If you need more reason to write off the Golden Raspberry Awards, which “honor” the purportedly worst movies of any given year: In 1997, Disney’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame” received a nomination of “Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million.” Of all the Disney films you could throw to the Razzies, you pick one of the most daring and ambitious?
“Hunchback” also earned a much less dubious honor at the Academy Awards: Best Original Musical or Comedy Score, a well-deserved accolade for Alan Menken’s compositions and Stephen Schwartz’s lyrics.
“Hunchback” also earned 13 nominations at the animation-focused Annie Awards, the most nominations of any film that year. (Tony Jay, nominated Best Achievement in Voice Acting, really should’ve cinched the win for his performance as the villainous Judge Claude Frollo.) So, with all that acclaim, why the Razzie? “Hunchback” directors Gary Trousdale & Kirk Wise had helped usher in the Disney Renaissance with 1991’s “Beauty and the Beast.” That meant expectations were high, and “Hunchback” didn’t meet all of them.
In his contemporary review, Roger Ebert called it the best Disney movie since Trousdale & Wise’s last one. “I wondered if ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ could possibly work as a Disney animated feature,” Ebert opened before spending the review explaining how the movie proved his doubts wrong. Conversely, Janet Maslin at the New York Times praised the filmmakers’ effort and passion but derided the movie’s sentimentalism and tonal inconsistency.
“There’s just no way to delight children with a feel-good version of this story,” Maslin said, describing the movie as a Disney “self-parody” that tried to blend dark source material with fanciful songs. Clearly, the Razzie voters sided with Maslin’s take. For many others, though, that darkness is what makes “Hunchback” a flawed masterpiece. What keeps it “flawed” is that it had to be a Disney movie.
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The Hunchback of Notre Dame’s backlash was ill-deserved
Quasimodo celebrates with a crown and staff in The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Disney
“The Hunchback of Notre Dame” adapts French author Victor Hugo’s 1831 novel, named for its titular character, Quasimodo (Tom Hulce in the movie), a deformed man who rings the bells of the real Notre Dame cathedral in Paris. Quasimodo was abandoned at birth and raised by Frollo. (In the movie, Frollo murdered Quasimodo’s mother and raised the boy as penance.) In the novel, Frollo is a priest, not a judge like the movie. In both versions he is obsessed with the Roma girl Esmeralda (Demi Moore), who does not return his desire. In the novel, Frollo’s lust is a descent into evil, whereas in the movie he is already wicked and wants to exterminate the whole Romani population of Paris. Quasimodo too longs for Esmeralda, but she’s smitten with handsome Captain Phoebus (Kevin Kline).
Hugo’s novel is a tragedy — a bleak tale with a dearth of sympathetic characters, and from which no hope escapes. Disney specializes in G-rated children’s films, so to adapt “Hunchback,” changes were needed. Most obviously, there’s a happy ending, and the central theme is turned into a child-friendly lesson of not judging someone’s inner self by their physical appearance. Some of the controversy-inviting parts of the novel are excised; take how Frollo is still a religious fanatic, but not a literal agent of the church.
Frollo’s lust for Esmeralda is not sanitized, though. His villain song, “Hellfire,” sees him beseech Beata Maria for guidance and mercy. The song ends with Frollo declaring he’ll sentence Esmeralda to “the flames of this world and the next” if she doesn’t submit to him. Compare one of Hulce’s previous films, 1984’s “Amadeus” — Frollo covets Esmeralda like Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) coveted Mozart’s (Hulce) musical talent. Both Salieri and Frollo spite God for the curse of desiring what they can’t have.
Tone is where Hunchback of Notre Dame stumbles
The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Quasimodo looking sad as gargoyles Victor and Hugo try to cheer him up – Disney
“Hellfire” gets a lot of (deserved) attention for how dark it is, but it’s only one beautiful song among many. “Hunchback” has some of the most sweeping and mature Disney songs. Quasimodo’s longing to see the world is felt in “Out There,” sung rapturously by Hulce. In “God Help The Outcasts,” Esmeralda sings (Heidi Mollenhauer subbing in for Moore), asking God to give her people hope. The song contrasts her sincere and humble faith with other churchgoers selfishly praying for their own benefit, a bold message in a gentle song.
Yet among those beautiful songs, there’s also the goofy “A Guy Like You,” where Quasimodo’s (imaginary?) gargoyle friends try to convince him to confess to Esmeralda.
Many pinpoint the gargoyles as the problem with “Hunchback.” They’re the funny Disney sidekicks, a la the talking furniture in “Beauty and the Beast,” there to keep the kids entertained at the cost of the film’s otherwise dramatic tone. In /Film’s oral history of “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” Trousdale explained: “In the book and several of the movies, Quasimodo talks to the gargoyles. We thought, ‘This is Disney, we’re doing a cartoon. The gargoyles can talk back.'”
Wise added that they were trying to brighten up the movie with the gargoyles, lest the picture be a “trough of despair.” Trousdale admitted the negative reception to the gargoyles took him back a bit: “They’re a little silly, and they do undercut the gravity, but speaking with friends who were kids at the time, they have nothing but fond memories.”
Are the gargoyles a symptom of a deeper problem? Is the story of “Hunchback” is too incompatible with Disney’s brand of storytelling? That might be what Razzie voters thought at the time, but the highs “Hunchback” reaches are as towering as the cathedral itself. I pity those who can’t see them.
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