Taken from Victor Hugo's classic novel this Disney animated feature is definitely not like any of the others we have seen so far. It's dark, it's brooding, it's violent. It's kind of bad*ss. Definitely doesn't get enough attention. Did you like this film?
Storyline : A deformed bell-ringer must assert his independence from a vicious government minister in order to help his friend, a gypsy dancer.
Director: Gary Trousedale & Kirk Wise
Writers: Tab Murphy, Victor Hugo
Stars: Demi Moore, Kevin Cline, Jason Alexander, and Tony Jay.
Awards: Nominated for Best Music, Best Original Score.
Film Budget: $100,000,000 (estimated)
Cumulative Worldwide Gross: $325,338,851
If this scene isn't creep factor to the nth degree then nothing is.
Thanks Frollo. You're gross and it's incredible.
FUN FACT TIME!
#1 - The opening number can make or break a musical. Usually, it’s the song that both captures an audience's attention and sets up the story. Yet, surprisingly, Hunchback almost didn’t get one. The original plan was to start the film with spoken exposition and a flashback montage. However, this didn’t satisfy production boss Jeffrey Katzenberg. Feeling that something was missing, he asked lyricist Stephen Schwartz and composer Alan Menken to create a new song for the sequence. Singing duty mostly went to Clopin, a theatrical Gypsy voiced by Paul Kandel, who recalls that “we were about a third of the way through the process of making [Hunchback]” when this ballad was completed.
#2 - The Hunchback of Notre Dame deals with very taboo subjects, from sexual fantasies to eternal damnation. (There’s also scene where the female lead pole dances.) Naturally, Disney executives didn’t think that the MPAA ratings board would apply their “general admission” stamp. Screenwriter Tab Murphy “fully expected it to get a PG.” As he told the Chicago Tribune, “It felt like a PG movie to everyone, including everybody who signed off on it, from Michael Eisner to Roy Disney.” News of the board’s decision to rate it G was met with widespread disbelief. “Maybe it was the gargoyles,” Murphy suggested.
#3 - Quasimodo, as he dies in the original book, was almost killed off in the movie as well but movie makers opted for a different ending for the animated film.
Where To Watch : Lucky for us all The Hunchback of Notre Dame is easily available on Disney+