#tab murphy

The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, a building witness to countless stories. The most famous, however, involves two men (one young and malformed, the other old and in power) who fell in love with a Roma girl. While the young one let her go once he saw her heart belonged to another, the older one decided to have her whatever the cost. Or in the words of the street performer Clopin, the story of a man and a monster.

The house of the mouse is no stranger to toning down their literary inspirations to appeal to a general audience. Problem is, with an author as cynnical as Victor Hugo you can only tone down so much before the story loses it's point. So taking a gamble, the end result is a shockingly dark movie that explores authoritarianism, psychological abuse, systemic discrimination, lust, posessiveness and objectification, with some theological unpacking about the nature of sin and virtue at that. Seriously, it says a lot this movie's take on Claude Frollo is the most disturbing villain in the entire Disney canon by a landslide (with some people even having drawn paralels to characters like Griffith from Berserk… and having a point at that).

At least, that's when they don't try to get cute. Either as a genuine but misguided attempt to bring some levity into a movie that can genuinely get intense or a compromise to get the thing greenlit, the addition of the comic relief gargoyles and slapstick gags stick out like a sore thumb. And that's not getting into their depiction of the Roma people still potentially falling into stereotypes, but that's a whole separate can of worms.

It's an imperfect package, but a bold move that only could've happened in the Disney Renaissance. Whether it's the powerful human drama, a fantastic central cast of heroes, a breathtaking visual rendition of the Notre Dame Cathedral or the majestic score by Alan Menken. its strengths do outweight its weaknesses.

GRYFFINDOR:

"ESMERELDA: You mistreat this poor boy the same way you mistreat my people! You speak of justice, yet you are cruel to those most in need of your help! FROLLO: Silence! ESMERELDA: Justice!"

Tarzan (1999):

“ A man raised by gorillas must decide where he really belongs when he discovers he is a human. “