The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Directors:

Gary Trousdale
Kirk Wise

Writers:

Christine Blum (story)
Geefwee Boedoe (story)

Release Date:

21 June 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Family | Musical | Romance

Plot:

A deformed bellringer must assert his independence from a vicious government minister in order to help his friend, a gypsy dancing girl.

Plot Keywords:

Gypsy | Cathedral | Gargoyle | Bell | Soldier

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 7 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Jason Alexander	...	Hugo (voice)
Mary Kay Bergman	...	Quasimodo's Mother / Additional Voice (voice)
Corey Burton	...	Brutish Guard / Additional Voice (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	Guards / Gypsies (voice)
Bill Fagerbakke	...	Oafish Guard (voice)
Tom Hulce	...	Quasimodo (voice)
Tony Jay	...	Frollo (voice)
Paul Kandel	...	Clopin (voice)
Charles Kimbrough	...	Victor (voice)
Kevin Kline	...	Phoebus (voice)
Heidi Mollenhauer	...	Esmeralda (singing voice)
Demi Moore	...	Esmeralda (voice)
Patrick Pinney	...	Guards / Gypsies / Additional Voice (voice)
Gary Trousdale	...	The Old Heretic (voice)
David Ogden Stiers	...	Archdeacon (voice)

Runtime:

91 min | Denmark:87 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:G (certificate #34615) | Australia:PG | Brazil:10 (DVD rating) | Brazil:Livre | South Korea:All | Sweden:7 | New Zealand:G | Argentina:Atp | Chile:TE | Denmark:7 | Finland:K-8/5 | Germany:6 (w) | Norway:7 | Peru:PT | Portugal:M/6 | Singapore:G | Spain:T | UK:U

Company:

Walt Disney Feature Animation

Trivia:

The opening scene, in which Clopin sings "The Bells of Notre Dame," was originally all spoken dialogue. After two revisions, it was decided that it was too dry and boring, and so was turned into a musical number.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Esmeralda and Quasimodo are about to jump off the top of Notre Dame, Esmeralda ties a kerchief around Djali's eyes and it wraps around the top of his head. In the next shot, however, the kerchief is wrapped vertically, from top to bottom, and it looks much larger.

Quotes:

The Old Heretic: I'm free! I'm free!
The Old Heretic: [trips and falls into a pillory] Dang it!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Saturday Night Live: The Best of Saturday TV Funhouse (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

Paris Burning

Disney grows up, and it is good

Going into the theater to see this movie, my friend and I (who are "cynical" teenage movie critics) honestly expected to be disappointed, especially after the relatively blah Pocahontas. When the movie was over 90 min. later, we both ran frantically to go buy the CD and read the book (which, actually, was rather different than the movie, but hey.).

I am 17 years old; I grew up watching The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. When Disney released this movie, which dealt with extremely heavy subject matter in an extremely tasteful manner, I jumped for joy. During the entire movie, I was amazed and spellbound. The music was also fantastic, by the way, as was the cinematography (although those crowd scenes begin to look really fake after a while). That scene where Quasimodo holds Esmerelda up in front of the rose window and yells, "Sanctuary!" still gives me chills.

This is not a movie for children in any way, shape or form. I think the only problem with Hunchback is the fact that Disney refused to accept that this is a serious, relatively adult motion picture and would not make any animated movie, no matter how serious, without obnoxiously cute little critters (i.e., the gargoyles) bouncing around to entertain the kiddies, or huge marketing campaigns at McDonald's, etc. As some others have written on here, it's pretty obvious this movie isn't for kiddies from its subject matter.

But anyone over 13 who's willing to think as well as be entertained when watching a Disney movie would probably love Hunchback.