Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released in 1996 and became yet another instant classic produced by Disney. The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which was inspired by Victor Hugo's legendary novel, was part of Disney's Renaissance era (where they started producing critically acclaimed filmed once again.)
Compared to other Disney movies, The Hunchback of Notre Dame wasn't as well-received, but none-the-less is still a brilliant film and is perhaps a little overlooked. Due to the unconventional characters and slightly unusual story, the film is pretty underappreciated, but with the incredible music and unique soul, it still did gain critical praise and is still a cracking film. It deserves a second watch and during that rewatch, one might notice a few hidden details.
10 Frollo's Job Was Changed From The Classic Novel
As previously mentioned, the Disney film was inspired by Victor Hugo's unique and incredibly well-received novel, but the film only loosely followed the plot of the book and one big change was regarding Frollo's job. In the book, Claude Frollo is the evil priest of Notre Dame, which could have been seen as a commentary on religion on Disney's behalf had it remained unchanged.
As a result, Disney changed his job title to Judge. This was in an attempt to make the movie have as few religious mentions and connotations as possible, even though the main setting of it was a big church. It was a pretty daunting task.
9 The Film Almost Began With A Monologue Not A Song
Disney has always had strong openings in their films that really help set the tone for the rest of the movie, especially since they are often musicals. The Lion King's "Circle Of Life" opening or Pinocchio's "When You Wish Upon A Star" are perfect examples of amazing opening songs. "The Bells of Notre Dame" can also be added to the list, and defiantly got the movie off to an unforgettable start with the amazing song.
But, things could have been quite different if they stuck to the original plan. Instead of the catchy song, fans could have opened the movie with a flashback montage with a monologue-style narration with the intent of getting fans up to speed with the background behind the story. We are incredibly thankful that they had a change of heart.
8 The Gargoyles Were Inspired By Victor Hugo's Novel
Of course, the film obviously takes some level of inspiration from Victor Hugo's classic novel. One important part of the novel that was directly revamped into the animated version was the singing gargoyles. In the novel, the fairly lonely Hunchbacl actually spends a lot of his time, in fact, hours at a time, talking to the cathedral's gargoyles.
The statues Victor, Hugo, and Laverne were used as Disney's comedic version of this from the novel. It was a pretty funny and unique spin on the storyline from the book by the directors and shows just how creative Disney can be.
7 They Took Inspiration From An Italian Opera Song
The Hunchback of Notre Dame is known for its incredible score and a number of awesome songs throughout the movie, but one, in particular, has a really good backstory and inspiration behind it. "Hellfire", the incredible solo sang by Frollo, took heavy inspiration from one of the most well-known opera songs "Te Deum".
"Te Deum" was sung by the villain Scarpia from the 1899-1990 opera Tosca. Composed by the brilliant Giacomo Puccini, the song is extremely moving and memorable, and Disney's version in The Hunchback of Notre Dame was equally passionate and gave all the fans goosebumps.
6 The Authors Family Was Not Happy With Disney's Version
The film received a lot of criticism from Hugo's family and his scholars after its release. The storyline was subject to criticism for its "vulgar commercialization by unscrupulous men" in an open letter by his family to a French newspaper.
Another big complaint from his family and colleagues was that they took heavy inspiration for the characters and storylines of The Hunchback of Notre Dame from Hugo's novel, yet there was no mention of Victor Hugo's name on any of the promotions.
5 Many Believe That The Film Should Have Been Given A PG Rating
Despite being aimed at children, many children's movies are generally rated PG, and so, Disney assumed that The Hunchback of Notre Dame would also get the same rating. However, despite the movie dealing with some slightly taboo subjects, the film was given a G rating.
This came as a shock to many of those who saw the movie after its release. Due to its mature and intense themes, many parents believe that the film should have been rated PG and have voiced this opinion online.
4 A Famous Disney Princess Had A Small Cameo In The Movie
One of the supervising animators and character designers James Baxter, who was responsible for the character of Quasimodo, has previously had important roles in the character design of other Disney characters like Rafiki from The Lion King and Belle from Beauty and the Beast. The latter also lived in France like the Hunchback, so what a perfect opportunity to include a little cameo.
She can be seen during the song "Out There" wandering the streets of Paris, and in typical fashion, reading a book as she walks. But she isn't the only cameo in that sequence as Aladdin's magic carpet can also be spotted getting a good shake out.
3 The Animation Of The Hunchback of Notre Dame Was Mainly Hand Drawn
In 1996, it was becoming more and more popular for animated films to use computer animation to create their characters for the big screen, however, Disney stuck to their roots and constructed all of the character animations for The Hunchback of Notre Dame by hand. Each frame was drawn separately, proving just how skilled the artists at Disney were.
However, the background sets for the movie were computer-generated as part of Disney's attempt to integrate computer effects into their feature films. A perfect example is a CGI used to generate large crowds of people and giving each individual crowd member a unique set of motions.
2 The Animations Took A Lot Of People To Complete
In order to complete the monstrous task of hand-drawing each frame, Disney used 620 artists to complete the movie. This also included 72,000 pencils and an incredible 1.2 million hours of work, proving just how big a task it was to create the final product. Another part of the Hunchback that made its animation so unique, was the new feature animation building at Walt Disney Studios.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame was the first movie to have been produced at the new studio, which also produced films like The Lion King and Pocahontas at a similar time. The new building and the 620 artists definitely helped to create this masterclass.
1 To Make The Film, Disney Travelled Across The Globe
The film was set in Paris, so it only makes sense for some of the crew to travel over to Paris to get a sense of authenticity in regards to the atmosphere and the architecture of the French capital city. In fact, about 100 artists and animators made around ten minutes of footage for the film in the Disney Animation Studio in Paris.
The producer along with other members of the crew traveled to London to record with the English National Opera Company and a 100-year-old pipe organ.