powerful and ruthless minster who lusts after her; Quasimodo, the protagonist, Notre Dame's kind-hearted but deformed bellringer, who adores her; and Phoebus, the chivalrous if irreverent military captain, who holds affections for her.
The film was directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, directors of Beauty and the Beast, and produced by Don Hahn, producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
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Encyclopedia
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is an Academy Award-nominated, 1996 animated feature produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released to theaters on June 21, 1996 by Walt Disney Pictures. The thirty-fourth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, the film is inspired by Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre Dame. While the basic structure remains, the film differs greatly from its source material. The plot centers on the Gypsy dancer, Esmeralda; Claude Frollo, a powerful and ruthless minster who lusts after her; Quasimodo, the protagonist, Notre Dame's kind-hearted but deformed bellringer, who adores her; and Phoebus, the chivalrous if irreverent military captain, who holds affections for her.
The film was directed by Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, directors of Beauty and the Beast, and produced by Don Hahn, producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King. The songs for the musical film were composed by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, and the film featured the voices of Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline, Paul Kandel, Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough, David Ogden Stiers, Tony Jay, and Mary Wickes (in her final film role). It belongs to the era known as Disney Renaissance. A direct-to-video sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, was released in 2002.
This film was rated G by the MPAA but is one of the few Disney films to feature adult themes and situations.
Plot
The movie opens in 1482 Paris with Clopin (Paul Kandel), a gypsy puppeteer, telling a group of children the story of the Hunchback of Notre Dame ("The Bells of Notre Dame"): One night, four gypsies attempted to Enter Paris but were stopped by Judge Claude Frollo (Tony Jay), the Minister of Justice. One gypsy woman who was carrying a bundle attempted to flee and Frollo pursued, thinking that she was carrying stolen goods. Chasing her to Notre Dame, Frollo snatches the bundle from her and kicks her, causing her to fall and hit her head against the stone steps of the cathedral. Frollo discovers that the bundle is a deformed baby and attempts to drown it in a well, but is stopped by the Archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers), who tells him to care for the child as repentance for killing an innocent woman. He agrees, on condition that the child will live in the cathedral. Frollo names the baby Quasimodo, meaning "half-formed".
Twenty years later, Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) is shown to be the bellringer of Notre Dame. Frollo tells Quasimodo to never leave the bell tower because the people in the city will mistreat him because of his ugliness. Frollo has also lied about Quasimodo's mother, saying that he took Quasimodo in when his mother abandoned him. Nevertheless, after Frollo departs following a visit, Quasimodo dreams of spending a day out in the world ("Out There"). Quasimodo's gargoyle friends (Hugo (Jason Alexander), Victor (Charles Kimbrough), and Laverne (Mary Wickes)) convince him to sneak out of the cathedral, given that it was the annual Feast of Fools and everyone is in costume.
Frollo and his new captain of the guard, Phoebus (Kevin Kline), arrive to oversee the festival as Quasimodo tries to keep himself from being seen ("Topsy Turvy"). When the time comes to crown the ugliest man at the festival as the "King of Fools", Esmeralda (Demi Moore), who has just performed for the crowd, drags Quasimodo onto the stage, thinking that his face is a mask. Quasimodo is crowned the King of Fools and is initially met with applause, but the crowd quickly turns on him, tying him down to a wooden turntable and pelting him with produce after one of Frollo's Guards throws a Tomato at him. Phoebus, not liking the cruelty, asks permission to put a stop to it but Frollo orders him to hold back. However, when she realises what is going on, Esmeralda frees Quasimodo and accuses Frollo of cruelty for not having stopped it sooner. Frollo orders her arrest for helping the hunchback but Esmeralda uses illusory tricks to disappear, after which Frollo accuses her of witchcraft. After Quasimodo heads back to the cathedral, humiliated, Esmeralda and her Goat Djali follow him, disguised together as old man.
Recognising her disguise from when he first saw her in the street, Phoebus pursues Esmerelda. She is initially aggressive towards him, even attacking him with a candlestick and forcing him to engage her in hand-to-hand combat before she realises that he is honourable about the sanctity of the church and is not intending to arrest her. Frollo bursts in on them and attempts to have Esmerelda dragged out, but Phoebus saves her by saying that she claimed Sanctuary. The archdeacon then commands Frollo and Phoebus to leave out of respect for the church. They leave, Frollo warning Esmeralda that she will be arrested if she leaves the cathedral. Esmeralda, though thinking herself unworthy to offer up a prayer, prays for God to protect her people and the other outcasts ("God Help the Outcasts"). Quasimodo shows her the bell tower and becomes even more infatuated with her and helps her escape. In gratitude for his kindness, she gives him a necklace with a map of Paris, with points representing Notre Dame and the Court of Miracles, the gypsy hideout. With her on his mind, he returns to his desk, where he keep a model of the city and its inhabitants, and carves a new figurine in the shape of Esmeralda ("Heaven's Light"). Meanwhile, Frollo is disturbed by his own lust for Esmeralda and fears eternal damnation as a consequence ("Hellfire").
The next day, Frollo leads a search for gypsies, burning down houses and buildings. Phoebus eventually refuses to obey Frollo's orders, diving into a house that Frollo has just set alight to save the family he locked inside. Frollo attempts to have him executed for insubordination but Phoebus steals Frollo's horse and escapes. He is pursued and shot with an arrow as he is crossing a bridge, causing him to fall into the river below, but Esmerelda, who has been watching in disguise the whole time, dives in to save him when the coast is clear. After Quasimodo has just been convinced by the gargoyles that Esmeralda is romantically interested in him ("A Guy Like You"), Esmeralda brings the injured Phoebus to the bell tower, and Quasimodo is heartbroken to see them kiss.
Frollo returns to the cathedral just as Esmeralda leaves, and Quasimodo hides Phoebus under a table. Frollo soon notices the figurine of Esmeralda, and realizes that Quasimodo was the one who helped her escape. Frollo then tells Quasimodo of his plans to attack the Court of Miracles "at dawn with a thousand men." After Frollo leaves, Phoebus and Quasimodo decide to work together to warn the gypsies. They manage to find the Court of Miracles by the necklace Esmeralda gave to Quasimodo, but upon arriving they are captured by Clopin and his men. Mistaking them for spies, the gypsies sentence them to death by hanging ("The Court of Miracles"). They are saved by Esmeralda and they warn the gypsies of Frollo, but Frollo and his soldiers arrive to arrest all of them, Frollo reveals that he had bluffed and had followed Quasimodo to the Court of Miracles.
The next day Frollo prepares to burn Esmeralda at the stake in front of the cathedral. Quasimodo is chained up in the bell tower, but his rage upon seeing Esmeralda about to be burned enables him to break free. He rescues Esmeralda and carries her back to the cathedral, where he claims sanctuary. Frollo orders his men to break into Notre Dame, whilst Phoebus escapes his prison carrige and incites the surrounding crowd to revolt against Frollo's tyranny and free the captive gypsies to help them. Quasimodo pours molten copper from above to drive the guards back as the battle rages below, but Frollo manages to break into the cathedral, where he finds Quasimodo weeping over the unconscious Esmeralda thinking she has died. Frollo attempts to stab Quasimodo, but Quasimodo manages to seize the weapon and throw Frollo to the ground. In his rage, Quasimodo very nearly kills Frollo, but is distracted when Esmeralda wakes up. Frollo brandishes a sword, and chases them to the balconies, where he and Quasimodo begin to fight.
During the battle, Frollo reveals that Quasimodo's mother had actually died trying to save his life. Quasimodo falls, but manages to pull Frollo down. Esmeralda catches hold of Quasimodo's arm as Quasimodo loses consciousness. Frollo scrambles atop one of the (inanimate) gargoyles and raises his sword in preparation to strike at Quasimodo and Esmeralda, but the gargoyle he is standing on begins to crumble, causing him to lose his footing and plummet to his death below (briefly before the gargoyle breaks, it seems to come to life, just like Victor, Hugo, and Laverne, in order to growl at Frollo, hinting at the possibility that all of the gargoyles are living).
Esmeralda loses her grip on Quasimodo, but he is caught by Phoebus on a balcony below. Quasimodo then shows his acceptance of Esmeralda and Phoebus's relationship. The couple then emerges from the cathedral, and Esmeralda leads Quasimodo out into the sunlight, where he is finally accepted by the citizens of Paris.
After the credits, it shows Hugo alone on top of Notre Dame, and he yells: "Goodnight everybody! Woo hoo hoo!" It then shows the Disney logo.
Production
The Hunchback of Notre Dame was the second Disney film directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise after the hugely successful Beauty and the Beast in 1991. The duo had read Victor Hugo's novel and were eager to make an adaptation, but made several changes in order to make the storyline more suitable for children. This included making the film's heroes, Quasimodo, Esmeralda, and Phoebus, kinder than in the novel, changing Frollo from Archdeacon to corrupt minister (and creating an original Archdeacon character) adding three anthropomorphized stone gargoyles in the form of sidekicks, and keeping Quasimodo and Esmeralda alive at the end.
The film's animators visited the actual cathedral at Notre Dame in Paris (Where the story is set) for a few weeks. They made and took hundreds of sketches and photos in order to stay fully faithful to the architecture and detail.
Several of the film's voice actors had been part of past projects Trousdale and Wise attended. For example, Tony Jay and David Ogden Stiers, the voices of Judge Claude Frollo and the Archdeacon, respectively, had previously co-starred in Beauty and the Beast, providing the voices of Monsieur D'Arque and Cogsworth, respectively (although their characters did not share any scenes together). Also, Paul Kandel, the voice of Clopin, was chosen after the directors saw him playing the role of Uncle Ernie in the opera production of Tommy. Demi Moore was chosen for the role of Esmeralda based on her unusual voice, as the directors wanted a non-traditional voice for the film's leading lady.
Despite the changes from the original literary source material in order to ensure a G rating, the film does manage to address some rather mature themes such as lust, infanticide, religious hypocrisy, the concept of Hell, prejudice, and social injustice. It presents many themes concerning very serious and deep aspects of Christianity that are thought to be very complex and difficult to understand, especially to young children. Songs also contain rather mature lyrical content such as the words "licentious" or "strumpet" which introduce the concept of sexual indulgence. Additionally, it is also the first animated Disney film to use the word "damnation." In the DVD audio commentary, Wise, Trousdale, and Hahn note that the gargoyles might exist only in Quasimodo's imagination and thus may well be split-off pieces of his own identity.
Cast and characters
- Quasimodo (voiced by Tom Hulce) – The not-so-average hero with a heart of gold. He is the bellringer of the Notre Dame Cathedral. He is physically deformed with a hunched back and is constantly told by his guardian Judge Claude Frollo that he is an ugly monster who will never be accepted by the world outside. However, the opening song asks listeners to judge "who is the monster, and who is the man" of the two.
- Esmeralda (voiced by Demi Moore, singing voice by Heidi Mollenhauer) – A beautiful, streetwise, talented, and always-barefoot gypsy girl who befriends Quasimodo and shows him that his soul is truly beautiful, even if his exterior isn't. She is incredibly independent and greatly dislikes the horrible ways in which gypsies are treated. Throughout the movie, Esmeralda attempts to seek justice for her people. She falls in love with Captain Phoebus and helps Quasimodo understand that gypsies are good people. 'Esmeralda' is actually Spanish and Portuguese for 'Emerald', which may be why the animators chose to give her emerald green eyes.
- Judge Claude Frollo (voiced by Tony Jay) – A ruthless and powerful judge who is Quasimodo's reluctant guardian. He also lusts after Esmeralda. It should be noted that Frollo generally does not see any evil in his deeds as he does them in honor of God, even though the Archdeacon often disapproves of his actions. This would make him more of an anti-hero than a villain. At one point during the song "Hellfire" though, the priests singing the Confiteor manifest as his conscious, chanting the latin words "mea culpa" ("my fault"), to reveal that Frollo ultimately knows the truth of his actions.
- Captain Phoebus (voiced by Kevin Kline) – A man who returns to Paris to be Captain of the Guard under Judge Frollo. He falls in love with (and later marries) Esmeralda. He is an idealist with integrity and does not approve of what Frollo thinks or does.
- Clopin (voiced by Paul Kandel) – The mischievous leader of the gypsies who will defend his people at all costs. He introduces us to the story, explaining how Quasimodo, the bell ringer from Notre Dame, got to be there.
- Hugo, Victor, Laverne (voiced by Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough, and Mary Wickes*, respectively) – Three gargoyle statues who become Quasimodo's close friends and guardians.
- *This was Mary Wickes' (Laverne) last film. She died of cancer before she finished all her lines (Jane Withers provided the remaining dialogue, and provided the voice for Laverne in The Hunchback of Notre Dame II).
- The Archdeacon (voiced by David Ogden Stiers) – A kind man who helps many characters throughout the course of the movie, including Esmeralda. He is the opposite of Frollo: kind, accepting, gentle, and wise. He is the only figure in the film with authority over Frollo while he is inside Notre Dame.
Crew
Music
The film's soundtrack includes a musical score written by Alan Menken, songs written by Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz, and pop singles by All-4-One/Eternal (band). The single "Someday" originally performed by All-4-One on the United States release was redone by British R&B girl group Eternal for the U.K. release. Luis Miguel recorded the version in Spanish, which became a major hit in Mexico.
The special edition CAV laserdisc box set released concurrent with the original VHS and standard CLV laserdisc editions included storyboards and demos for several songs as bonus materials. Although some songs made it to the final film, three were deleted:
- "Someday" (Originally written to have been sung by Esmerelda to replace first choice of "God Help The Outcasts", but late in the production stages "Outcasts" was returned.
- "In a Place of Miracles"
- "As Long As There's a Moon"
The storyboards and demos for "The Bells of Notre Dame", "Out There", and "Heaven's Light/Hellfire" were also included on the CAV laserdisc set. Only "Someday's" storyboards and demos have seen release on DVD so far, and only in region 2.
Reception
The Hunchback of Notre Dame opened on June 21, 1996 to overwhelmingly positive reviews, and was the highest critically acclaimed film of 1996. Some criticism, however, was provided by fans of Victor Hugo’s novel, who were very unhappy with the changes Disney made to the material. Critics such as Arnaud Later, a leading scholar on Hugo, accused Disney of simplifying, editing and censoring the novel in many aspects, including the personalities of the characters. In his review, Later wrote that the animators "don't have enough confidence in their own emotional feeling" and that the film "falls back on clichés."
London's The Daily Mail called the Hunchback of Notre Dame "Disney's darkest picture, with a pervading atmosphere of racial tension, religious bigotry and mob hysteria" and "the best version yet of Hugo's novel, a cartoon masterpiece, and one of the great movie musicals".
In its opening weekend, the film opened in second place at the box office, grossing $21 million. The film saw small decline in later weeks and ultimately grossed just over $100 million domestically and over $325 million worldwide. Although the film could not out-gross its predecessors, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King and Pocahontas it nevertheless out-grossed other Disney films released within a decade of its premiere, such as The Little Mermaid, and Hercules.
Awards
- BMI
- BMI Film Music Award (Won)
- Golden Raspberry Awards
- Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million (Nominated, lost to Twister). It marks the third animated feature to be nominated for a Razzie award since Thumbelina and The Pagemaster (which had some live-action segments). Other animated films nominated for Razzie awards are Eight Crazy Nights and Star Wars: The Clone Wars. This specific category ("Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million") was invented specifically this year and solely to nominate this movie, and has not been used since.
The film currently stands with an 81% "fresh" rating at Rottentomatoes.com, with a 100% rating by established critics (the "Cream of the Crop").
Home Video
Hunchback of Notre Dame was first issue on VHS on March 4, 1997 under the Walt Disney Masterpice collection. It was then re-issued on March 19, 2002 on DVD and VHS. It has yet to be released on Platinum/Special Edition DVD or Blu-Ray.
Other media
Adaptations
Disney Comic Hits #11, published by Marvel Comics, features two stories based upon the film.
Disney-MGM Studios had a stage show based on the film from the late 90s til 2002. It was located in The Backlot Theatre in the New York Street section of the theme park (now called Streets of America). After the show's closing, and part of the re-theming of the area, a mural of a San Francisco street went up to block off the view of the theatre's vacant interior. Recently, The Backlot Theatre underwent a major renovation to enclose the theatre. No new attraction for the location has been announced although it is used during special events.
The film was adapted into a darker, more Gothic musical production, re-written and directed by James Lapine and produced by the Disney theatrical branch, in Berlin, Germany. The musical Der Glöckner von Notre Dame (translated in English as The Bellringer of Notre Dame) was very successful and played from 1999 to 2002, before closing. A cast recording was also recorded in German. There has been discussion of an American revival of the musical. Lyricist Don Black and Charles Hart has stated that "I think we're starting up Hunchback of Notre Dame, hopefully, next year. Rumor has reached my ear that it's happening."
Sequels and spin offs
In 2002, the sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II was released on video and DVD. The plot focuses once again on Quasimodo as he continues to ring the bells now with the help of Zephyr, Esmeralda and Pheobus's son. He also meets and falls in love with a new girl named Madellaine who has come to Paris with her evil circus master, Sarousch. Disney felt it was appropriate to make the storyline for this film more fun and child friendly due to the dark and grim themes of the original.
Quasimodo, Esmerelda, Victor, Hugo, Laverne and Frollo make guest appearances on the Disney Channel series, House of Mouse. Frollo also can seen amongst a crowd of Disney Villains in Mickey's House of Villains.
External links
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