Reviews

My best friend Carolyn ranted and raved about this film, and I always said I liked Sleeping Beauty and nothing could surpass it. Well, out of curiousity I listened to some music (randomly) on a music downloading service. I was hooked with the first notes of The Bells of Notre Dame, and determined that I would someday see this movie. Well with its rerelease I bought it, and was spellbound. I just can't believe the guts the Disney execs had to pull it off. When I first heard about it, I, like many of the reviewers, thought, "What are they thinking?" but it took seeing the film (rather, hearing the music first) to appreciate it. That said, here's a bit about why this film deserves some respect: SOME SPOILERS

Poor Walt must have been rolling in his grave when he heard his execs even considering to undertake such a challenge. I think if he had been around he would have turned it down flat. He even said he wanted The Jungle Book to be far from what it was written to be. He wanted his works to be for children, pleasing to the eyes and ears, with a wholesome story. Well, I can't say he would be proud of it, however it would get his respect for a number of reasons:

The animation is far superior than any other animated film I've ever seen, surpassing Sleeping Beauty and Pocahontas. The battle for Notre Dame at the end is a spectacular clash of colors. The drawings of Notre Dame herself are amazing, especially the inside during Esmerelda's endearing ballad "God Help The Outcasts." I wasn't crazy about the three gargoyles; which is why I stayed away from this one, but seeing the movie for a few times made me realize how important they are to the story's progression. Once you analyze them and their presence it seems almost excusable. I don't care for their song however it does set a bit of opposite-foreshadowing. The gargoyles think Esmerelda is in love with Quasi but in fact she is not.

The most amazing animation comes during the song "Hellfire." This is Menken's most incredible song, and the best song I've ever heard for a film. It's innaproppriate for young children, yes. However as a sequence it deserves more respect than it's gotten.

The main reason I enjoyed this film is because of the characters. They seem almost human, unlike so many of Disney's other characters who just seem like figments of our imagination. These characters, the story, leads you to wonder if this could have, or could ever, happen. Sure it's based on Hugo, but it is not as tragic as the book. Although I have not read it, I know what happens at the end, I still want to read it. What you should do if you have not seen this movie, or avoided seeing it or analyzing it for what it is, ask yourself this: If it had been PRECISELY what Hugo wrote, nothing more, nothing less, would it have been any good?

God help this outcast in Disney films. I don't see too many people (besides soundtrack enthusiasts like myself) giving it respect.

This is the most original cartoon I've seen since Garfield. I absolutely love their scams and attempts to be cool and fit in with the others and be trendsetters. A few of my favorite episodes include the one where they open the pet cleaning service, the "luxury cruise," when Eddy loses his voice, the newspaper route (if you look closely you'll see Double D without his hat breifly), and when htey try to become "Urban Rangers." My ultimate favorite is when Eddy and Ed write fake Post-it Notes for Double D. These are just some of my favorites. I liked every single episode I have seen so far. I have many of them on a 6 hour tape (call me crazy). I've never seen a more original show, at least in the toons department.

Not that I loath Zimmer's score, I think it was masterful and beautiful, but for a story so similar to Titanic, wouldn't he have thought up some way to really compete with it? The song is nice but doesn't play orchestrally throughout the movie like Titanic, I suppose that's cause he didn't write it.

I like this movie, but only the parts minus the love story.

When I saw this, I wasn't expecting a Titanic ripoff. I was expecting something TRUE. I saw this very same thing (sort of) in a time travel episode of BOY MEETS WORLD. Cory goes off to the war, makes his best friend Shawn promise if he doesn't come back to marry Topanga, then he comes back from the dead so to speak, interrupting the wedding.

For an actor of Cuba's status I was surprised his character wasn't developed more. All that time they spent showing the closeness between the three fictional characters they could have spent on REAL people in Pearl Harbor before the attack, much like Cameron did in Titanic. See my review on that for more insight.

When my mom and stepfather got home from seeing this, I said, "Too bad it wasn't true," and my mom and stepfather were so misled by the love story they couldn't believe it was fiction. The same went for my sister and her husband, and even my brother who is an expert at war movies, ESPECIALLY WWII, was duped, and his girlfriend. What's hilarious is that I am the youngest out of all of them and I knew it was too soapy-Titanic-like to be true.

I don't care for war movies, so I can't really recommend an alternative one to seeing this, but I can advise, SEE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK. IF HISTORY IS WHAT YOU WANT, JUST WATCH THE ATTACK-THE END. Or perhaps check out some documentaries, or if you are into anything about America's involvement in WWII, watch BAND OF BROTHERS, excellent miniseries from HBO.

It's really a shame that they couldn't find ANYTHING AT ALL that would make the audience "care" for the real people in this event that they had to create FICTIONAL characters instead. Is this what historical filmmaking has been reduced to? Or were they just aching for a hit like Titanic?

I am totally surprised that this movie isn't shown anymore, and also surprised that hardly anyone has reviewed this. This is the best I have ever seen from Depardieu, and Malkovich is almost as good as he was in Shadow of the Vampire. The rest of the cast is wonderful.

In terms of story, it's pretty faithful to the book from what I can tell, but unfortunately they do not really go into detail with Eponine's death, but at least they get Gavroche's death right, unlike the terrible Neeson/Rush version.

Hugo would be proud of this one.