Wolff rating: GOOD
Plot summary: Beauty-challenged inhabitant of the great cathedral meddles in the lives of a gypsy and the captain of the guard, while an evil judge watches over them all.
Biased, pithy comments: What a feast of animation! Amazing! I've never been so interested in confetti before in my life, but yow! There are some haunting, dark scenes animated without computers that are equally stunning. The music, penned by Alan Meneken and Stephen Schwartz, is fine---better than the Elton John fiasco of ``Lion King'' but still not on the toe-tapping level of ``Beauty and the Beast''. The moral is levelheaded and probably easy to understand for the kiddies, and overall this is Disney animated movie with a slightly different feel. Of course, you can still see the committee mindset here and there, as familiar licks and turns of phrase pop up from previous movies, but in general this is a rich and fascinating movie experience. Victor Hugo should be rolling in his grave for how much his story has been mangled and forced to fit the Disney formula, but I suppose quibbling about that is like quibbling about the mess they made of Pocahontas or the real tale of the Little Mermaid. Yes, so they did it. Are you going to refuse to see the show? See it for the animation and to see something that isn't exactly a fairy tale.
Other Notes: I wondered about Quasimodo's ``Erol Flynn'' effect---he always had a rope of the appropriate length that led exactly where he wanted to go.
How many times I have seen it: x2
Starring: Tom ``Pinto'' Hulce, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline