Ben says: I'm not sure exactly how Victor Hugo would feel about this film (although I suspect he would have been very happy with the merchandising rights), but as a piece of Disney fluff it has a villain almost as good as the evil queen in Sleeping Beauty, a plot to rank amongst the best the Disney films have had to offer and a main character that says "Hey, it's OK to be hideously ugly (as long as you've got Tom Hulce's voice)." Like most Disney movies, I don't appreciate the songs and I find time drags for me while they are playing and I also found a lot of the action scenes in this very derivative from previous Disney movies, particularly Aladdin, but overall it makes for passable viewing. The presence of computer generated elements is even more noticeable than in previous films and I hope that Disney goes back to disguising it better in future productions. Overall, not bad, but not one of Walt's team's best.

Ben gives it:

Fiona says: Recipe for a Disney film: Take one "classic" novel, add several completely inane songs (that all have the same melody), stir in a sentimental ugly person, a tart with a heart of gold and a blonde-haired bloke who can't act for toffee. Mix with lots of repetitive crowd scenes and give a tragic tale a happy ending. Half-bake at Gas mark 7 for fourteen months and release onto the unsuspecting public. Result: One and a half hours of tripe. Fortunately, the children seemed to enjoy it. Unfortunately, I hated the songs, I found the villain quite tedious and the three main characters clichéd. Thank goodness I don't have to rely on promoting this film to earn a living, or I'd be eating stale bread in the Bastille this month...

Fiona gives it:

Dan says: I'm not sure, really, why Disney took this on, because, let's face it, it's not the simplest story in the world to tell within 90 minutes. What's their point? What are they saying? Gypsies are sexy and wild (and "don't do well behind stone walls")? Esmeralda, as voiced by Demi Moore (looked like her, too), went beyond the usual flirtatious-dusky-maiden type of heroine we saw in "Aladdin" and "Beauty and the Beast" - she looked like she actually knew what was going on inside men's trousers. I enjoyed it, but I'm 27. "Hunchback," as Ben pointed out, had a wonderfully evil villain, and I enjoyed being scared by his evil lust for Esmeralda. Was he based on Stewart Granger? The songs were incongruous, but that's just Disney for you. I'd have to say, in summing up, not a classic, but certainly streets better than the terrible "Pocohontas."

Dan gives it:

Charlotte says: I thought the story was weird and I didn't like the hunchback person, because of his hump. I did like the bit where Esmeralda was doing the magic tricks, disappearing and pretending to be an old man. I didn't like the cruel old man because, for one, he said the baby had to be kept in the clock tower and two, for taking the baby away from the gypsy in the first place. I didn't like the bit where they were throwing fruit at the hunchback. I liked Phoebus, he was nice. I liked it when he caught the hunchback and I liked the Festival of Fools. Overall, I thought it was better than Pocahontas, more exciting.

Charlotte gives it: