MovieChat Forums > The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Discussion > This and Pocahontas needed to be full on...

This and Pocahontas needed to be full on dark


I think if this and Pocahontas were fully dark films Disney wouldn't have made as much money but they would've made better films.

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agreed. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore HoND to bits, but I often think about how it would have been if Disney had gone even darker. Nevertheless, I still love it and am glad that Disney decided to make a movie like this with a more mature theme and fantastic music.




Here comes the smolder...

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"Hunchback" should have not added the juvenile humor at the expense of the darkest scenes, which really is one of the flaws of this film. You have Djali attacking Phoebus' butt right before Frollo grabs Esmeralda to harass her sexually. All the juvenile humor during the comedic bit of the climax. And not to mention the placement of "A Guy Like You". As much as I love "Hunchback", it is a dramatically uneven film which zig-zags between the juvenile, awkward humor and controversial dramatic themes, without fulfilling neither.

To be honest, I think the humor in "Pocahontas" was less hampering and actually served the movie well. The animals weren't hilarious, but I thought they were less annoying than the Gargoyles.

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All the juvenile humor during the comedic bit of the climax.


Now that I think of it, I suspect that's part of the directors' style. I forgot their names, and I don't want to open another tab--but anyway, they also directed Beauty and the Beast. That movie's climax was very similar to Hunchback, with the slapstick/reference joke comedy stuff happening during the fighting, and the more serious parts with Gaston/Frollo happening up above the battle. They also directed Atlantis, but fortunately they made its climax much more serious (if I remember correctly).

As for "A Guy Like You," I have mixed feelings about that. I watched the commentary several months ago, and I recall them saying they put the song in to basically set up Quasimodo for heartbreak. Personally, I think "Heaven's Light" would have sufficed. (Speaking of which, I would have liked that song and scene a lot more without the gargoyles there.)

But there are at least two things we'd miss out on without "A Guy Like You" in the film: First, this great line, "The city of lovers is glowing this evening...*sigh*...True that's because it's on fire..." Second, seeing that colorful last scene of the song turn into that drab, dark collection of broken statues and curtains once Esmeralda enters the tower. It really demonstrates to what lengths he uses his imagination to cheer himself up in his loneliness, and it's a surprisingly dark, sad moment I think.... Or the illusion was generated from gargoyle "magic," the movie is pretty ambiguous about which it might be.

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I thought the "darkness" levels were alright, but it certainly wouldn't have hurt to cut back on some of the more juvenile stuff.

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I watched it again a couple of days ago, and I think my opinion of the more... "cartoony" aspects depends on what mood I'm in at the time. Sometimes I appreciate the light-hearted parts. This last time though, I would have liked something more consistently serious in tone--not necessarily without humor, but perhaps with much fewer slapstick and "gargoyle/Hugo" moments (unless it was like the show Gargoyles, that would just be awesome).

I do think this movie would have been more memorable (in either a good or bad way depending on ones point of view) had it been darker or more serious.

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It's funny, I was just having a conversation with someone the other day who didn't like this movie because it was too dark for her, and she was an adult when she saw it the first time. But some people are just like that, I guess. I prefer dark stuff, though I do think the comic relief moments were pretty reasonable in this film. There weren't that many, and it kind of makes the dark stuff stand out more when you were smirking at slapstick humor one minute, then a few minutes later being horrified.

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I'm with you, number9-4. Don't get me wrong, I love Disney comedy, BUT, when they step out of their comfort zone and go dark(er), like with HoND, I love it even more. The more I watch it, the gargoyles become less annoying to me (especially when I consider the theory that they're figments of Quasi's imagination, which makes it sad, quite frankly) I just wish they would be more "daring" when it comes to the level of darkness they put in. For example, Dr. Facilier in Princess and the Frog. His song was awesome and creepy, but it's more Maleficent-style with the magic and voodoo stuff. Whereas Mother Gothel from Tangled is more like Frollo, a person that exists IRL with extremely evil intentions.

There weren't that many, and it kind of makes the dark stuff stand out more when you were smirking at slapstick humor one minute, then a few minutes later being horrified.


I read somewhere that the directors put in A Guy Like You for this reason. It wasn't merely just slapstick. It was added to 1. Set Quasi up for heartbreak minutes later when Esmeralda and Phoebus kiss and 2. break the tension a bit to set up for an appropriately dark climax.


Here comes the smolder...

I'm a Disnerd and proud

Resident Tangled expert

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I like the idea of the Gargoyles, but the execution was bad. The problem wasn't that they were comic relief, but that they were very juvenile and out of place comic relief. The gargoyles could have provided humor without resorting to modern references, armpit farting, and weird sexual tension with Esmerelda's goat.

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The gargoyles could have provided humor without resorting to modern references, armpit farting, and weird sexual tension with Esmerelda's goat.


Hahahaha. Yeah, the humor was pretty lowbrow. I actually never picked up on Hugo's romantic interest in Djali as a kid. But either way, it's weird and not particularly funny. Generally I don't mind the gargoyles, though.

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Victor and Laverne were ok but Hugo was so annoying. They really needed to tone him down. Laverne was cute and her interactions with Quasi were pretty sweet I think. Victor was fine he didn't get as much to do or say as the other two. But Hugo ugh so annoying. The whole thing with Djali and his humor. It just seriously clashed.

"A Guy Like You" isn't a terrible song. It could have been shorter and a bit less silly imo. Honestly I like the idea of the gargoyles being Quasi's imagination. If I did this film I would have cut down on Hugo's humor, made AGLY shorter and less wacky. I also would have axed the gargoyles involvement in the final battle. I would have made it so the gargoyles are only in Quasi's mind.

As for Pocahontas I think that movie has way more issues with the tone clashing than HOND. Ratcliffe is a meh villain. He isn't bad per se but he is too campy and clashes with the more serious tone of the film. They needed to either make Ratcliffe much more ruthless and evil a la Frollo or tone the film's more serious nature back and make it more light- hearted. Meeko, Flit and Percy annoyed me more than the gargoyles honestly. They were always there ruining the serious moments. Were the gargoyles there making fart jokes after Quasi was humiliated at the Festival of Fools? No! But the animals in Pocahontas ugh they were annoying the entire time.

I'd keep Meeko and Flit but tone them down and make them more background players. Cut Percy and make Ratcliffe a much more evil, badass villain.

"Notice how I ride side saddle, it proves I'm a lady of quality." Witch Hazel

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I've always felt that Radcliffe had the ingredients to be a great, even realistic Disney villain like Frollo but the execution left much to be desired. HIs ridiculous character design didn't really help either.

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I actually like Ratcliffe's design. I feel like they made him too campy. He needed to be more sinister and not so foppish. He had potential but he wasn't well executed imo.

"Notice how I ride side saddle, it proves I'm a lady of quality." Witch Hazel

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"A Guy Like You" would have just been an unremarkable filler song in just about any other Disney movie.
But it really is out of place in this movie even with the suddenly darkish bit where some dolls are hanged.
However, it is indeed possible to justify its existence if we pretend that Quasimodo is slowly going insane.
It is not much of a comfort though.
Thus I would have gladly cut that song from the movie even though I don't mind the gargoyles otherwise.

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It's a family film. It's Disney. It was heavily marketed to children.

I'm surprised if anyone would even think going any darker was a realistic option.'The Hunchback of Notre Dame' alone was a very bold choice for a Disney family film.

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^^ i completely agree. there are scenes of racism, violence, sexual harassment and emotional abuse, plus allusions to torture. it was dark enough.


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I kind of agree that those two Disney films (Hunchback & Pocahontas) should have been darker...but as LIVE ACTION films. I personally felt that the cartoon version of Hunchback was a little TOO dark for kids. I still remember watching this movie in theaters back in the day as a youngster still in school and recall feeling kind of weirded out by all of the "darkness" for a cartoon movie that it had. The sexual tension between the priest and Esmarelda (sp?), the violent way Quasimodo was treated, etc. It was just a dark film....and not one of my favorites.

HOWEVER....if it had been a live-action film I think that would have been MUCH better. It would have brought in a different age bracket, and would have automatically been something parents would have known that their younger kids might not want to experience. There's a more "seriousness" in tone to me with the more darker and live-action Disney films that are coming out. Personally, I think it's awesome what Disney is doing.

Who knows, maybe a few years down the line Disney will decide to re-do Pocahontas and Hunchback as live-action films instead of cartoons and we can finally get more "meat" in the story w/out having to make things cartoonish for little kids. :)

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I didn't see any sexual tension between Esmeralda and the priest whatsoever.

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Looking at this from the perspective of a Disney movie (designed for little kids), I can understand why they wanted to add some humor to it to keep it from being completely dour.

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