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I have read "Notre-Dame de Paris (a.k.a. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame)" by Victor Hugo, and it has become one of my all-time favorite books. When I saw the Disney adaptation, I was a bit disappointed. Let me start with the good.THE GOOD SIDE: I admire the beautiful animation (especially the accurate rendering of the Notre-Dame cathedral). It's all been done very splendidly. The songs "Topsy Turvy" and "God Help the Outcasts" are very enjoyable. The gargoyles Hugo, Victor, and Laverne will provide excellent comic relief for the kids. And finally, I'm glad they took a very dark approach for a Disney film like this . . .THE BAD SIDE: Unfortunately, this isn't dark enough. My main complaint is changing much of Victor Hugo's adult novel into a G-rated family film. Here are some major examples:-Clopin is not a jester of the Festival of Fools in the novel, rather he is a protector of the outcasts.-La Esmeralda is sixteen years old in the novel.-Phoebus does not have a friendly relationship with the outcasts.-Claude Frollo is the actual Archdeacon.-Quasimodo is deaf.-Jehan does not appear in the film.-Pierre Gringoire does not appear in the film.-The novel does NOT have a happy ending.I mean, come on, the creators of the Disney version could've at least taken some chances with this, make the audience see that animation isn't all about happy animals and dancing trees and etc. etc. But instead, we still get the same family-friendly atmosphere (except the Shrek films) in animated movies (The Incredibles, Mulan, Finding Nemo, Chicken Little, Hoodwinked, etc.). Ugh, what next? Skunks finding success in pop music? Snails becoming superheroes? The animators of today should adapt Miguel de Cervantes's "Don Quixote" or the Finnish epic "The Kalevala" or the Indian Epic "The Ramayana" and bring some dramatic approaches towards animation (whether it's 2D or 3D). Or maybe I could create that dramatic approach myself, since I want to become a director of animation myself.But who knows? The future still holds many myseteries. We'll never know what's going to happen next. |
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