COMPARISON ESSAY

Hunchback of Notre Dame is an epic-animated Disney film which was produced

during the Disney Renaissance or specifically dated, 1996. The sequel was later

produced in 2002 as Hunchback of Notre Dame II with all the cast in the first movie

brought back, except for the villain who had died in the first movie, and a few extra

characters. Though both film are in the same settings and are related to one another,

there are some amount of changes from the movie such as the characters,

animation and also the soundtrack. Both film have received different reception from

reviews and audiences.

Despite how the story are in the same settings, the personality of the characters

have changed. In the first movie, Quasimodo, the main character, was a curious man

who seeks to know what the outside world is like. He was also a naïve, young man

who would only obey his master, Judge Frollo and fears him. In the movie, he also

shown to be rejected by the people of Paris and he himself fears the citizen of Paris.

However, in the sequel, Quasimodo was no longer curious about Paris as he have

walked Paris in day and night without the fear of being laugh at by the people. He

also no longer needed to obey anyone now that his master was gone. The citizen of

Paris accepted Quasimodo and liked him after he helped the citizen to overthrow the

cruel minister of Justice. Due to how Quasimodo was more accepted and less fear to

the outside world. There are less conflict in the sequel, making it’s story very much

weaker than the original story. The villains are also weak in the sequel in terms of

power and also the personality. The villain of the first movie, Judge Claude Frollo

was a minister of Justice and could easily burn down Paris for the sake of one gypsy

whom he loved. The citizen of Paris fear his power and the gypsies would tremble

just to hear his name. However, Sarousch was simply an evil-magician who plan to

steal a gigantic bell, Le Fidele. He was easily intimidated by Phoebus, a city guard,

and would put the blame on his one and only servant. To make Judge Claude Frollo

laugh, no one fears Sarousch except his servant. The difference in strength of

characters creates a difference in the quality of storyline of the movie.

The animation of the series degraded on ridiculous levels. The first movie is detailed

not only the movement of each characters but also the detail of the statues, bells,

etc. The texture of the background was painted and is beautifully presented. The

theme of series differs accordingly to their script. For example the festival scene

where everyone gather around and compare who was the ugliest of all. You can feel

the how cheerful with bits of confetti constantly falling from everywhere and the

crowd dancing. Hunchback of Notre Dame II, however, are lack of details in nearly

everything. Everything looks simplistic and slightly better than any cartoon seen on

television. The drawings or animation do not create any feeling or power to make the

audience understand what the character feels such as the scene where characters

singing “Le Jour D’Amour” which is another festival for lovers. No one was there

except for the few people who would dance with the song as if those people were

hired to dance at the outside of Notre Dame and then go back home instead of an

actual festival. There are also nothing else such as confetti or pennant flags

(although the first part of the scene shows Quasimodo hanging it in the street but I

suppose it’s not enough to tie around Notre Dame)

What is Hunchback of Notre Dame if not the soundtrack of the film? The soundtrack

of both movie are scripted so that story and the feelings of the character are

expressed in a musical manner. However, Hunchback of Notre Dame did it right

while the sequel did it worse. In the first movie, the good voice acting in every

characters are mixed with an orchestra and choir performed behind creating an epic

mixture. This mixture enhance the feelings the character were expressing in the

movie. One of the famous example is “Hellfire” sang by Judge Claude Frollo

expressing his love about a gypsy yet feels guilty and sinned for loving her because

of his prejudice against gypsies. The scream of Frollo shows his frustration for his

love towards her while the choir screams his inner thought, showing his real feelings

screaming “Mea Culpa!!” The movie uses this mixture a lot as the film continues till

the end to create the most epic soundtrack. Unfortunately, the composer changed for

the Hunchback of Notre Dame II and so did the entire feel for the soundtrack. What’s

left is the good voice actor from the first movie but the mixture changed entirely. The

choir are taken away and the orchestra performance were simplified to an obvious

way. So the entire soundtrack have absolute no depth and whatever that is heard will

be just that, no further analysis.

To conclude the comparison, I certainly hope there will be either improvement or

cancellation of the series. It’s better to let a good movie end with what it is than to

forcefully continue and making a mess out of it. My advice applies not only to

Hunchback of Notre Dame but also to any other movie sequels.