Disney. No one name holds as much power over business and the world of Animation as much as Walter Elias Disney. Whether it was making the first animated motion picture in the English world, further revolutionizing the field of animation, or making one of the most powerful media companies in the world, Disney managed to become a titan of industry and media. Nowadays, we joke about the House of Mouse and its’ lasting impact in today’s world…but without Disney, much of the animated world today…well…wouldn’t be.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: French Horror? In my Disney Film?
Believe it or not, the idea to turn Victor Hugo’s novel, the Hunchback of Notre Dame was started in 1993, and started gaining in traction until one of the development executives pitched the idea to Jeffrey Katzenburg about a year before he was kicked out of Disney. The directors, Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale had taken a break from the Lion King and had tried their hand at a short inspired by the tale of Orpheus before being given the message “Drop what you’re doing. We’re working on Hunchback of Notre Dame.” They thought they had a ton of potential with it…a notion they had no idea just how right they were.
The Plot: Morning in Paris…the City awakens to the Bells of Notre Dame~…Er…right. We meet up with a Romani (I know, the film uses Gypsy constantly. I’m not using it because it’s a pretty bad slur against those of Romani Descent. It was the 90s, we know better now.) named Clopin who tells us the beginnings of our hero.
A while ago, some Romani were making their way into Paris, only to be ambushed by the personal guard of Judge Claude Frollo (Voiced superbly by Tony Jay), who decided the mother of a child was hiding stolen goods…and chased her all the way to Notre Dame, killed her on the steps when she begged for sanctuary, and tried to drown the child when he found it ugly, and had to be guilted into looking after the child by the Archdeacon after pointing out that he could lie to his men, but he couldn’t lie to the eyes of God.
Fast forward many years later, the boy, now called Quasimodo (Voiced by Tom Hulce), is…still pretty ugly by standards, and he rings the bells every day. Nobody really knows what he looks like, because Frollo forbids him from leaving the towers. His reasoning? People would find him ugly, and the world is cruel to ugly people. Quasimodo listens to him, because he’s the only father figure he’s had…well…besides the Gargoyles who give him advice, and the jury’s still out as to whether they’re real or not. Hugo, Victor and Laverne give him advice to sneak out today because it’s the Festival of Fools, a day that only comes once a year. He does so, and forces beyond his control make him participate and end up being the king of fools.
A little earlier, Frollo hires Pheobus, a well known soldier, to help him purge the city of the Romani because he believes it needs to be done. After all, they all practice witchcraft and rob people blind, so they all deserve death (riiiiight). A particular Romani, gets away with Phoebus’ help, and takes part in the festival of fools.
Esmerelda (voiced by Demi Moore) captivates everyone with her dance (Frollo…ew), her willingness to call out the crowd for mistreating Quasimodo (Quasimodo), and for her ability to outrun and outthink the guards (Phoebus). Having been thoroughly shamed by Frollo, Quasimodo returns to the towers, with Esmerelda trying to find more about him. She has been saved from Frollo’s machinations by having Sanctuary declared for her by Pheobus, meaning she’s safe…as long as she stays in the building. Esmerelda eventually finds Quasimodo, and they bond over their status as outcasts, his dedication to craft and the bells, and eventually…his helping her to escape.
Frollo wrestles with his growing attraction to Esmerelda and decides if he can’t have her, nobody can before torching vast swaths of Notre dame to find her when he finds out she escaped. This becomes too much for Phoebus, who rebels..and gets an arrow in him for it. Esmerelda brings him up to the bell tower, and both fall in love with the other, leaving Quasimodo heartbroken. Frollo later visits and Quasimodo hides Phoebus from him before Frollo says he knows where the Romani are and is set to attack them at dawn.
Phoebus and Quasimodo set out, to find where the Romani are hiding, are mistaken for agents of Frollos…and right before everyone escapes…Frollo descends. Turns out he was bluffing, and he let both of them lead Frollo straight to them.
Quasimodo is chained up in the Bell Tower, Phoebus is set for a beheading, and Esmerelda set to burn as a witch. Frollo gives her one last chance to be his…or burn. She spits in his face and Quasimodo, outraged at Frollo’s burning of her, decides to act, along with the general crowd having enough of Frollo and his forces.
Frollo decides to chase down Quasimodo and Esmerelda, who is thought to have been killed, and Frollo almost makes good on his earlier killing of Quasimodo before he admits the truth about killing his mother, 20 years ago. It is all they can do to escape Frollo before he tries to “smite the wicked by plunging them into the fiery pit”…a fate that befalls him, courtesy of the gargoyle he is perched on.
Eventually, all three make it back down, and Quasimodo is accepted into the town. After all…they know who the real monster and the real man are now.
It should be said, that this is considered the darkest of the Disney animated canon. Frollo is considered one of the best Disney Villains for just how realistic he is in motivation…and performance by Tony Jay. For several years, it was considered not as good as the Lion King and Aladdin, but far better than Pocahontas, and even today, its’ values of opposing persecution of minorities, letting women choose who they want to love (and not burning them at the stake when they say no), and tolerance of those different, still hold up very well. Sure, the descendants of Victor Hugo denounced the film loudly…but the rest of France liked it.
Every main character in the film spoke and sang their lines, even Mary Wilkes…who was suffering from Cancer through this (she sadly passed away before the film was completed and Jane Withers replaced her for the last few scenes). Anyone who watches SpongeBob SquarePants should also recognize one of the guards being voiced by the same voice actor as Patrick Star as well.
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