--- title: "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" year: 1996 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame" fi1m_score: 70 critics_score: 63 critics_reviews: 9 published: "2026-09-17T06:28:50.788189+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T06:29:01.977814+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) Directed by Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise · 1h 31m · MPA G · Drama, Animation, Family **Fi1m score: 70** · Critics 63 from 9 reviews *In a sentence:* Disney adapts Hugo, keeps the lust and the fire, and adds three stone comedians nobody asked for > Trousdale and Wise take Hugo’s novel further into the dark than any Disney cartoon before it, and Tony Jay’s Frollo is a proper villain. Then three wisecracking gargoyles turn up to remind us it is a children’s film, and the join shows. ## Synopsis Paris, 1482. Judge Frollo (Tony Jay) runs a Romani woman to her death on the steps of Notre Dame and, shamed by the Archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers), agrees to raise her deformed infant in the bell tower. Years on, Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) rings the bells, carves wooden figures of the city below and talks to three stone gargoyles, forbidden ever to go down. On the day of the Festival of Fools he slips out, is crowned King of Fools, and is turned on by the crowd while Frollo looks on. Only the dancer Esmeralda (Demi Moore) steps in, defying the judge in public and claiming sanctuary in the cathedral, where Phoebus (Kevin Kline), Frollo’s new captain of the guard, declines to arrest her. ## Review Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, who made [*Beauty and the Beast*](https://film.one/film/beauty-and-the-beast) five years earlier, take on Victor Hugo’s novel about a deformed bell-ringer, the judge who raised him and the woman both of them want. *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* carries a U certificate and, inside its first three minutes, shows a woman killed on the steps of a cathedral. For two-thirds of its 91 minutes it is the darkest and among the best-made things Disney’s animators have put on a screen. The other third is three talking gargoyles, and they nearly sink it. The prologue is told as a puppet show by Clopin (Paul Kandel), and it is sung rather than spoken. A woman runs across the snow with a bundle, horsemen behind her, and reaches the doors of Notre Dame a moment too late. Frollo, about to drop what he thinks is stolen goods down a well, is stopped by the Archdeacon (David Ogden Stiers), who tells him the eyes of the cathedral are on him. Alan Menken scores it with bells and a Latin choir, and the animators draw Notre Dame from below, so the building seems to be watching too. We were startled, not by the death, which happens on a cut, but by how fast a film for children gets to it and how little it apologises. Tony Jay voices Frollo in a low, dry, unhurried bass that never rises above conversation, and it is the film’s best decision. He is not a sorcerer but a magistrate who believes he is doing good, and the film lets him believe it. Halfway through he stands before a fireplace and sings ‘Hellfire’, admitting that he wants Esmeralda and blaming her for it, while hooded figures chant around him and her face forms in the flames. We sat forward and did not move until it ended. That a U-certificate cartoon contains it at all is remarkable. That nothing after it comes close is the film’s problem. Around him the film looks as good as anything the studio has done. Paris is drawn in stone greys and torchlit browns, the Festival of Fools in confetti colours, and the inside of the cathedral in the blues and reds of its glass. Quasimodo’s tower holds a carved wooden model of the city below and bells he has given names. Tom Hulce gives him a boy’s voice, eager, a little too articulate for a man raised alone in a belfry, and ‘Out There’, sung from the roof, is the film’s most hopeful stretch. Demi Moore plays Esmeralda with a low, tired defiance, and her candlelit ‘God Help the Outcasts’, sung while the wealthy pray for wealth in the pews beside her, is its most honest. Kevin Kline’s Phoebus is dry and decent. Ellen Keneshea cuts the festival and the street chase fast enough that we lost our bearings and did not mind. Then the gargoyles. Charles Kimbrough, Mary Wickes and Jason Alexander voice Victor, Laverne and Hugo, stone companions who come alive when Quasimodo is alone and, in ‘A Guy Like You’, perform a music-hall number while Paris burns outside the window. We sighed. Every time the film has gathered itself into something serious, they arrive to check whether we are still having fun. The screenplay is credited to five writers, and plays as if the film Trousdale and Wise wanted to make and the one the formula required were written on alternate days. Their songs are Menken’s weakest here; Frollo’s and Quasimodo’s are among his strongest. The second half takes a turn we will not describe, except to say that Hugo’s ending has not survived the journey. The last ten minutes hurry to be kind to everyone, and after the fire and the sermonising, the kindness feels rushed. *Beauty and the Beast* had one tone and kept it. This has two, and they take turns. It attempts more than the earlier film and finishes less, and we would still rather watch a studio try this than not. The certificate says U; we would say older children, with an adult nearby for Frollo. He will stay with them longer than the gargoyles, which is as it should be. *Fi1m score 70, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say Most critics lean warm, and the praise gathers in two places: the animation, which nearly every review singles out for its cathedral set-pieces and the climactic assault on Notre Dame, and the film’s willingness to go darker than Disney usually dares. Frollo is the most consistently admired element, a villain several reviews find properly frightening, and the themes of lust, prejudice and acceptance are credited as unusually adult for the studio. Roger Ebert calls it the best Disney animated feature since Beauty and the Beast. The reservations centre on what has been done to Hugo. Most reviews note that Quasimodo has been softened into a gentle everyman, and the joking gargoyles and cute sidekicks draw complaints for undercutting the tragedy. The New York Times and The New Yorker are the sharpest dissenters, finding the tone manic and the happy ending forced. The songs divide critics outright: Empire dismisses them, Radio Times finds them solid. The spread is wide, from raves to flat rejection. ### Reviews we read (9) - **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it the best Disney animated feature since Beauty and the Beast, praising its uplifting story, heart-touching message about acceptance, glorious animation, and energetic songs that blend substance with spectacle. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-1996) - **Time Out**, TJ (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's dazzling technique, mature content and thematic sophistication as a Disney milestone that remakes the 1939 version while appealing especially to older children and adults. They highlight the strong visual set-pieces, chases and climactic assault on Notre Dame. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame) - **Radio Times**, Tom Hutchinson (4/5): This animated version is called one of the best 1990s Disney movies, darker and more adult than prior animations while still featuring mischievous gargoyles. Strong voice work from Tom Hulce, Demi Moore and Kevin Kline, plus solid songs and an Oscar-nominated score, are singled out. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-j3mt07/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame/) - **Empire**, William Thomas (70/100, inferred): The review finds the film a solid, enjoyable and beautifully animated Disney movie, though not quite in the top drawer, with a heart in the right place on themes of tolerance. It singles out the villain Frollo for strong praise as a complete bastard while criticising the songs as rubbish. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/hunchback-notre-dame-review/) - **Variety**, Jeremy Gerard (70/100, inferred): The review highlights the surprising darkness and visual achievements of the film despite its cuddly Disney makeover of the source material, commending the technical animation and risk-taking while noting simplifications to the story and a ludicrous ending. [Read](https://variety.com/1996/film/reviews/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-4-1200446001/) - **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (50/100, inferred): The review praises the film's dark and adult elements, including a convincingly evil villain and themes of lust and prejudice, but criticizes the uneven mix with formulaic cute sidekicks and songs, noting Quasimodo has been softened into a sensitive everyman. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-06-21-ca-16987-story.html) - **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (30/100, inferred): The critic notes that the film softens the source material into something cute and sentimental, faulting the directors for repeating tropes from Beauty and the Beast and turning Quasimodo into a less complex, more crowd-pleasing figure while highlighting the visual spectacle. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1996/07/08/lone-stars) - **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (30/100, inferred): The review finds the film uncertain and tonally inconsistent, criticizing its manic mood swings, cloying hero, and forced happy ending that struggles to adapt Victor Hugo's dark story for children while mixing piety and conflict. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1996/06/21/movies/film-review-the-dancing-gargoyles-romp-and-wisecrack.html) - **Paste**, Kenneth Lowe (50/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a flawed but ambitious Disney Renaissance entry that pushes boundaries with its dark themes and strong score, but faults its sanitization of the source novel and the addition of comic relief elements that undercut its potential tragedy. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/disney/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame-victor-hugo-horny) ## Details - **Director:** Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise - **Director:** Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise - **Screenplay:** Jonathan Roberts, Noni White, Irene Mecchi, Tab Murphy, Bob Tzudiker - **Story:** Tab Murphy - **Novel:** Victor Hugo - **Editor:** Ellen Keneshea - **Music:** Alan Menken - **Producer:** Don Hahn - **Cast:** Tom Hulce as Quasimodo (voice); Demi Moore as Esmeralda (voice); Kevin Kline as Phoebus (voice); Tony Jay as Frollo (voice); Charles Kimbrough as Gargoyle Victor (voice); Mary Wickes as Gargoyle Laverne (voice); Jason Alexander as Gargoyle Hugo (voice); Paul Kandel as Clopin (voice) - **Runtime:** 1h 31m - **Certificate (MPA):** G - **Release (the US):** 21 June 1996 - **Genres:** Drama, Animation, Family - **Budget:** $100 million - **Box office:** $325 million ## Where to watch in the US - Disney+: streaming, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $11.99, sd - Apple TV: buy $17.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, IE, IL, IS, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, TR, US, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Academy Awards 1997: Best Original Musical or Comedy Score (nominated) - Satellite Award for Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature 1997: Satellite Award for Best Animated or Mixed Media Feature (won) - Annie Award for Best Animated Feature 1996: Annie Award for Best Animated Feature (nominated) ## If you liked this - *The Hunchback of Notre Dame* (1939): Charles Laughton’s Quasimodo, and an ending Hollywood was still allowed to keep. - *Beauty and the Beast* (1991), Fi1m 91: The same directors, one tone kept from start to finish, and better-behaved sidekicks. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/beauty-and-the-beast.md) - *The Prince of Egypt* (1998), Fi1m 74: Another cartoon that trusts children with a serious story and a serious choir. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-prince-of-egypt.md) - *Princess Mononoke* (1997), Fi1m 88: Miyazaki’s outcasts and zealots, drawn with no gargoyles to soften anything. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/princess-mononoke.md) - *The Secret of Kells* (2009), Fi1m 76: An Irish animation in which a building, and a book, matter as much as people. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-secret-of-kells.md) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/the-hunchback-of-notre-dame