Okay, you can make a cartoon version of Hunchback. That's not impossible. You can even give it an ending without everyone dying (as long as you don't pair Quasimodo with Esmeralda). That's trickier but could still be workable. What you CAN'T do is insert singing and dancing gargoyles. That just doesn't work for this story, sorry. I love to hear Jason Alexander sing, but... no. No, no, no. Talk about yanking you out of the movie. I suspect they were just inserted to try to make the movie more kid-friendly, although that doesn't actually work because the movie is still too dark to really work as a child's movie.
*However*, if the gargoyles (and the few other out-of-place comments or jokes) had been removed from the movie, it would have been quite good! It may be a lightened version of the story, but it's still there, and it's beautifully done. The musical sequences in particular were lovely. "Out There" was my favorite - it captured Quasimodo's total isolation from the world in a way that worked really well for me.
Disney, you ALMOST got it right. If those stupid gargoyles hadn't been in there, this movie could have quite possibly gotten four and a half stars. But because I had to sit through their antics and silly song (okay, I actually like the song, but only when out of context), you lost a star and a half. *shakes head* So close, so close. 3 stars.
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