The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)

Animated musical Disney version of Victor Hugo’s gothic novel “The Hunchback of Notre Dame.” Quasimodo is a hunchback who was rescued by a kindly priest, just as he was to be cast down a well. Now an adult, Quasimodo is employed as bell ringer at the monastery, but is an outcast and a prisoner in his bell tower, by order of his master Judge Frollo. During a carnival, Quasimodo is taunted by the merciless crowd and about to be flogged when a beautiful and spirited gypsy woman named Esmeralda intervenes. Frollo, a treacherous man who loathes gypsies, falls in lust with Esmeralda, who enrages him further by spurning his advances and mocking him. Esmeralda meanwhile has fallen for the handsome Phoebus, despite feeling compassion for the brutalised Quasimodo. Unlike other Disney productions, “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” entertains darker themes of racism, desire and rebellion, and the animation matches the sinister undercurrents of the book. The animation is impressive, (at times recalling “Fantasia”) as is the voice work of Tom Hulce, Demi Moore and Kevin Kline. Deviating from the original novel, comic relief is provided in the order of numerous gargoyles that befriend Quasimodo.