The Hunchback of Notre Dame II
Year: 2002
Directed by: Bradley Raymond
Starring: Tom Hulce, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Love Hewitt & Demi Moore
Runtime: 66 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 18/04/22
Directed by: Bradley Raymond
Starring: Tom Hulce, Kevin Kline, Jennifer Love Hewitt & Demi Moore
Runtime: 66 mins
BBFC: U
Published: 18/04/22
After the last few Disney Animated Sequels were downright bad, I had my reservations going into The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. I mean it seemed as though Walt Disney Television Animation had taken a step back to the early days of the studio where having a small budget was just an excuse for them to pump out some low quality trashy cash-in. Especially hearing that Hunchback II had been received less than favourably by critics, I set my expectations low and expected the worst. But in reality, whilst not a particularly good film, Hunchback II is at least a step up from the last few titles the studio has pushed out.
Six years after the events of the first film, Phoebus (Kevin Kline) is Paris’ Captain of the Guard and married to Esmerelda (Demi Moore), with whom he has a son, Zephyr (Haley Joel Osment). Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) is now accepted amongst the Notre Dame locals, however he continues to reside in the bell tower of the Cathedral.
The day of love has come around and Notre Dame will be holding a festival, complete with a carnival. The carnival leader, Sarousch (Michael McKean) is secretly a master criminal and seeks to steal one of Notre Dame’s bells, tasking Madellaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to find it and take it by any means necessary.
But when Madellaine and Quasimodo begin to fall in love, she cannot go through with the robbery for fear of hurting a man she has come to care for.
Six years after the events of the first film, Phoebus (Kevin Kline) is Paris’ Captain of the Guard and married to Esmerelda (Demi Moore), with whom he has a son, Zephyr (Haley Joel Osment). Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) is now accepted amongst the Notre Dame locals, however he continues to reside in the bell tower of the Cathedral.
The day of love has come around and Notre Dame will be holding a festival, complete with a carnival. The carnival leader, Sarousch (Michael McKean) is secretly a master criminal and seeks to steal one of Notre Dame’s bells, tasking Madellaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to find it and take it by any means necessary.
But when Madellaine and Quasimodo begin to fall in love, she cannot go through with the robbery for fear of hurting a man she has come to care for.
Let’s kick things off with the negatives and get it out of the way. As a sequel to The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hunchback II is wholly unnecessary and quite bad. It retains almost nothing that made the original as great as it was, never daring to touch on the darker or mature themes of the original film and instead presenting a squeaky clean representation of a time period that was anything but.
In addition to this the film looks awful. We’re talking Return of Jafar levels of bad here with sparse environments, and character models that either look incredibly rushed and low quality, or barely resemble what they looked like in the original film. Considering we have seen what the studio are capable of with films like Lion King II and Little Mermaid II, I can’t even begin to fathom why Hunchback II has reverted back into looking like a cheap Disney knock-off from the early 90’s.
Besides those aspects, everything else about Hunchback II is surprisingly good. Despite the story not having those darker undertones, it is engaging enough for a straight to DVD sequel. The characters are just as engaging as ever and it’s nice to get to see a happier side to Quasimodo, considering how understandably miserable he was for most of the first film.
Most of the original voice cast reprise their roles too, and the result means that although Hunchback II doesn’t look the part, it certainly sounds like it…mostly. The songs aren’t anywhere near as good or memorable, but like most of the Disney Animated Sequels, they aren’t criminally bad either.
As it stands, Hunchback II is a bad sequel…but far from the worst thing to come out of the Disney Animated Sequels. There’s probably just enough here to keep fans of the original interested, even if it is only to satisfy a fleeting curiosity. I wouldn’t exactly recommend it, the low quality visuals and lack of mature themes mean that it’s a Hunchback tale in name only and is probably best left forgotten.
In addition to this the film looks awful. We’re talking Return of Jafar levels of bad here with sparse environments, and character models that either look incredibly rushed and low quality, or barely resemble what they looked like in the original film. Considering we have seen what the studio are capable of with films like Lion King II and Little Mermaid II, I can’t even begin to fathom why Hunchback II has reverted back into looking like a cheap Disney knock-off from the early 90’s.
Besides those aspects, everything else about Hunchback II is surprisingly good. Despite the story not having those darker undertones, it is engaging enough for a straight to DVD sequel. The characters are just as engaging as ever and it’s nice to get to see a happier side to Quasimodo, considering how understandably miserable he was for most of the first film.
Most of the original voice cast reprise their roles too, and the result means that although Hunchback II doesn’t look the part, it certainly sounds like it…mostly. The songs aren’t anywhere near as good or memorable, but like most of the Disney Animated Sequels, they aren’t criminally bad either.
As it stands, Hunchback II is a bad sequel…but far from the worst thing to come out of the Disney Animated Sequels. There’s probably just enough here to keep fans of the original interested, even if it is only to satisfy a fleeting curiosity. I wouldn’t exactly recommend it, the low quality visuals and lack of mature themes mean that it’s a Hunchback tale in name only and is probably best left forgotten.