Disney's Hunchback of Notre Dame review

      Hunchback of Notre Dame is one of the darkest, most emotional and heartfelt films they ever made and its an absolute masterpiece and in my opinion one of their very best.

     As one would expect by now its obviously top notch both in the quality of its visuals and even more so in its soundtrack,  which is amazing and rivals Lion King and Beauty and the Beast in its sheer awesomeness.

     But beyond that its a bittersweet and emotional drama with great characters. The earnest and kind-hearted Quasimodo is extremely loveable and this makes the audience even more sympathetic to his plight.

    Esmerelda is such a bold, confident, and extraordinarily sweet woman and perhaps one of my favorite leading ladies in a Disney film. 

     Phoebus, the noble captain of the guard, is actually one of the funniest characters on the film with his dry sense of humor. 

    The gargoyles are funny and charming in my opinion.  I know some don't like their presence in this film but I believe that they are necessary for the movie as despite its darker plot and tone is still a children's animated film. They bring needed levity and Disney magic.

    Frollo the villain is spectacularly evil. Demonically so, and I think might be the most evil Disney villain ever portrayed.  He's simply a bone-chillingly dark and cruel person driven by a hypocritical and self-righteous  hatred for others and a lust for Esmerelda's beauty. 

     As for family-friendliness, its perhaps the least family friendly of all Disney animated features, at least of the ones I have seen so far. Though rated g, this film should probably be rated pg instead. It has some violence though no blood is shown, dark and frightening imagery, a beloved character is treated cruelly and ruthlessly mocked, and it even has strongly implied reference to a character lusting after another character.  I think that many younger children would be disturbed or frightened by elements of the film but older children should be fine.

     Overall,  I absolutely love this film and its one of my personal favorites. Such beautiful music and songs and strong emotional heartfelt storytelling with top notch characters and a great (yet terrible) villain.  I believe its very deserving of a 10 out of 10.

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