Voice of Jennifer Love Hewitt. The lovable Quasimodo and his pal Zephyr thwart the plan of an evil magician and save his lovely assistant. Animated. 2002/color/68 min/NR.

Return to the magnificence of Notre Dame in Disney's all-new movie, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II - a fun, romantic adventure told with vibrant animation and music as soaring as its setting. Still the faithful protector of Notre Dame's beloved bells, Quasimodo now rings them with the help of Esmeralda's and Phoebus' little boy, Zephyr, who is Quasi's best friend. Stopping wit

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Well, if you really loved the first movie, you want to see your favorite characters in a new adventure with the same feel as the first movie, right?

You're not going to get what you want when you watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. The old characters are there....sort of, but they look like they went through plastic surgery and act so...not like themselves. And they follow up the wonderfully dark, complex story in the first movie with an overly-sweet simple romance.

Now, the original Hunchback of Notre Dame happens to be my favorite movie of all time! (see my review of it) When I watch a sequel, I want to visit the same world again, not a sweetened-up, underdrawn version. This movie was NOT aimed at fans of the original, but rather at the parents and critics who complained that the first movie was too dark for the wittle kiddies.

Okay, I'll tell you what's so bad about this sequel, and how big a disgrace it is to its preceedor.

1. Animation. It STANK!!! Of course no DTV project could live up to the dazzling work of the original, but this animation truely STANK. Characters moved so choppily at some scenes that I wondered if there were frames missing. When people talked (particually Phoebus), their jaws appeared to be broken. And come on, can't they at least decide what color to make Esmeralda's skin???

2. Story. A circus comes to Paris and the ringmaster Sarousch wants to steal the La Fiedle bell from Notre Dame. The bell is used in a festival that appears to involve nothing execpt every couple in Paris shouting out their true love's names (oh pleeeeaase!). Sarousch sends his assistant Madellaine to trick Quasimodo into showing her where the bell is, but she ends up becoming fond of Quasimodo (ala Hercules and Megara). But Sarousch takes the bell and Quasi now has to learn how to trust Madellaine and find true love (blah, blah, blah).

First off, everyone knows that the whole city would rejoice if they were spared having to shout who they loved to the world while a big bell clanged.

Secondly, Quasimodo and Madellaine's romance (the sole purpose for this movie's existance) is one of the weakest love stories Disney has ever cooked up. They meet with a string of bad jokes and obnoxious laughter, then Maddy sees Quasi's face and runs away, then Quasi immediatly starts dreaming about marrying the girl. Oh PLEASE!!! Esmeralda and Phoebus had a more believeable love story in the first movie, and their romance wasn't even the center of the story!

3. Characters. Like I said, the old characters act nothing like themselves. And the new characters are hardly memorable.

Quasimodo acted like a total dip. He must be at least 26 by now, but he acts SO IMMATURE!! He babbles on and on about being lovesick for Madellaine like a dope (he acted much more dignified when he was in love with Esmeralda!). What happened to his deep personality???

Esmeralda didn't seem to do much other than counsel Quasimodo about how to find true love and get angry at Phoebus for being prejudiced. NOOOOOOOO!!! SHE NEEDS MORE SCREEN TIME THAN THAT!!! Did they keep her out of the story so they wouldn't have to pay Demi Moore as much???? Well....at least her character wasn't butchered so much as some of the other characters.

Phoebus acted like a jerk. Since WHEN is he prejudiced against circus people???? They turned him into a not-as-mean version of Frollo! He kept rambling on and on about how circus people can't be trusted, but then he plays right into Sarousch's plan like an idiot. "How could I have been such a fool?" he moans. I don't know, Phoebus, you tell me!

Madellaine was a hundred times inferior to Esmeralda. I lost count how many times she'd say something like "Oh, I'm so stupid," and then Quasimodo would tell her she's not. And she has a real silly sense of humor (discribing a bell as a big hat for one thing). I cannot believe Quasimodo would go from loving Esmeralda to loving her! And if the whole purpose of the sequel is to give Quasimodo true love, shouldn't his new love be as good or better than his old one?? Quasi deserves better than this!

Sarousch has to be one of the stupidest characters ever to come off the drawing board. We follow Frollo, the deepest, darkest, and most intruiging villian ever with a vain, one-dimentional ringmaster who was ALWAYS looking in the mirror and saying things like "Oh, lovely." I can't believe Disney would even CONSIDER this!!!!!

And Esmeralda and Phoebus's son Zephyr is one of the most one-dimentional kid characters they've ever done. (Is it just me, or is Disney obessed with their heroes and heroines having children lately?) Most of his lines consisted of "Wow!" and "Yay!" over and over again, and his sole purpose in the story seemed to be to get kidnapped, so the climax wouldn't be just about saving a bell. And his design looks like they simply took Phoebus and made him 20 years younger. (Very fitting for the child of an interracial marriage, right?)

4. Songs. Awful. Typical DTV junk, especially one where Quasimodo and Zephyr sing about their friendship. How on EARTH could they follow Alan Menken and Steven Schwartch's wonderful soundtrack with this!!!!

I could go on ranting forever, but I have a feeling I'm reaching the 1000 word limit. In short, if you're a critic who hated the first movie because it was too dark for kiddies, you'll be satisfied.

But we Hunchback fans are left with a murder.

12 of 13 found the following review helpful:

The magic of Disney just isn't ringing hereMar 22, 2002
By Peter Wright
Past direct-to-video releases prompted me to buy this one and left me disappointed. While the voice work is impressive--especially since most of the original cast returns-- the animation just doesn't resonate with the usual Disney smoothness. Characters walk across the screen with sometimes choppy motion that you rarely see in Disney animation. The whole production seems to have been as quickly slapped together as the short story which clocks in at just over an hour. Haley Joel Osment and Jennifer Love Hewitt compliment the rest of the cast nicely, but just can't improve the weak plot and animation. The end credits song -- the one you have probably all heard by now in commercials-- was not only sung by Hewitt, but also penned by her, which makes it more enjoyable. Finally, the DVD sorely lacks any real extras. There is a small documentary featuring Hewitt. The "games" are fun maybe once, but don't lend themselves to repeat playing. Disney's past success and the beauty of the original Hunchback of Notre Dame make this release all the more disappointing.

10 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Just horrible..Sep 10, 2004
By haunter_girl
It's always a dilemma when deciding wether you should buy a Disney sequel or not. On one side, you might be a huge disney fan and/or curious of the sequel, on the other hand, you've seen many others of those cheap Direct-to-video sequels disney is sadly producing at the moment. Not all disney sequels are bad, mind. But you should better read some reviews or rent the movie before buying it, just incase it turns out to be one of the bad ones.

This movie here is definitely of the bad ones. In fact, I think it's the cheapest one I've seen so far. It has absolutely none of the magic the original movie had, so don't be fooled by its title. Sure, it might be nice that Quasimodo finally gets a girlfriend as well, but frankly, it seems a little like the makers of the movie just thought that it was absolutely necessary that every character gets a lover. Even Phoebus' horse got a girlfriend!

The moral ("don't judge things by their appeareance") might be nice, but I think it's already come across well enough in the first movie. It's kind of forced here. There are so many situations where a character judges something by its outside and then is proven wrong, like the bell which looks ugly on the outside, but has jewels on the inside, and the herb Quasi gives to his girlfriend, not cause it's pretty, but cause it smells good.

The story is rather ridiculous. The feast of love, where everyone shouts out their love's name, is a cheesy idea. And Quasi's "love story" with Madeleine starts with her seeing him and running away screaming in fear. After that, Quasi already starts singing a song about how they may fall in love, even though he doesn't even know her.

The Animation is pretty bad too. There was even a scene that wasn't drawn completely! In the beginning, as the couples walk over the stage singing, they start disappearing before they reach the end of the screen.

THIS sequel is definitely not worth your money. I bought it because I heard so many negative comments on it which made me curious, but even that wasn't worth it.

8 of 9 found the following review helpful:

As bad as they say...Apr 05, 2004
By Jessie A Durer
This movie is as bad (or worse) than everyone has said. the animation is shoddy, and the storyline is boring. If you are looking for a good cartoon... look elsewhere. You'd be throwing your money away on this one.

9 of 11 found the following review helpful:

Is there more to this movie than what you really see?May 12, 2002

I am not a big fan of Disney sequels since they lack so much in the plot and songs of the origionals. Its sad to see they are starting to seriously slack off. After all, the origional hunchback was amazing! It was dark, mature, and spicy. The songs were cevorly made and the people making it put all they had to see that it was good. As for this one, it was made by various Japanese companies in order to save a dollar. I began to wonder how they even got the origional actors to return in order to make this cheap second-rate film. I'll go over it slowly so you may know what I mean...

Animation: Yuck is right! It looks like your average Saturday morning cartoon! Far from the great graphics and splashes of darkness and light the origional had to offer. The characters moved in a choppy form, and the black lines around them were far too thick. In some scense (ie: in the staircase) the background was computerized however the character didn't blend in enough so it looked totally wrong. It was also apparant that they tried to use watercolor backgrounds when Quasimodo was singing his little number, but it didn't look truely real enough to get an overall effect. When the sun was setting, they tried to get a shadowy color on the faces however they looked almost too dark and pink. Esmeralda's skin kept changing color between frames (along with Hugo who was pink for a while). When they spoke, the lip movements didn't always match the words.

Plot: Not what I would call creative! There was the Festival of Fools in the origional, couldn't they think of something different? And they kept hammering the message of appearances over and over to the point in which it got to be annoying. Perhaps some person who worked for Disney wasn't happy that Quasimodo never got the girl. Oh well that's life. The sequel was seemingly meant for little children and not the fans of the origional or Victor Hugo enthusiasts. I reccomend you read the book and figure out that the whole story was meant for adults and its hard to turn something so serious into a kid's movie. When you do that, you mess it all up most of the time. The origional hunchback followed that book very well, but it's not a 'sequel type'.

How does one steal a bell that weighs at least two tons? You would have to be super stong to lift it, let alone get it underground. And why is a character who had such a good role in the origional (Clopin) stuck singing a small number here and there? That's not even the main point though. The love story was completely rushed! One minute Madellaine's afriad of Quasi, the next she's falling all over him and vice versa. I distinctly remember that the night Quasi and Madellaine were hanging around Paris together, Clopin said the festival was tomorrow. Well tomorrow came and then they said it was the next day! Gee isn't that funny? And what's the point of shouting who they love while a bell clanged? Or putting the jewels on the inside? If I was to manufacture a bell, wouldn't it be smart to put the jewels on the outside? Sure they used that 'inside' trick as a metaphor for Quasimodo (ahem: beauty is on the inside), but wouldn't the clanger thing break the bell? Hmm. I would prefer they not focus the whole story on the shallow romance and leave the actual good stuff as pretexts. The best part was when Quaismodo angrily slammed the door of the cathedral when Madellaine was trying to talk to him as she was being arrested - she deserved no less.

Characters: No one was like themselves. Quasimodo never fell all over Esmeralda in the origional. In the sequel he's practically acting like a loser. Madellaine is as average as it comes - how could he fall in love with her? I would think he would have wanted someone special and understanding who didn't run away when they saw him. Her main line is always saying she's stupid (she is actually really dumb) and I lost count of how many times she would repeat things. Esmeralda was sort of left alone, however her role from being a main character went to being a mentor for Quasi and popping up every once in a while. Phoebus was probably the smartest person in the film. The second he came up with the bad circus people idea, everyone got ticked off at him! They never concidered it might have been true. Hugo was really strange, and most likely the first homosexual Disney character since he fell in love with a goat who is a guy. And as for Zephyr, he was the most annoying Disney kid I have ever heard of. All he said was 'wow' and 'yay'. Clopin himself seemed different. His role was minor, however he too acted all weird. Sarousch was the typical greedy bad guy who would always lose in the end. He was not even nearly as good as Frollo because Frollo was a bundle of lust and hate. They never even mentioned his name in the film or hinted his very existance. And Sarousch looked even worse than Quasimodo himself!

Overall, I think this film deserves no more than two stars at the best. I don't think that the little kinds would care that this movie really blows or concentrate on the graphics and plot. If Disney is going to slack off, they are going to get bad reviews from the fans who actually do care of how bad it is (ie: myself and company). It isn't fair for them to do this to a wonderful movie and deep book. The sequel is an insult to the origional characters, the author of the book, and people who adore and respect it.

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