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The Hunchback of Notre Dame II

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II

List Price: $19.99
Your Price: $17.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: What a Pleasant Surprise!
Review: No it's not the Original. Sequels (animated and not) are seldom as good as the original. But there is a sweet quality to this one...from dh & my perspective and that of my 4yo daughter. She understood this movie...she provides a running commentary throughout. The songs are very nice. Tom Hulce and Jennifer Love Hewitt compliment each other in song and voice. The moral? Always look inside a person to see who they really are...the outside is not always true. It's also a struggle of being ready to love. Quasi fears the thought of finding someone who will accept him. He is not ready. Sometimes love comes when and where you least expect it. And considering all the other "lessons" that bombard our kids today, I will stand by Hunchback II.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The magic of Disney just isn't ringing here
Review: Past direct-to-video releases prompted me to buy this one and left me disappointed. While the voice work is impressive--especially since most of the original cast returns-- the animation just doesn't resonate with the usual Disney smoothness. Characters walk across the screen with sometimes choppy motion that you rarely see in Disney animation. The whole production seems to have been as quickly slapped together as the short story which clocks in at just over an hour. Haley Joel Osment and Jennifer Love Hewitt compliment the rest of the cast nicely, but just can't improve the weak plot and animation. The end credits song -- the one you have probably all heard by now in commercials-- was not only sung by Hewitt, but also penned by her, which makes it more enjoyable. Finally, the DVD sorely lacks any real extras. There is a small documentary featuring Hewitt. The "games" are fun maybe once, but don't lend themselves to repeat playing. Disney's past success and the beauty of the original Hunchback of Notre Dame make this release all the more disappointing.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: STUPID! Stupid! Stupid!
Review: Stupid story, stupid animation, stupid charecters!
YOU WASTED OUR MONEY!
DON't BY THIS TERRIBLE FILM!!!!

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: STRIKE 2
Review: THE FIRST ONE WAS BAD BUT HAD GOOD ANIMATION.THIS ONE HAS BAD MUSIC,ANIMATION,STORYLINE ETC...QUASIMODO IS UGLIER THAN EVER, AND ZEPHYR(WHAT'S UP WITH HIS NAME) LOOKS NOTHING LIKE ESMERELDA!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Way Better Than The Original
Review: The Hunchback Of Notre Dame 2 is definitely a movie that you should own.
Sometimes this is not always true, but this proves that sequels like this one are better.

In the beginning, there is going to be a festival in honor of love, probably Valentines Day. And every one is especially excited because the golden bell of Notre Dame, known as La Fidele, with all it's sparkling jewels, will be rung at the festival. When everything seemed just about perfect, the circus comes to town! Cirque de' Sarousch. Everything seemed absolutely wonderful, that is until everybody comes to see the circus. Sarousch is really a thief, and the rest of the circus is too. During the performance of the circus, Quasi falls in love with Sarousch's assistant, Madellaine. The reason the circus came to town is because Sarousch wants to steal La Fidele. So he wants Madellaine to use Quasi so he can steal it. But all that changes when Madellaine actually falls in love with him. When Sarousch says that it's finally time to lure Quasi away so he can steal the bell that evening, Madellaine refuses. But when he said he would kill Quasi if she didn't do it, she feared for his life and, with a heavy heart, accepted. Now, when Quasimodo's best friend Zephyr saw Sarousch steal La Fidele, he decided to go after him. When Quasi, Esmeralda and Phoebus find out that Zephyr is going after them, (Esmeralda & Phoebus are Zephyr's parents), Phoebus gathers his army and with Madellaine's help, they stop Sarousch - well, nearly. He threatened that if Phoebus did not let him escape with the bell, Zephyr's life would be hanging by a thread. So as Sarousch is escaping, Madellaine (with Quasi's help), does a tight rope act and saves Zephyr, while Phoebus and his army capture Sarousch. At last when the big holiday comes, as part of the tradition, everyone shouts out who they love. And, it isn't too surprising that Quasimodo shouts Madellaine's name, and Madellaine shouts Quasi's.

The bonus features in here are so funny and so cool. There's the Behind The Scenes With Jennifer Love Hewitt, (the voice of Madellaine), the Festival Of
Fun Activity, and the funniest, It's Not Easy Being A Gargoyle, a fun poetic
tribute read by Jason Alexander. Also, there is a DVD-ROM weblink, but I couldn't see it listed with all the other bonus features. Well, maybe it's just when you stick it into a DVD-ROM drive.
Well that's it. I hope that this review has helped you and encourages you to
Get this DVD.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: The Hunchback of Notre Dame II DVD
Review: The sequel to 1996's "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame" is not as bad as Disney's previous DTV attempt "Cinderella II: Dreams Come True". However, that does not mean that this sequel is all wonderful.

Here, we have a new story about Quasimodo still wanting to find love but still worrying about his appearances. At this point, it seems like we have something good, but the unraveling of the story just seems like Disney tried, actually tried, to ruin the movie as much as they could.

Quasi's love interest in the sequel is Madelline, an assistant of Sarouch - a dishonest klepto who wants to steal Notre Dame's "La Fidelle" (a bell that has jewels in it's interior. How it chimes without breaking is beyond me). Sarouch expects Madelline to help steal the bell by distracting the Hunchback. She does, against her will, but as she spends time with Quasi she falls for him. All this would have worked, if it had not been so rushed (the film is less than an hour). Had it been expanded to develop the characters more, this movie would have been a lot better. The climatic scene in the catacombs of Paris is so full of television style hijinks, you just wouldn't believe.

Lastly, it should be said that this film was made by Walt Disney Television Animation. This immediatly negates the film from having any awe-inspiring animation like the original classics. It amazes me how now even the quality of DTV movies from Disney is on the decline. The entire film looks like one big Saturday morning cartoon. And it's so careless that Esmeralda's skin color actually changes from scene to scene.

This really isn't something that fans of the original "Hunchback" would want to see, but it is harmless for the kids...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: You call this a sequal?
Review: The story line is stupid. Quasi falls in love with a girl who only feels sorry for him. The girl plans to help steal a jeweled bell. The story is filled with so many badly sung songs that it sounds like a bad musical from hades. The animation is so aweful that I could not recognize some of the characters until they said their names. The gargoyles aren't as funny and they don't have the same voices. It looks like it took about two hours to make the entire movie because the drawings and the songs were so bad.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Much more kid-orientated than the original
Review: This direct-to-video sequel is definitely aimed more towards the kids, than the original film was. It has a more happier feel to it

Like most direct-to-video sequels, it does not top the originals. The animation is much poorer, same with the songs, and you get a shorter story.

On the bonus side though, the majority of the major cast are back- Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, Kevin Kline, Jason Alexander, Charles Kimbrough. Jane Withers returns full-time to do the voice of Laverne, after filling in for Mary Wickes in the original when she passed away with just a few more lines to go(not that you could notice the difference, mind you).

As for the three additional characters that make their debut in this film, Michael McKean as Sarousch, the magician- he, as always, does a brilliant performance. Haley Joel Osment as Phoebus and Esmeralda's you son is a good addition, especially for Quasimodo, and Jennifer Love Hewitt does a great job as Madellaine, literally a slave controlled by Sarousch.

The extras aren't nothing much to sing about. You get a little song sung by Jason Alexander telling why it's not easy being a gargoyle(think Kermit singing "it's not easy being green"), then you can program Djali to dance in a puppet theatre and make Quasi ring the bells. The best feature is probably an interview with Jennifer Love Hewitt and her singing her character's love song(the best song of the film in my opinion)

The actual plot of the film is when a circus comes to town. The leader of the circus(played by McKean) wants to steal the Cathedral's famous bell- with the help of Madellaine. In the end, the moral of the film, is Quasi too, must look past appearances.

Kids will like it, but it's not exactly a film for grown-ups in my opinion

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Another rare Disney animated movie
Review: This is a rare Disney animated movie without violence. This movie deserves a G rating, then a lot of there animated movies. While the Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996) had both lanuage and violence, this had one of either, and zero scary scenes. This movie reunties most of the characters from the first movie, and has some new characters like Zephyr and Madelliane and Sarousch. The archdeacon makes a breif appearnce in the movie. Quasimodo's evil master is not back, and which whould be good news if you hated him in the first movie. Clopin also returns in the movie with Esmeralda, Pheobus, Laverne, Hugo, Victor, and Quasimodo. As the movie opens, Emseralada (Demi Moore) and Pheobus (Kevin Kline) are maried, and they have a son named Zephyr (Haley Joel Osment). With leaves Quaismodo (Tom Hulce) without a girl he lives to shout her name while the bell Le Fieilde rins during a festival. That is into an evil circus ringmaster named Sarousch (Micheael McKean) sends Madelliane (Jennifer Love Hewitt) to gfet informationm on the bell, so he can steal the bell. The cast also includes Quasimodo' best friends Hugo (Jason Alexander), Victor (Charles Kimbrough) and Laverne (Jane Withers).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Artless and Cheap
Review: This is an apparent exercise to try and give the cash cow more hay. It does a great injustice to the first feature which was far superior in all aspects of film making. The story is weak, the animation is uninspiring and the characters are stale... A disappointment.


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