Disney The Hunchback of Notre Dame / The Hunchback of Notre Dame II - 3/12 Review

[yeslek]

Originally Posted by professorratigan

I don't see how it's so hard to consider their participation in the climax as part of Quasimodo's imagination if you've already accepted them singing a Broadway showstopper assembled from a bunch of debris and trash...

As for the 'how do they move'? Who says they ever moved at all? Every single instance of the Gargoyles coming to life was done with Quasimodo right there, or directly off-screen. Every. Single. Time. Even Hugo's, "Hey!" response to Clopin's "Make a face as gruesome as a gargoyle's wing" lyric. (Quasimodo is seen looking up at the facade of the building at the Gargoyles who are cheering him on.) So, I don't see why it's so hard to swallow that Quasi imagined the interplay between the gargoyles and the goat, or the gargoyles and the soldiers. I just don't. If you can accept that they can be imagined to sing and dance, to have intricate conversations, and to hop about, how is it any more ridiculous to assume they can be imagined 'fighting'?

All that being said, I believe them to be real. Like the church itself brought these statues to life to provide Quasimodo company and keep him sane from all the years of emotional and verbal abuse dished out by Frollo. (That, and the eerie life-likeness of the statues of the Saints and the Virgin looking down on Frollo during the prologue and the fact that the Church itself seems to smite Frollo as it were.)

But you can honestly look at it either way you want. Either Quasimodo is a little insane after years of isolation and abuse, and, as a result, is forced to imagine friends and companionship. (Which is depressing as hell.) Or, the Church itself is a living entity, given life by God, and all the statuary is sentient to some degree. (Hey, we see the Virgin Mary's eyes snap open and look down on Frollo, the Saints snapping their fingers during A Guy Like You, and a Demonic gargoyle snarl in Frollo's face in addition to all the other Gargoyle antics...)

I must say I've always considered it 'disney magic' that allowed the Gargoyles to be alive (at least so as as Quasimodo was concerned) and always viewed it as somewhere inbetween them being able to interact with the real world, and Quasi's imagination.

But I must say I like both of your more absolute answers

[Ernest Rister]

I read it as the Cathedral is "alive", always have, especially in light of the ending.

[Baseballking888]

I don't think the comedic elements were the blandest thing in the film, but they're not overtly bad, so they don't detract from the greatness of this film.

[Wman1996]

Originally Posted by professorratigan

I'm actually really upset that Disney didn't press a new DVD for this set. I mean, for Christ's sake, they gave Mulan a new DVD for its set and that one didn't even NEED it. I paid nearly 30 bucks for this release, essentially for a one-disc Blu-ray, which is the most I've ever paid for ANY Disney release. Any chance we can get Disney to issue a replacement program? It kills me that if I want to watch the DVD say, on a laptop or in the car, I'm gonna be stuck with such ugly picture quality. They did it for Roger Rabbit, (which was an aspect ration issue, I understand), so why can't they do it here, too?

I e-mailed the Disney home video department myself and let them know my disappointment. Not sure it's gonna help, but at least it makes me feel like I'm doing my part. They gave me the, "We will forward your comments to the proper, blah, blah" response.

I know it's so pathetic. It's especially sad how they never ever ported the Laserdisc features to the DVD or Blu-ray.

The only reason to get the Blu-ray is for the awesomeness of Hunchback itself (in HD) and the recycled DVD features.

[celticmoon]

I just got my batch of the 3/12 releases through the DMC today.

I decided to watch this first..... what is with the terrible menu? It's bad enough that it's a static menu, but they had to go ahead and use that terrible picture on top of hat? (Referring to the menu for original, since I'm ignoring the sequel entirely.) This got one of the classiest covers of the dreaded 2-movie collections, but one of the worst menus I've seen. Hope the other ones aren't quite this bad.

I'm not even going to mention the lack of special features since I'm sure it's been discussed to death.

[BenAndrewsNYC]

agreed, got mine today and was like WTF with this disgusting menu?

[insomniac013]

Originally Posted by benandrewsnyc

agreed, got mine today and was like wtf with this disgusting menu?

need moar pics

[yumny]

Originally Posted by insomniac013

need moar pics

The review of this website actually has one:

[Show spoiler]

[insomniac013]

Originally Posted by yumny

The review of this website actually has one:

[Show spoiler]

Ah, doesn't look too bad. Generic sure, but disgusting? Not really.

[yeslek]

Originally Posted by insomniac013

Ah, doesn't look too bad. Generic sure, but disgusting? Not really.

makes the UK DVD menu look quite good (And I thought THAT was simplistic and half arsed)

[I-C-Blue]

The fact that we now have an anamorphic widescreen HD version of the movie is worth looking over the horrendous menu.

I finally watched it today. All I can say is WOW - better than I remembered it. Was honestly a little worried that revisiting this movie would make me realize how I only liked it because I was a kid. As an adult, I loved every bit of it, minus a few flawed mishaps but this was way better than some Disney canons I've revisited.

If there's anything that's worse than the menu is the sequel. My sister literally screamed at the top of her lungs when testing out not even 10 seconds of it.

[wonkavision]

I blind bought this and I'm so glad I did. What a great Disney film! I have to admit, I lost interest in Disney after Pocahontas and haven't seen a bulk of them since. The most recent is The Princess and The Frog and Tangled that I have on blu and actually like very much.

[akayw0718]

Originally Posted by I-C-Blue

The fact that we now have an anamorphic widescreen HD version of the movie is worth looking over the horrendous menu.

I finally watched it today. All I can say is WOW - better than I remembered it. Was honestly a little worried that revisiting this movie would make me realize how I only liked it because I was a kid. As an adult, I loved every bit of it, minus a few flawed mishaps but this was way better than some Disney canons I've revisited.

If there's anything that's worse than the menu is the sequel. My sister literally screamed at the top of her lungs when testing out not even 10 seconds of it.

I read this as, "horrendous movie," and then was so confused. And the infuriated - because, seriously the soundtrack is the best thing ever.