There have only been two animated films from Disney that have been considered “too dark” for younger viewers. 1985’s ‘The Black Cauldron’ and 1996’s ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’. To be fair on Disney, the 1980’s had produced a lot of dark family friendly films that wouldn’t even be considered family friendly today. Even the 90’s had its moments with dark entertainment for kids. ‘The Hunchback of Notre-Dame’ was another one that Disney tried to sweep under the rug because it was “too dark”.
Adapted from the Victor Hugo novel of the same name, it’s amazing now how Disney was able to get away with it at the time (despite some minor backlash from parents), considering how dark and very mature the original novel was. And yes I have also read said novel myself. More on that later.
I first saw this film when I was at school many years ago…and it terrified me back in the day. I didn’t watch it again until many years later as an adult, I learned to appreciate and love it for what it was.
The story starts off with Clopin narrating how Quasimodo came to live at the bell tower of Notre-Dame to a group of children (‘The Bells of Notre-Dame’). As Quasimodo’s family try to get into Paris, they are founded by Judge Claude Frollo. As he is about to arrest Quasimodo’s mother, she escapes, fleeing to the cathedral of Notre-Dame…but is killed by Frollo in a memorable- but terrifying- chase scene.
The moment Frollo discovers the disfigured baby in Quasimodo’s mother’s arms, he is about to drown him when the Archdeacon stops him. The Archdeacon manages to convince Frollo to raise Quasimodo as his own. Frollo reluctantly agrees to do so and stations Quasimodo at the bell tower.
Twenty years later Quasimodo is watching the preparations for the Feast of Fools from the bell tower where he has lived for the past twenty years in secret. His friends the gargoyles, insist that he goes to the festival. Quasimodo doesn’t feel like watching the festival this year though; he wants to join in but knows he can’t because Frollo won’t let him.
After the gargoyles manage to persuade him, Quasimodo is about to leave when Frollo suddenly appears at the top of the stairs. Quasimodo is hesitant again as Frollo asks him who he was talking to. He quickly tells Frollo about the gargoyles. “Can stone talk?” Frollo asks him firmly, clearly not happy. “No it can’t” Quasimodo reluctantly replies.
As Quasimodo is doing his lesson, he accidentally lets slip about wanting to go to the festival. Frollo is angry and tries to persuade Quasimodo that the world outside is cruel to people like him and that he’s better off living in the belltower (‘Out There’).
Once I came back to this film after twenty years, I really enjoyed it. Nearly everything about this film is perfect; from the terrifying “Hellfire” number to the voice acting (Tony Jay steels the show as Judge Frollo) and the dazzling visuals.
The one thing that I don’t like about this some of the gargoyle scenes, including that toneless “Guy Like You” number from them.
To me, the highlight of the film will always be “Hellfire”; a song that was nearly removed because of how dark it was.
Compared to the original novel, this film is a walk in the park on a sunny day. In short, I was amazed at how Disney was able to keep it as family-friendly as possible whilst sticking with Victor Hugo’s dark plot.
Highly recommended but only for older children.
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