Media Topic #2 Reading a Film: A Scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

Scene from Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

1. Describe what happened in the scene you watched.

Luke told Leia that Vader was there on the moon they are on and that he can sense his presence. So he must leave so that the Rebel Alliance will have a better chance at succeeding to disarm the Death Star's shields so that their fighters could successfully attack and destroy the Death Star and the evil Emperor. He told that he has to confront him because he's his father. Then he tells her that she's the only chance for the alliance if he doesn't come back. She starts to protest that he has a power she could never have but he interrupts her and tells her that she does indeed have it too. And one day she'll learn how to use it. Then he tells her his last secret. They are brother and sister. Leia replies after a moment of hesitation that somehow she's always known that. Then he tells her that he has to go find Vader because there is some good left in him and Luke believes he can turn him back to the good side. He has to try after all, he's their father. Then he leaves after giving her a goodbye kiss on the cheek.

Luke tells Leia that they are siblings

Han holds Leia after Luke leaves the village

Just as he exits Han comes up and sees that Leia is upset. He asks her what's wrong and she replies that she can't tell him. Han immediately gets offensive and says, "Could you tell Luke? Is that who you could tell?" Leia turns away from him with tears in her voice. Han starts to leave but turns around and apologizes. Leia looks at him and goes into his arms and says, "Hold me. Just hold me."

2. How does the scene make you feel?

Sad but happy in the sense that Luke finally told Leia they were brother and sister but in doing so he also revealed that their father was Vader. It's also for of happy in that Leia turns to Han for comfort and Han lets her and doesn't make fun of her.

3. What techniques did the filmmakers use to make you feel that way?

 The music was soft and sweet but with a sad lingering to it.
All of the lights and colors around them were dark blues and purples.
They spoke softly without yelling at new discoveries.

4. How did the pacing of the scene (fast or slow) or the movement of the camera affect your reactions?

The slow pacing helped the truth of the scene gradually sink into us. There was no rush or hurry despite the fact that there was a need for them to be in a hurry. The slow pans of the camera and cuts between faces were not abrupt or jerky and that helped make the scene feel soft.

5. List all the visual qualities such as framing, camera angles, colors, setting, costumes, decor, and lighting.

Framing: Often it was a close up of one or the other's face with their heads not only off centered but also opposite from the other character. There were very few full body shots and there was more usage of tight two shots to help create a sense of togetherness.

Camera Angles: almost on the same level for each character there wasn't a lot of differences between each character which sent out a sense of equality.

Colors: The dark blues and purples and browns and blacks gave a sense of closeness along with a sense of sadness.

Setting: They were up high in the trees on a bridge between two separate trees and yet with all the colors around it seemed almost as if they were barely above the ground and possibly looking into a dark lake. The moonlight filtering softly through the trees helped give a sense of being cocooned with everyone in a good sense. Almost like the darkness of a mother's womb.

Costumes: They were simple yet elegant. Luke wore an all black pilot outfit. Leia wore a soft light brown dress and Han wore a cobbled together pilot outfit with a black vest and brown pants.

Decor: Simple wooden bridge with softly hanging tree branches and leaves framing the scene.

Lighting: Very soft. Moonlight filtered between tree branches and leaves. A few lanterns that were far enough away that they were not totally intrusive to the sense of togetherness.

6. What was the mood of the scene?

Sad but more like bittersweet and tender at the same time.

7. How did the colors used in the scene contribute to the mood?

The dark blues and purples lent a sense of softness and sadness hold the scene.

Luke kisses Leia on the cheek before leaving her on Endor

8. What did the costumes tell you about the characters?

Luke was wearing all black  which gave him a somber but determined air.
Leia was wearing a light brown dress the Ewoks gave her and had her long hair flowing down her back without being tightly twisted up like normal. So she seemed somehow more vulnerable and more approachable than Princess Leia.
Han was wearing the same outfit he wears throughout the whole series. His pilot outfit. Black vest, brown pants with a white/cream colored shirt under the vest. So he seemed the same as he always does but at the end he apologizes to Leia which is not the norm.

9. How did music contribute to the mood?

It contributed greatly to the sense of sadness yet sweet memories. I love the French horn and the solo it has here is breathtaking. The music is so poignant that I almost want to cry whenever I hear it because it sounds so sweet and that's all by itself. When added to the movie it helped me identify with the characters.

Go to this link to listen to the music. It is beautiful. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z52K7iVvh08

10. What did the music tell you about the characters?

That they were family and that Luke didn't want t leave her but he had to try and save their father which was bittersweet since Leia just found out that they were officially related.

11. What did you learn about the characters from the dialogue?

They were more related to each other than previously thought. They all shared a somewhat common bond somewhere in their life. Leia isn't always so formal and defensive. She can be soft and vulnerable too. Han can learn how to be nice and not as cocky as before. Everyone can help each other out.

12. What were the values and opinions expressed in this scene?

Family is very important and no matter what you have to protect your friends and family even if it means doing something difficult. Everyone shares a common bond somewhere in their life.

Story Boards & Shot Lists & More

Well, our production book is due tomorrow and I'm having a bit of trouble. To my knowledge, we still haven't found a location to shoot at. That is not good. I would like to have it so I can make the blocking notes and make a light plot though technically that's the DoP's responsibility. But my biggest challenge to do for this is the Storyboarding. I mean I know exactly what I want to have in each scene but umm... I can't draw at all. My figures barely resemble something like human beings and the thing is I don't know if it will help at all to give someone something like that to use as a basis to see my story when I am such a bad artist. Oh, well, I don't exactly have a choice in the matter so I hope my stick figures and bug like furniture drawing will be acceptable to turn in. Well, I shall give it my best shot and hopefully that will be enough. Well it's time to start doing and stop talking. So ttyl.

Pre-Producton notes on "A Poker Hand"

Wow, I never knew that pre-production took such a long time. Casting was difficult but I finally have a cast and now I just need to set up a read-through/rehearsal sometime this week. Juggling schedules is going to be a chore and I am glad that that is not technically my job, as far as gathering information from everyone and putting it into a chart that says when we will have time to work together and when we won't. That's my producer, Christina Harper's, job; however, I will be helping out because I don't think it's fair to put that all down on only one person when your whole Pre-producion team is only made up of 3 people, one of whom was not in class today. That was a very bad thing considering what we learned today was suppose to be his responsibility since he volunteered to be our DP, (Director of Photography/Cinematographer), and lights and camera operating are part of the DP's job description. I'm sorry he was ill but this places an enormous burden on Christina and I to fill him in and get him up to speed. I hope he's a fast learner. Regarding casting, I went into class with only 4 out of the 5 characters cast but I did come out with them all cast even though Kelly still has the option to back out since I sort of drafted her. Worse case scenario I can play the part of Brie but I'd rather not be a director/actor in the very first film I've written. I just want to be the Director/Screenwriter and concentrate on those and the other responsibilities I have taken on for this film including but not limited to the following:

Director
Screenwriter
Editor
Costumer
Makeup Artist
Properties Mistress

I may also have to do the following if our DP can't come to shoots:

Camera Operating
Lighting Set-up

And at least Christina has volunteered to do more than her share which I greatly appreciate. I also appreciate Fatima for volunteering to help with Sound even though she's not in our group and Kelly who has agreed to try and be Brie for the show, as I said earlier she can still opt out but I hope she doesn't because I have faith that she will do well in that part. And just in case you're wondering here is the cast list for "A Poker Hand":

MAN: Andrew John
ALICE: Paige Newman
BRIE: Kelly Towles
CAROL: Shea Lee
NARRATOR: Travis Spangenburg

I can't wait to start working with them and shooting the film. This is going to be hard work but I'm sure it will be fun, too.

Disney's "Hercules" Movie Review

Disney's 35th Animated Feature Film Hercules is animated wonder that crosses over into areas other than fairytales, a place no animated Disney feature had gone before. Instead of fairytales, Hercules is loosely based off of Greek Mythology and the mighty divine hero Heracles, his name was changed to Hercules after the Romans came in and adopted the Greeks' many heroic legends and made it fit their own culture. Directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, and featuring the voice talents of Tate Donovan (Hercules), Danny DeVito (Phil), James Woods (Hades), Susan Egan (Meg), Rip Torn (Zeus), and Samantha Eggar (Hera),  Hercules joins the collection of Disney movies whose music was composed by Academy Award winning Alan Menken,  famed composer of Beauty and the Beast and many other Disney classics. This film is an interesting must-see for anyone who loves Disney classics and/or who love the wonderful music composed by Alan Menken.

Hercules starts off with a majestic sounding narrator, (Charlton Heston!), beginning to tell the story of Hercules, however he is soon interrupted by the 5 Muses, Goddesses of the Arts and Proclaimers of Heroes, who claim that the narrator is making the story sound like "a Greek tragedy" and that he needs to lighten up. They take over the narration of the story of Hercules and take us back to the beginning of the world way before Hercules was even born in the opening number song "The Gospel Truth I." They begin by telling the story of the god, Zeus taking control of the world and saving the people of Greece from the gigantic and menacing Titans by locking them in a vault under the ocean. Zeus was the king of all gods and traps the Titans by throwing thunderbolts that chain them into their prison. "Zeus tamed the globe while still in his youth. Though, honey it may seem impossible, that's the gospel truth!" sing the Muses. They continue to explain how the Greek gods lived on Mt. Olympus and we head away from the narration at that point and go to the "present day" on Mt. Olympus where Hercules has just been born and the gods are having a party to celebrate his birth. They almost immediately show one of Hercules' identifying traits, his enormous strength, when Zeus (Torn) wiggles his finger at the baby and Hercules grabs his dad's finger and lifts him over the cradle.

Zeus also proves that Hercules is impervious to getting hurt since the little baby grabs a thunderbolt from his dad's toga and starts to play with it and then chew on it. Of course, he gets zapped but since he's a god he's okay. Zeus and Hera (Eggar) then give Hercules their gift. It is the flying horse Pegasus, but right now he's just a foal. Hercules then bangs his forehead against the head of Pegasus to sort of claim him as his own. They are so cute together!

Everything is going perfectly, everyone is oohing and sighing over the beautiful baby boy and his baby horse, everyone's happy and then Hades (Woods) arrives to spoil the mood. Of course he's upset because Zeus made him the lord of the underworld, which is a full time job that serves to punish Hades by demeaning him and therefore he plots to overthrow Zeus and claim Mt. Olympus for himself. This new addition to Zeus's family does not sit well with Hades' plans and after getting humiliated by Zeus again, he leaves and travels back to the underworld where the dead are. The Muses narrate this with the song "The Gospel Truth II." When he gets down there he meets his 2 minions Pain, (voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait), and Panic, (voiced by Matt Frewer). He has important plans to discuss with the Three Fates and orders them to tell him the instant they get there. Panic then says "Oh. They're here." and then Hades blows up (figuratively but with red fire all over his arms and shoulders) at them and then gives himself a memo to maim them after his meeting with the Fates. He goes to join the Fates in his main meeting area with his map of the world table with pieces (different gods and goddesses) scattered over the surface in specific areas. None are important at the moment and Hades arrives just after the Fates cut a woman's Thread of Life thereby killing her and her soul comes down to the underworld entering a specific tunnel that has a sign over it saying "OVER 5,000,000,000 SERVED" as her soul enters the number changes to 5,000,000,001. Hades begins by apologizing for being late however before he finishes the sentence the Fates interrupt him and say "We knew you would be. We know everything. Past. Present. And Future, (aside to Panic: indoor plumbing-- it's gonna be big)." Hades then starts to explain that he lost track of time while he was at the party but the Fates interrupt him again  and say "We know!" Hades replies "Yeah. I know... you know. So here's the deal: Zeus, Mr. High And Mighty, Mr. "Hey, You, Get Off Of My Cloud," now he has--" interrupted yet again by the Fates who join him in saying "-- A bouncing baby brat." Then one of the Fates loudly says "We know!" Hades has finally lost patience with the Three Fates and yells as his shoulders and arms spout fire "I know... you know. I know. I got it. I got the concept."(That's one of my favorite movie lines to quote.) Hades proceeds to ask if the new baby Hercules will interfere with his hostile takeover of Mt. Olympus and he has to flatter the Fates a bit before they agree to tell him. They begin speaking in verse and what they say means Hades takeover of Mt. Olympus will work! Of course Hades is all but jumping for joy until one Fate says "A word of caution to this tale. Should Hercules fight, you will fail." And the Fates disappear leaving Hades screaming "WHAT?!" So he comes up with a plan to kill Hercules but first he has to have Pain and Panic give the little baby a formula that will turn the infant into a mortal (and make him killable) then he tells Pain and Panic to kill Hercules after he drinks EVERY last drop of the potion. That is extremely important. He must drink EVERY last drop before Hades' minions can kill him. 

Pain and Panic leave and they kidnap Hercules and force him to drink the potion. As Hercules drinks, you can see the godhood leaving him and turning him into a mortal. But right before he finishes the bottle two people hear the commotion and come over. Pain and Panic drop the bottle, we see it break and one tiny drop of formula hits the ground and disappears. Pain and Panic hide behind a rock as Amphitryon and Alcmene come around the corner and see the little baby all alone crying on the ground. Alcmene goes over and picks the baby up and tells hers husband Amphitryon that the gods have finally answered their prayers for a child. While she's talking Pain and Panic turn into snakes and come over to kill Hercules but Hercules sees them and grabs them and ties them into a knot. Then he twirls them over his head and throws them away. This of course shocks Hercule's new parents. And at this point in time the Muses come in and do another narration song to tell how Hercules grew to a young man and kept his awesome strength since he did not drink the last drop of potion in the song "The Gospel Truth III."

We jump ahead to when Hercules is a teenager who can't control his strength and in this scene he destroys the Agora building where all the Grecians come to trade simply by accident. However, it is implied that this kind of thing has happened before when someone says that "This is the last straw!" Other people jeer and call him a freak and tell him to go away and not come back. Back near his home his father tries to comfort him but Hercules only tells him that he feels like he doesn't belong here and that he is suppose to be somewhere else. This leads into the Academy Award nominated song "Go the Distance."

This is during the song "Go the Distance"

It is a beautiful song about how Hercules wants to find the place where he belongs where people will be glad to see him and cheer for him. During a music only piece of the song Hercules parents tell him that they found him and that they found the pendant with the gods' symbol on it around his neck with his name "Hercules" carved on the back. Hercules thinks that this is the answer. He should go to the Temple of Zeus and ask the gods where he belongs. His foster parents send him off and Hercules sings some more as he travels to the temple. He ends the song as he reaches the temple. It is very big with a huge statue of Zeus at the end of the room. He prays to Zeus and asks "Who am I?" and then lightning hits the statue and it comes to life and reaches to pick Hercules up. Hercules screams and tries to run away, even when Zeus has him in his hands he still tries to escape until he hears Zeus say that he is his father. Hercules stops trying to escape and listens as Zeus tells him what happened back when he was a baby. He finishes by telling Hercules that the only way he can restore his godhood is if he becomes a true hero. Zeus sends for Pegasus who remembers Hercules and after a head bang Hercules remembers Pegasus and Zeus sends them off to find the trainer of heroes Philoctetes (DeVito).  Hercules flight on Pegasus to find Phil's island has him singing a "Go the Distance" Reprise.

He reaches the island but it is very dark and dreary and not what he expected from the great trainer of heroes. He walks around looking for a man and on the way he sees what looks like a trapped goat. Hercules, thinking to be nice gently pulls the goat out of the bush only to find out that it wasn't a goat it was a satyr (half-goat and half-man)  who did not want to be freed. He was spying on some female nymphs who quickly run away from him. Finally Hercules asks the satyr where he might find Philoctetes and the satyr replies, "Call me Phil." Hercules is overjoyed at finding him but then dismayed when Phil refuses to train him. He begs and pleads and tries to convince him to no avail. He finally asks Phil "Haven't you ever had a dream, something you wanted so bad you'd do anything?" This makes Phil pause and he brings Hercules inside to show him some stuff. He shows him statues, pottery, and his dream. "I dreamed I was gonna train the greatest hero there ever was. So great, the gods would hang a picture of him in the stars... all across the sky, and people would say 'That's Phil's boy.' That's right. Eh, but dreams are for rookies."Hercules goes to prove Phil that he can go the distance by flinging a humungous saucer across the ocean. Phil thinks about it for a minute then tries to snap out of it. Hercules begs to be trained because "if [he] doesn't become a true hero, [he] can never rejoin [his] father, Zeus." At this point Phil thinks he's lying and this leads into the song "One Last Hope" in which at the beginning Phil basically says I'm not a fool so don't both but his answer to Hercules request for training is "Two words..." then he gets struck by lightning and changes his mind to "O.K." Next comes a montage during the song of Hercules' training starting off very badly but by the end of the song he is fully trained and grown up. 

Then he and Phil (and Pegasus) leave to go start building his reputation as a hero in Thebes but on the way they come across a D.I.D (Damsel in distress). So Hercules goes to save her from the river guardian Nessus however she tells him to keep moving causing him to say "But you-- Are-Aren't you... a damsel in distress?" She replies "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress. I can handle this. Have a nice day." Well Hercules decides to save her anyways but even though he succeeds he doesn't do things perfectly. He dropped his weapon and instead picked up a fish and defeated the river guardian but in the process go the damsel thrown into the river. So it was a very clumsy rescue and gets scolded for it by Phil. In the process of scolding Hercules, Phil reminds him of the damsel he saved and Hercules gets sidetracked and goes over to her to clumsily introduce himself and ask who she is. She's Megara but "My friends call me Meg. At least, they would if I had any friends. So did they give you a name along with all those rippling pectorals?" Hercules: "Uh, I'm, um, uh--" Meg: "Are you always this articulate?" Hercules: "Hercules. My-- My name is Hercules." Meg: "Hercules, huh. I think I prefer Wonderboy." And that's what she calls him most of the time throughout the movie. He leaves with Phil and Pegasus after failing to get her to agree to come with him on the unwilling Pegasus. So she's in the woods alone and comes across 2 woodland creatures who turn out to be Pain and Panic. Meg was in the woods talking to the River Guardian to try and get him on Hades' side for the uprising. When Hades shows up she has to tell it was unsuccessful but "I gave it my best shot, but he made me an offer I had to refuse." Hades: "Fine. So, instead of subtracting 2 years from your sentence, hey, I'm gonna add 2 on, okay? Give that your best shot." Meg pleads "Look, it wasn't my fault. It was this wonderboy, Hercules." Panic (to Pain): "Hercules? Why does that name ring a bell?" Pain: "I don't know. Um, maybe we owe him money?" Hades (to Meg): "What was that name again?" Meg: "Hercules. He comes on with this big innocent farm boy routine, but i can see through that in a Peloponnesian minute." Pain (to Panic): "Wait a minute. Wasn't Hercules the name of that kid we were supposed to-- (Together): Oh, my gods! Run for it!" Hades grabs Pain and Panic by the throats. "So you took care of him, huh? Dead as a door nail. Weren't those your exact words?"  Pain and Panic protest while Hades is choking them. He says "I'm about to rearrange the cosmos, and the one schlemiel who can louse it up is waltzing around in the woods!" Hades blows up with fire coming out of his head and shoulders and his arm sockets and burns down the tops of all the trees around in in one second. Hades then starts to make plans on how to kill Hercules, again.

We go back to Hercules and Phil who have now reached Thebes "The Big Olive itself. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere."Hercules overhears some townspeople complaining about monsters and natural disasters and then offers his services as a hero but no one will take him seriously or give him a chance. Then Meg comes running in and tells him that 2 boys were playing in the gorge when they got trapped by a rockslide and Hercules needs to go save them. Hercules is ecstatic to have a chance to prove himself and grabs Meg, puts her on Pegasus (who heard her say she had a terrible fear of heights and proceeds to make the flight she's on a terrible one) and they for the gorge. He gets there, followed by townspeople and lifts the huge rock trapping the 2 boys over his head and they run out, the townspeople sort of clap for him and Hercules throws the boulder off to the side. The kids run off and up the side of the gorge until they reach Hades. Then they turn back into Pain and Panic. Now this boulder had in fact been plugged into the opening of a cave in which a terrible monster lives and Hades plan was for Hercules to get killed by the monster within. It is the home of the Hydra, a huge reptilian, dragon-like monster with 2 legs, a tail, and a really long neck holding up a mouth with tons of sharp fangs who comes out to ready to fight. This scene has some amazing cg and animation effects built into it. Hercules tries to fight it but loses his sword and has to get it while he is holding the hydra back by the teeth. He finally succeeds but when he prepares to swing the sword the Hydra sticks out its long tongue like a frog and grabs Hercules and swallows him. Just when the Hydra turns to attack the townspeople he stops suddenly and looks at his throat as Hercules cuts through it all the way around and beheads the creature. He then falls down in the slimy goo around him. Phil comes over, the audience applauds and Hercules gets up to go get cleaned up. Meanwhile Pain and Panic are terrified that Hercules beat the Hydra until Hades tells them to clam down "It's only halftime." As Hercules and Phil are heading toward the people they hear movement behind them. It's the Hydra and out of it's neck come 3 heads where there use to be only one. Suddenly Hercules has to fight again and does so with all his strength. He calls Pegasus to help him. He goes overboard with slicing heads off because by the end the Hydra has 30 heads. (I did the research and heard the animators say this in the behind the scenes bonus stuff.) 

As he's flying by one of the heads, he gets knocked off of Pegasus and falls down between the many necks until he hits the cliffside. He starts to slide down until one of the monster's clawed hand/foot stops him and holds him against the cliff. As they all prepare to eat him, Hercules hits the cliff as hard as he can. This causes a huge rockslide that effectively kills and buries the Hydra but in doing so it also buried Hercules with it. Everyone is sad and somber except for Hades who thinks he's won. But then the paw of the Hydra that is trailing outside of he rocks starts to open and Hercules appears and the crowd goes wild and Hades gets mad! Meg is actually happy that Hercules is alive and gives him some applause too. The crowd carries Hercules off and as he passes Phil, Phil says, "You did it kid! You won by a landslide!" The pun was intended I'm sure. This is where the 5 Muses come back in as they sing the song "Zero to Hero" to a montage of Hercules beating/killing monsters and becoming famous, signing autographs by chipping them into rock, earning tons of money, statues are built plays are written and Hades is floundering. "I can't believe this guy. I throw everything I've got at him and it doesn't even--" you hear rubber squeaking and then see a close up on Pain's new sandals. They are Air Hercs. Hercules' brand shoes. Hades sees them and asks dangerously "What are... those?" Pain: "Um, I don't know. I-I thought they looked kinda dashing." He grins sheepishly up at Hades who is not happy and this next line increases in volume and pace until Hades turns red and fire is all over him and he says, "I've got 24 hours to get rid of this bozo, or the entire scheme I've been setting up for 18 years goes up in smoke, and you are wearing HIS MERCHANDISE!" 

Pain cringes as Hades starts in towards him and they both hear a slurping noise from a straw in a drink that's almost finished. Hades turns blue again and Pain has a brief respite but Hades still has fire all over him and we see that Panic is drinking the Hercules brand of drink. Panic looks at Hades then looks at the Hercules trademark on his cup then back at Hades and holds out the drink towards him as he says, "Thirsty?" Hades anger is beyond words as he screams and blows fire at Pain and Panic who are burnt to a crisp, (but as in most cartoons they are fine in the next minute). Meg has been watching this and says to Hades, "Looks like your game's over. Wonderboy is hitting every curve you throw at him." Hades sees Meg saunter over to watch Hercules playing to the crowd below with her hips swishing side to side and says "I wonder if maybe I haven't been throwing the right curves at him, Meg, my sweet." She automatically realizes what he means and says "Don't even go there." Hades: "See, he's gotta have a weakness because everybody's got a weakness. I mean for what? Pandora, it was the box thing. For the Trojans, hey. They bet on the wrong horse, okay? We simply need to find out Wonderboy's." Meg is not happy with this and says "I've done my part. Get your little imps--" "They couldn't handle him as a baby. I need someone who can... handle him as a man." "Hey, I've sworn off manhandling." Hades replies "Well, you know, That's good because that's what got you into this jam in the first place, isn't it? You sold your soul to me to save your boyfriend's life. And how does this creep thank you? By running off with some babe. He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg? Huh?" Meg: "Look, I learned my lesson, okay?" Hades: Which is exactly why I got a feelin' you're gonna leap at my new offer. You give me the key to bringing down Wonder Breath, and I give you the thing that you crave most in the entire cosmos: your freedom." 

The scene cuts to Hercules at the Temple of Zeus telling his dad how he fought off some monsters and other stuff he's done. Zeus is laughing and agreeing and tells Hercules that he is making him proud. When Hercules hears that he thinks Zeus means he can come home and rejoin the gods. Zeus stops him and says he's not quite there yet. He hasn't proven himself a true hero. Hercules doesn't understand. "But, Father, I've beaten every single monster I've come up against. I'm-I'm the most famous person in all of Greece. I'm-I'm an action figure!" Zeus say that's isn't what a true hero is and that Hercules must look inside his heart. Then Zeus leaves and Hercules is frustrated and upset.  

We cut to the next day where Hercules is posing for a painting in his humongous Villa. He is posing holding a club and wearing a lion pelt (a cameo for The Lion King's Scar) while a grecian artist is painting him onto and urn. Phil is telling Hercules what his schedule will be for that day. He has to go meet King Augeas and then get a girdle from some Amazons. While he's spouting off this list Hercules is trying to get Phil's attention without moving. It doesn't work and the artist gets mad and leaves after Hercules throws off the lion pelt and his shield hits the urn that the artist was painting causing him to mess up and ruin the picture. Hercules is mad because none of the things he's doing seem to be working towards making him a TRUE hero and he pauses to think about why he's continuing to do this. "What's the point?!" he yells at Phil. Phil gives him a short pep talk and by the end of it he says "there is nothing you can't do, kid." The door opens and in run five teenage girls intent on touching Hercules and taking pieces of his outfit for themselves. Hercules is crushed and pushed to the floor by the girls where he whispers for help from Phil who distracts the girls so Hercules can escape and hide behind a curtain while Phil leads the girls on a wild goose chase out the door. As he leaves someone closes the door behind him and it's Meg, who proceeds to try to persuade Hercules to play hooky with her and escape his pressured life for awhile. When Hercules mention the Phil has the day pretty much book Meg replies as she pulls him closer to her by his tunic "Ah, Phil, schmill. Just follow me. Out the window, round the dumbbells, you lift up the back wall and we're gone."

So we skip to later that night where it is apparent that he and Meg played hooky all afternoon. They had dinner and went to see the play Oedipus on which Hercules comments "Man! I thought I had problems." They are now walking through a beautiful garden just after sunset in beautiful colored twilight light. It is obvious that Meg has enjoyed being with Hercules and has not yet tried to get the info that Hades wants her to so the two cute little birds bathing in the birdbath briefly have the heads of Pain and Panic and remind her to "Get the goods, sister." This is such a nice romantic scene and it's hard to put into words without writing out the entire conversation down word for word. Suffice it to say that Meg eventually does try to find out what Hercules' weakness is by using her womanly charms but Hercules replies that he is as fit as a fiddle and gets off of the bench they were on because Meg has gotten a bit too close for comfort. So he walks over to a small pool of water that has as statue of a woman in the far end of it. Hercules skips a rock off the water with so much force (accidentally) that it knocks off the statues arms and the camera turns to face it and to reveal to us that Hercules was the one who cut off the Venus de Milo's arms. Meg tells him that it looks better that way.

A star shoots across the sky and Hercules tells Meg that when he was younger he would have given anything to be like everyone else. "You wanted to be petty and dishonest?" asks Meg. Hercules: "Everybody's not like that." Meg, sounding and feeling sadder replies, "Yes, they are." Hercules: "You're not like that." Hercules walks over to Meg and she turns around to face him and says "How do you know what I'm like?" They step closer to each other and Hercules replies "All I know is you're the most amazing person with... weak ankles I've ever met." Meg steps back only to have a certain statue's arrow hit her and she does a double take hen she sees that the statue is Cupid. Hercules tells her  "Meg, when I'm with you... I-I don't feel so... alone." Meg steps away and goes to sit on the edge of the fountain as she says "Sometimes its better to be alone." Hercules: "What do you mean?" Meg: "Nobody can hurt you." Hercules realizes that Meg's been hurt before and goes over, puts her hands in his and sits beside her on the edge of the fountain. "Meg? I would never, ever hurt you." Meg: "And I don't wanna hurt you, so..let's both do ourselves a favor and..." Hercules starts to move in and kiss her and right before their lips meet Phil and Pegasus show up, police in helicopter style. 

Phil manages to get Hercules to agree to leave and he gives Meg a flower and a swift peck on the cheek before getting on Pegasus and waving goodbye and he doesn't turn and face forward as they fly until physically turns Hercules' head causing Phil to get knocked off of the horse, hit the ground and pass out. Pegasus and Hercules continue to fly off and as soon as they're gone Meg tries to convince herself that she isn't in love by singing the next song called "I Won't Say I'm in Love."

Just after Meg finishes the song, Hades shows up and wants Meg to tell him Hercules' weakness. She refuses and Hades pretends to be confused for a moment and says he didn't hear correctly and she tells him to read her lips. Then Hades says "Meg, Meg, Meg, my sweet deluded little minion. Aren't we forgetting one teensy-weensy, but ever so crucial little, tiny detail? I OWN YOU!"

This yell wakes Phil up to discover that he's got another horn growing on his head and he overhears Meg and Hades at precisely the wrong moment. He overhears Meg telling Hades that if he asks for Hercules head on a plate she should say "Medium or well done?" So Phil's convinced she doesn't love Hercules and never has and he goes to tell Hercules this. He doesn't hear Meg refuse to tell Hades Hercules' weakness and protests that he's different from the other guys she's known and he wont hurt her and then and she gloats that Hercules, in fact, doesn't have a weakness and he's gonna... But she gets cut off as Hades tells her that he's sure Hercules does and although he doesn't say it, it is implied that his weakness is in fact Meg. Hades does say he can't believe she's so worked up about a guy.

So we leave and go back to Hercules at the stadium where Phil tries to tell Hercules that Meg's a liar and has been playing him for a sap and that she doesn't love him. While this goes on Pegasus is lured off by Pain and Panic formed as a female winged horse and caught in a trap but neither Phil nor Hercules notices it. Phil continues to argue with Hercules about Meg. This finally enrages Hercules enough that he actually hits Phil with enough force to throw him into a pile of dumbbells and chains. So Phil leaves since Hercules won't believe him. Right after he leaves, Hades shows up and asks Hercules to give up his strength for 24 hours and take a day off from being a hero. Hercules says no until Hades reveals that he has Meg as a captive. When Hercules sees that he agrees and Hades takes all his strength away on the condition that he will get it back in 24 hours or if Meg gets hurt he gets it back immediately. Then he releases Meg and then reveals that Meg's been working for him the whole time. Then Pain and Panic yell at Hercules that "A hero's a zero!" before everyone leaves but meg and Hercules who are on their knees far away from each other bent and broken in heartache. 

We follow Hades as he goes and releases the Titans from their prison so they can go attack Mt. Olympus and help Hades get rid of Zeus so that Hades can rule all. So they head off to do so but Hades stops them.

The Titans turn around and head to Mt. Olympus but Hades stops the Cyclops to send him back to Thebes to get rid of Hercules forever. The Titans invade Mt. Olympus and capture Zeus while the Cyclops goes and searches out Hercules who, even without his strength, goes to fight him. Meg tries to stop him by saying that he'll be killed. He replies with a accusing glance that "There are worse things," and moves on. Meg has to save him so she finds and frees Pegasus and they go after Phil to try and get him to come and talk some sense into Hercules. Phil returns after Meg tells him that Hercules will die without his help. They come back and Hercules is bruised black and blue and basically has lost the will to fight back even to save his own life and he tells Phil, "You were right all along, Phil. Dreams are for rookies." But Phil says "No, no, no, no, kid. Givin' up is for rookies. I came back 'cause I'm not quittin' on ya. I'm willing to go the distance. How 'bout you?" Hercules looks like he's going to agree but then the cyclops grabs him and says he's gonna bite off his head but as he brings Hercules up to his mouth Hercules grabs a flaming torch and shoves it towards the cyclops' only eye causing him to drop Hercules who lands in a wagon, grabs some rope and twists and twines it around the cyclops' ankles causing the titan to fall off the cliff never to be heard from again. However, as Hercules watches him fall a column behind him broke when the cyclops fell and falls down toward Hercules who will be crushed under it except that Meg jumps and pushes him out of the way and instead the pillar crushes her under it. Hercules screams no and tries to lift the pillar despite having no super strength however he gets it back as he's lifting because Hades' deal was broken and Meg got hurt.  He asks her why and she responds, "People always do crazy things... when they're in love."

He ries to find words for his feelings but stumbles over them and Meg tells him he still can beat Hades but he needs to hurry up. Phil says he'll watch over her while Hercules stops Hades. So he leaves after promising Meg that she will be all right. 

Meanwhile Hades' takeover of Mt. Olympus has gone well. Everyone is captured and Zeus is buried under lava and ice (i.e. rock). Hades has just conjured himself a martini when Hercules arrives to save the day. Hercules releases Zeus from his rock prison and together they get rid of the Titans. Hades knows he's been beaten because of what the Fates said at the beginning of the movie but he has his last laugh as he tells Hercules, "Thanks a ton, Wonderboy. But at least I've got one swell consolation prize-- a friend of yours who's dying to see me." Hercules rushes as fast as he can to get back to Meg before her thread of life is cut but he is too late and she is dead. Hercules is devastated and sobs while holding Meg's body and Phil tries to comfort him but "There's some things you just can't change." The music changes tone and Hercules looks up "Yes, I can."

We go back to Hades who is in the underworld yelling at Pain and Panic about how Meg ruined his plans when he hears a noise and it's Hercules bursting in riding on the three headed dog Cerberus. He demands that Hades gives Meg back her life but Hades say hold on and let me show you around. He takes Hercules to the place where the river of death is and Hercules sees Meg's soul floating by and reaches for her through the "water" which shrivels his hands up. Hades tells him nothing can be done now and he can't touch the River of Death. Hercules then offers to make a deal with Hades. He volunteers to give his own life to Hades in trade for Meg's. Hades thinks about it for a moment but decides ok and tells Hercules "You get her out. She goes; you stay." So Hercules jumps into the River of Death and then Hades says "Oh, you know what slipped my mind? You'll be dead before you can get to her. That's not a problem, is it?" So we see the Fates bring out Hercules' Thread of Life and get ready to cut it. We see in their eye portal Hercules swimming to get to Meg and aging drastically as he does so. He reaches for her hand as we see the Fates start to close the scissors but before the scissors can cut the thread it turns gold and won't cut. Cut back to Hades standing up near the river of death happy he has trapped Hercules only to see gold light shining and his glorious shining body coming onto the rock with Meg's soul in his arms. Hades is flabbergasted and stammers "This is-- This is impossible! You, you, you can't be alive! You'd have to be a, a--" Pain and Panic finish the sentence together and say "a god?" And Hades anger is beyond words now as he screams incomprehensibly. Then he tries to yell at Hercules, "Hercules, stop! You can't do this to me. You can't--" Hercules punches his face so hard that all the flames go out and all of Hades' facial features are shoved inside his head.Hades fixes his face saying "Fine. Okay. Listen. Hah! Okay. Well, I deserved that. Herc, Herc, Herc. Can we talk? Y-Your dad, he's a fun guy, right? So maybe you could put in a word with him, and he'd kinda blow this whole thing off, you know?" Hades then grabs Meg's Soul's face and says "Meg, Meg, talk to him. A little schmooze--" and this is going way beyond wrong and Hercules hits Hades so hard that he is thrown into the river of death and grabbed and mobbed by all the souls in there. Hercules leaves with Meg's soul as Pain and Panic look down into the River of Death. Panic says "He's not gonna be happy when he gets outta there." Pain responds "You mean, IF he gets outta there." Panic: "If. If is good."

Then we cut back to Phil and Pegasus by Meg's dead body and we see Hercules arrive with her soul and he gently puts it back into her body. At first nothing happens but then her color comes back and she breathes. She doesn't understand why Hercules did that for her and he responds with his voice echoing like the gods' voices do "People always do crazy things... when they're in love." She smiles then and they lean into kiss when a cloud is suddenly zapped under them and it takes them to Mt. Olympus with Pegasus flying behind them with Phil holding onto his tail. They arrive up there and all of the gods are cheering for Hercules as he walks up to his father and mother while Meg stays down where they landed. His mother, Hera says "Hercules, we're so proud of you." Hercules greets her for the first time, "Mother." Zeus steps up and slaps him on the back. "Hah! Fine work, my boy! You've done it! You're a true hero." Hera: "You were willing to give your life to rescue this young woman." Zeus: "For a true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart. Now, at last, my son, you can come home." And with that the gate to the gods' dwelling place on Mt. Olympus opens up to reveal all the majesty that's there while all the gods cheer for Hercules. Meg is down at the bottom of the stairs alone and sad because she believes that Hercules is going to be a god now and she'll have to live on earth alone. However, Hercules looks back and sees her then he turns to his father and mother, "Father, this is the moment I've always dreamed of. But..." he turns around and is suddenly behind Meg reaches out and takes her into his arms and says "...a life without Meg, even an immortal life,would be... empty. I--I wish to stay on earth with her. I finally know where I belong." As Hercules embraces Meg, Zeus and Hera look at each other and Zeus nods and Hercules becomes a mortal once more and he and Meg finally get to kiss. All the gods cheer and Hermes says to the Muses, "Hit it, ladies!" Which starts the final song "A Star is Born." Everyone is happy and Pegasus gives Meg a head butt of welcome and a big feather hug, Phil sees another beautiful woman, in this case the goddess Aphrodite, starts to come up to her the way he came onto everyone on earth who always rejected him but before he even starts talking she grabs him and kisses him until Hercules has to pull Phil onto Pegasus with him and Meg so they can go back to earth. There they meet up with his mortal family in Thebes and have a big group hug. Meg looks up at the sky and sees a constellation in the sky forming and tells the others to look up. Phil turns around and sees the picture in the stars of the greatest hero there ever was, trained by him just like he dreamed and then you see one of the Thebians close by nudge his neighbor and say while pointing at the stars,  "That's Phil's boy!" Another group hug with Phil over his dream come true and the whole movie ends with the celebration and we see the constellation sort of melt onto a Grecian urn where the Muses are singing and when they sing the last word they jump up onto the urn to take their place on it and roll credits.

Now here's a secret. Make sure you watch the credits until the end because you'll hear the voice of Hades saying "What d'ya say? It's happy ending time! Everybody's got a little taste of something' but me. I got nothin'. I'm here with nothin'. Anybody listenin'? It's like I'm-- What am I, an echo or something? Hello? Hello? Am I talking to, what? Hyperspace? Hello, it's me. Nobody listens."

Now, the actors and animators more than met my expectations for this film, they exceeded it by miles and miles. The voices were perfectly emphasized and utilized in all the right ways. The animation itself was astounding. Disney Animation Department tried out a whole different look for this film and it worked. It hailed back to what you see on the Grecian Urns from that time period and the carving and the paintings. Hercules was a new leap in innovation. You'll see below a picture of the different backgrounds used in Hercules and you'll notice how much the differ from other disney movies. Even the major crowd scenes were leaps and bounds beyond the wonderful crowd scenes in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. And the Hydra battle's cg integrated animation was better even, in parts, than the ballroom scene in Beauty and the Beast. You have to watch it. I'm inserting a video from Youtube containing it and it also has the song "Zero to Hero" at the end of it. Some of the quality of animation got a bit fuzzy in places at on the Youtube version because my DVD copy is much better than what this Youtube video shows. However, if you haven't seen the movie this will still look amazing to you. So watch it and see what I'm talking about. I can't get the video to load onto my page so go to the address below and you'll see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8xo0OP4y_0&feature=related

These layouts are much simpler than in other Disney movies.

Some more great animation shots are these:

This is from when Hercules visits the Temple of Zeus and the large statue of Zeus comes to life.

This is when Hercules gets his strength back after Meg gets hurt.

Hercules reaching for Meg's soul in the River of Death.

Here Hercules has just had his godhood restored after saving Meg's soul from the River of Death. This is one of my personal favorites.

The music was awesome, (I mean it's Alan Menken, of course it's awesome.) and it fit very well with the action taking place onscreen. The story flowed which is a difficult thing to do when not making a movie that already has the plot and storyline pretty much ready to use. The collaborative efforts of all the writers definitely showed in the way that the story was easy to follow and easy to identify with. One of my favorite things was the transfer from majestic narration by the amazing Charlton Heston to the animation and gospel style voices of the Muses. This transfer is made during the very beginning when we are being shown around a room of sorts kind of like in a museum full of statues and urns from Ancient Greece. We hear the voice of the first Muse interrupt the narrator and the camera zooms in on part of one of the Grecian Urns in the room we're in and then they bring the story to life on the pottery before we ever get to the story of Hercules. I was not sure how to explain this in my summary so I just told what the narration said but in this the Muses are going up to urns and the paintings on them come to life and help them tell the story. It really is amazing and definitely a major factor in how you see and listen to the whole film. The music is a mixture of gospel style music, hence the names of the first 3 songs. "The Gospel Truth I, II, & III," and Disney musical songs. The mix is nice to hear.

See the Grecian resemblance?

Another film technique I particularly enjoyed was the witty banter of the dialogue in the different scenes. One of my favorite lines is when we first meet Meg and she says -->


















Another one of my favorite Disney trademarks is when they insert characters from other films in a non-disruppting way. It's also kind of funny to see one disney movie's prediction come true in another as what happens between this movie and The Lion King.

And Scar is now a throw rug.

See what I mean?
The references to real life events and other movie quotes used in context are favorite Disney techniques for me. They reference a lot of Greek mythological events that not everyone would notice but those who have learn about it will and it's a nice inside joke.

This is a reference to the Trojan Horse used to disguise fighters as a gift in actual history.

This is a reference the the movie The Karate Kid.

During the part of the movie where we go inside Phil's house there are Greek references everywhere. Hercules hits his head on part of the mast of the famed ship called the Argo. Even though, technically, the Argo had not sailed yet because Hercules was one of the people who sailed on it. Phil lists a lot of the heroes he's trained including but not limited to Achilles, Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus in other words see Phil's quote below.

 

Definitely go see this movie. It is awesome. And I'll let one quote from this movie end my review after I rearrange a few words:

"Two thumbs way, way up for [the movie Hercules]!"

Movie Review of Disney's "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

Disney's 34th Animated feature length film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" is truly a success. It brought even more new technology to animation and still stayed true to hand animation with only CG used for special effects. It was an adaptation of Victor Hugo's book The Hunchback of Notre Dame but it had a happy ending instead of ending the way the book did which was fine by me. All of the animated details on the cathedral were amazingly true to the actual building. It was a great movie directed by Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise, the same team that directed Atlantis: The Lost Empire and my favorite Disney movie: Beauty and the Beast. It features the voice talents of Tom Hulce (Quasimodo), who played Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in the film Amadeus, Demi Moore (Esmeralda), who played the lead female role in Ghost, Kevin Kline (Phoebus), who was Tulio in The Road to El Dorado and starred opposite Meg Ryan in French Kiss, Tony Jay (Frollo), who was the Asylum owner in Beauty and the Beast, David Ogden Stiers (Archdeacon) , who was Cogsworth in Beauty and the Beast, and Paul Kandel (Clopin). The music was done by Alan Menken who won the Academy Award for Best Music Score for The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, and Aladdin. He also wrote the music for Hercules and, more recently, Tangled.

The plot of a Disney animated feature is easier to understand than some live action movies but it has many details. It isn't too childish for adults and isn't to advanced for children. It is a great family movie. The Hunchback of Notre Dame tells the story of the disfigured bell ringer of Notre Dame Quasimodo (Hulce), who was taken from his gypsy mother after she was murdered by Frollo (Jay) and he was going to kill the baby until the Archdeacon (Stiers) of Notre Dame told Frollo, that as penance for the  cruel deed of killing the gypsy mother, Frollo must raise the infant as his own son. Frollo agrees but has Quasimodo grow up inside of the Notre Dame cathedral where he becomes the "mysterious bell ringer." All of this is told in the prologue song "The Bells of Notre Dame" sung by the Gypsy Clopin (Kandel). It really is an amazing musical masterpiece. It has latin chanting and singing monastic choirs and huge orchestrations along with the tolling sounds of the bells of Notre Dame and with a wonderful tenor voice singing it. If you listen to the track you will hear how extremely high Clopin's last note in that song is. I could never sing that high. You can listen to it in the video above. [Note: the songs i have put in that actually have the action that goes with the song have some delayed mouth movements. This is just in these videos. The actual movie does not do that.]

The real story starts 20 years after the prologue takes place, (not the singing of the prologue song but the actual happenings) on January 6th the day of the "Feast of Fools." Quasimodo always watches the festival from atop the cathedral every year but he tells his gargoyle friends, Victor, Laverne and Hugo, (Yes, that is the name of the author of the book: Victor Laverne Hugo), that he doesn't want to watch this year.

He is tired of watching and never getting to go to the festival. They suggest that he should go to the festival in disguise but Quasimodo reminds them of one big problem. Frollo has forbidden Quasimodo from ever leaving Notre Dame cathedral and he must obey his master. [Side Note: The gargoyle, Victor, (voiced by Charles Kimbrough), does a misquote of a quote said by Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. Victor says, "Yet, if you chip us, will we not flake? If you moisten us, do we not grow moss?" The actual line that Shakespeare wrote and what Shylock said was, "If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh?" That's a written in joke for the adults watching the film.] But back to the story, Quasimodo says Frollo would be furious if he asked to go because Frollo hates the Feast of Fools then the gargoyle, Hugo, (voiced by Jason Alexander), replies "Who says you gotta ask?" They start planning Quasimodo's escape to go see the festival and right as he goes to walk out the door Frollo walks in. Frollo brought food up to eat with him and during the meal he discovers that Quasimodo has been thinking about going to the festival and he is very angry. This leads into the song "Out There" in which Frollo starts to describe what a bad idea going out would be but after Frollo leaves Quasimodo sings of getting to spend just one day "out there."

 He ends the song standing on top of the cathedral and as the camera zooms way way out we end up in the middle of a lot of buildings where we meet his co-star Phoebus (Kline) looking for the Palace of Justice. He has been summoned back from the wars to come be the captain of the guard for Frollo's men. He has his horse, Achilles, with him and he sees the gypsy Esmeralda dancing on the street side for money. He is struck by her beauty and presence and flips her a coin. Then some guardsmen of Frollo come hunting gypsies and they try to arrest Esmerelda but Captain Phoebus helps her escape by moving Achilles to block the way. One of the guardsmen falls down right behind the horse and Phoebus tells Achilles to sit and he does so. After getting their attention, he has them lead him to the Palace of Justice and as he walks behind them he turns to his horse and says, "Achilles, heel!" That's another inside joke for adults. Then we have Phoebus meet Frollo and Frollo takes him to observe and provide protection at the Feast of Fools. This is where the song "Topsy-Turvy" starts. 

Meanwhile, Quasimodo has snuck out and joined the festival and accidentally becomes part of very pubic parts of the festival and after falling backward into a tent he meets Esmeralda for the first time, who does not shy away from his face or cry out in horror as he expects. She's very nice to him however, as Quasimodo leaves she tells him that he has on a great mask, showing that the reason Esmeralda didn't shy away from his face was because she thought it wasn't real but Quasimodo doesn't appear to understand that. Now Frollo is seated at his designated watching spot with Captain Phoebus on Achilles beside him. Then they both are thunderstruck (and so is Quasimodo who is beside a different part of the stage) when Esmeralda comes out dressed beautifully in red and dances. 

All three men fall for her, Frollo in a more lustful way than in a loving way. The other two are in love. Then when the time comes to crown the king of fools, somehow Quasimodo is revealed and Frollo and the whole crowd see him for what he is. However, Clopin helps everyone calm down by saying they asked for the ugliest face in Paris and they got it. Quasimodo is crowned while Frollo seethes and flowers and kisses and confetti are showered upon him. Everything is going wonderfully until a guard throws a tomato at him and laughs, this starts the whole crowd laughing and throwing things at Quasimodo including ropes. He is eventually tied down on the revolving wheel of the stage and he begs Frollo for help and to release him. Phoebus asks to go stop the cruelty but Frollo stops him and while those two men are talking Esmeralda comes up to Quasimodo and apologizes for what the people have done and then she frees him despite Frollo forbidding it. Then Frollo sends his men to catch Esmeralda but she escapes them and the scene ends as Quasimodo does his walk of humiliation back to the cathedral and slams the door shut. We return to the streets where it is now raining and Phoebus sees Esmeralda and her goat, Djali, in disguise, enter the cathedral. Phoebus follows her and gets attacked by her. They have a sparring of both body and wits between them because Esmeralda thinks he's there to arrest her but he tells her he can't since she's in the church. At that moment Frollo bursts in and immediately orders Phoebus to arrest Esmeralda. So Phoebus hurriedly whispers to her that she should claim "sanctuary" but Esmeralda thinks he tricked her and won't say anything. So Phoebus tells Frollo that she has already claimed sanctuary and the Frollo tells him to drag her outside and arrest her but the Archdeacon stops him. Frollo leaves after having a little chat with Esmeralda secretly and has a guard posted at every door and tells Esmeralda that she has chosen a magnificent prison. She is trapped within Notre Dame. She is very angry but the archdeacon tells her not to act rashly and says that there may be Someone inside the cathedral who could help her save her people from evil people like Frollo. This starts Esmeralda's beautiful song, "God Help the Outcasts," (sung by Heidi Mollenhauer) which is a plea to God to help her people.

 Quasimodo overhears her singing and comes down from the bell tower to listen to her but at the end of the song he is discovered by normal people in the cathedral who sneer at him and he races back upstairs while being followed by Esmeralda. She catches up with him and they talk for a while and he shows her around before helping her escape the cathedral. Just as he turns around and goes back inside the cathedral Phoebus catches up with him and Quasimodo thinks he's there to arrest Esmeralda and orders him to get out quite viciously and the two men end up on the stairs with Quasimodo holding Phoebus up by the clothing around his neck. Phoebus tells him that he did not mean to trap Esmeralda in the cathedral but it was the only way he could save her life. This calms Quasimodo down and he sets Phoebus onto the stairs and turns to go but as Phoebus leaves he comments that Esmeralda is lucky to have Quasimodo as a friend and that gives Quasimodo a little smile on his face. Quasimodo goes back upstairs where his gargoyle friend are waiting and they cheer for him as he comes in tell him he did wonderfully by getting rid of the guy who was trying to steal his girl. Quasimodo stops and says, "My girl?" his gargoyle friend, Laverne, (voiced by Mary Wickes and after her death right before the project was completed, some more dialogue for her character was needed so Jane Withers came in and did it) answers him, "Esmeralda, dark hair, works with a goat, remember?" He shrugs it off and it leads into the song "Heaven's Light" which is about how Quasimodo dreams of love but knows that he was not meant for it. He stops singing as he starts ringing the bells for a mass and we hear the mass sung in Latin and travel across the city to where Frollo is. He starts to sing his part in this song called "Hellfire" where he is tormented with desire for Esmeralda and disgust and shame for the sin she makes him want to do. This song is basically his worst nightmare and you can see that by how the song is animated. He finishes the song by resolving that if Esmeralda won't be his then she will burn for her sins. 

This leads into a sequence starting in the morning of the next day where Frollo starts burning down Paris in an attempt to find the escaped Esmeralda. He offers money to the innocent gypsies he captures if they will give him Esmeralda but no one does and so he sends them to the dungeons. We move to a mill outside of town where Frollo has sentenced the miller's family to house arrest. He shuts the door, bars it and then orders Phoebus to burn it down. Phoebus refuses and douses the torch that Frollo handed him and this move sacrifices his career as a soldier. Frollo takes another torch from a guard and lights the mill on fire himself. Phoebus hears the people inside scream, he breaks through a window and helps the miller's family escape before getting captured by Frollo and sentenced to death on the spot but right before the sword swings Esmeralda slingshots a rock into the butt of Frollo's horse who then throws his rider off. Phoebus seizes this moment to escape and hops onto the horse and tries to ride away on Frollo's horse. We hear Frollo say to his guards, "Get him! And don't hit my horse!" Phoebus is hit with a guard's arrow and falls off the horse and into the Seine where he sinks to the bottom like a rock since he is wearing his armor. Before he leaves he tells his guards to find the girl even if they have to burn all of Paris. Esmeralda hears this right before she jumps into the river and saves Phoebus by pulling off his armor and pulling him to shore. The next shot is one of the city as it burns and smokes everywhere. We go back to the cathedral where Quasimodo is worrying about Esmeralda getting caught by Frollo. His gargoyle friends try to cheer him up by convincing Quasimodo that Esmeralda is in love with him. This is enforced with the song "A Guy Like You" sung by the gargoyles and by the end of it they have him convinced right up to the moment where Esmeralda comes back with the wounded Phoebus and asks Quasimodo to hide him for her. He agrees but as he watches Esmeralda doctor Phoebus he hears Phoebus say something implying that he is in love with Esmeralda and this leads to them kissing as Quasimodo's hear breaks in two.

We here a sad version of "Heaven's Light" as we watch him cry and struggle to stay together. Comic relief is brought in by the goat, Djali, alerting everyone that Frollo is coming up to see him. Quasimodo helps the gypsies escape and hides Phoebus under the table where he and Frollo eat. Frollo shows up, and finally causes to Quasimodo to break down and admit that he helped Esmeralda escape from the cathedral the first time. After he burns the little figurine of Esmeralda that Quasimodo carved he leaves and as he does so he sets up a trap to capture the gypsies and their "Court of Miracles" by telling the boy that he already knows where it is and he is going to attack at dawn with a thousand men. After Frollo is gone Phoebus gets up and says that they have to find the "Court of Miracles" before Frollo gets there at dawn. Quasimodo is not very happy that Phoebus has "stolen" his girl and doesn't want to go but by the time Phoebus gets to the ground floor, Quasimodo has decided to help and together they find it and try to warn them but are caught and accused of being spies before they can warn the gypsies. They are immediately sentenced to hanging by Clopin and this is told during the song "The Court of Miracles."

Djali sees this happening and runs to get Esmeralda before Clopin hangs Quasimodo and Phoebus. She arrives just in time and has to remind everyone that Quasimodo helped her escape and Phoebus was the soldier that saved the miller's family. They give their warning and the gypsies start to pack and get ready to leave however, Frollo has followed Quasimodo to their lair and attacks then instead of at dawn. He publicly thanks Quasimodo for helping him causing him much distress everyone else is captured and imprisoned. He sentences Esmeralda to burn at the stake tomorrow morning. He then orders the guards to take Quasimodo back to his bell tower and see that he stays there.
Dawn comes and we hear the drums pounding. Then we are in front of Notre Dame watching Frollo sentence Esmeralda to death.

 The camera pans up to the cathedral and zooms in on Quasimodo who has been chained with tons of chains to the pillars of the cathedral. This is sort of a combination of King Kong being tied up and Sampson in the Bible chained to the pillars. We see that Quasimodo has given up hope and strength. He is resigned and won't listen to his gargoyle friends and he finally tells them to leave him alone. Hugo: "Okay. Okay, Quasi. We'll leave ya alone." Victor: "After all, we're only made out of stone." Laverne: "We just thought maybe you were made of somethin' stronger." With those last words they all freeze into their stone postures as Quasimodo is left pondering those words. He hears the execution speech by Frollo and we see in his face the determination to save Esmeralda come back. He starts to break off the chains holding him to the pillars in King Kong fashion and we see parts of the stone pillars fall as he does so. Now Frollo has set fire to the stake. Once Quasimodo frees himself he swings down from the top of Notre Dame on a rope in an awesome animation sequence and saves Esmeralda from the fire. He brings her back up to the cathedral using the rope and holds her high over his head and screams "Sanctuary! Sanctuary! Sanctuary!" down to the crowd who cheer him on.

 Frollo then orders his men to seize the cathedral and we go back and see Quasimodo set Esmeralda down on a bed. Although he doesn't notice it, she doesn't appear to be breathing but Quasimodo has to leave and save the cathedral from Frollo. Down below Phoebus finally escapes his prison and then rallies the crowd with a stirring speech; "Citizens of Paris! Frollo has persecuted our people, ransacked our city! Now he has declared war on Notre Dame herself! Will we allow it?" and with that the crowd breaks all of the gypsies out of their prison carts and start attacking Frollo's men who are trying to break down the doors and get into Notre Dame. A large number of comic relief gags ensue as the battle for Notre Dame goes on. 


My personal favorite gag is the one where Laverne is telling her pigeons "Fly, my pretties! Fly, Fly!" and cackling like the wicked witch of the west. We also can hear the witch's theme playing somewhere in the orchestration beneath this sequence. 
Finally, as the guards actually break through the doors a little bit, Quasimodo pours molten rock off of Notre Dame in an awe inspiring scene. The music throughout this battle is amazing! You have to listen to it!

The lava seals off the cathedral to all who are without except Frollo who enters the cathedral through the small hole the guards were able to make through the door. The Archdeacon tries to stop him as he hurries to go kill Quasimodo but Frollo grabs him and throws him on the floor. Then we're back with Quasimodo as he comes into the room where Esmeralda is lying and bids her to come watch but she doesn't answer. 

Quasimodo domes over to her to find out that she's not breathing and the water he tries to give her to drink just rolls off one side of her face and doesn't go in her mouth. All hope is gone and he sobs while holding her body. Frollo comes in the door behind him with a knife hidden behind his back. Frollo sets a hand on Quasimodo's back and Quasimodo says to Frollo, "You killed her." "It was my duty, horrible as it was. I hope you will forgive me. There, there, Quasimodo. I know it hurts. But now the time has come...to end your suffering... forever." Frollo raises the knife and plunges it down towards Quasimodo but Quasimodo grabs hold of that hand and finally wrestles it away from Frollo who is thrown onto the floor and scrambles to calm Quasimodo down by saying, "Now, now, listen to me, Quasimodo." Now finally Quasimodo has come to realize a truth that had been missing from his life. "No, you listen! All my life, you have told me the world is a dark, cruel place. But now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is people like you." He throws the knife off to he side and we hear Esmeralda's voice as she wakes up from what seemed like death. Frollo sees this and tries to kill her but Quasimodo protects her and a fight on the battlements starts and it reminds me of the battle between Gaston and Beast in Beauty and the Beast. In the end right after it looks like Frollo has won and he is about to die by falling from the roof of Notre Dame, the gargoyle that Frollo is resting his weight on breaks off and he is plunged down off the cathedral and into the lava surrounding the cathedral.

Esmeralda grabs Quasimodo's hand put she is not strong enough and he falls down, down and down until he is caught by Phoebus on Notre Dame's lower levels. The three are reunited and Quasimodo places Esmeralda's and Phoebus's hand together in a sort of "I give you my blessing" gesture. Then we are down at the base of the cathedral in front of a cheering crowd for Esmeralda and Phoebus in the bright sunlight of the morning. We see behind them that one of the doors is still open and Esmeralda goes back and brings Quasimodo out for the crowd to see. He comes out slowly and very timidly. No one says anything but a young peasant girl comes up to Quasimodo, places her hands all over is disfigured face, and gives him a hug. She then leads him down into the crowd who cheer for him as they celebrate their victory over evil and their saving of their beloved cathedral, Notre Dame. The is a brief reprise of "The Bells of Notre Dame" sung by Clopin and the movie ends on his last high note as we pull back slowly away from the crowds and Notre Dame.

Now, in an animated film, the voice actors don't portray their characters like they would in a live action film because whatever you see the animated character doing is done by the animators. But I believe that the voice actors portrayed what they were able to portray very well and therefore the animators also portrayed thier characters very well. The tones, pitches and accents of the actors' lines help make what is happening in the movie make sense. You probably wouldn't understand much of the show if there was no dialogue. It was a joy to listen to the characters and see what the animators did to help the actors out. They exceeded my expectations.


There were a lot of neat camera shots that helped put the scenes together in a way that both expresses the mood of the characters as well as what they want the audience to think and what they imply. For example near the beginning of the movie there is the section where Quasimodo decides to sneak out and go to the festival and right as he is about to leave Frollo appears in the doorway and when he does it is as if his black clothing has sucked all of the light and happiness out of the room. This is obvious to imply to the audience that Frollo is evil. We also see the differences between the charaters as Quasimodo sets the dishes down for thier meal. Frollo has a tall ornate silver goblet and plate whereas Quasimodo has a round slice of wood and a squat wooden cup. This is a good indication of the different social status of the 2 characters. 

Another thing that was really a great "camera shot" was when, during the song "Out There," Quasimodo slides down a rain trench on the roof and stops at the end of it as water continues to flow out of a gargoyle's mouth. There is a "lens flare" during that part when, in actuality there is not a way to put a lens flare in an animated movie without animating it. So this obviously took a lot of work to make the audience believe that they were actually filming this happening. Another cool camera shot is one of Esmeralda down on the floor of the cathedral standing in the middle of the Rose window's light on the floor. It is a beautiful shot.  

There is a cool special effect sort of shot during the song "God Help the Outcasts." They show Esmeralda walking between rows of lit candles and the lighting changes over her face to make it look realistic.

When Esmeralda visits Quasimodo's room there are different colors of shards of glass that cast lots of colored light floating around like a stained glass window almost. The scene where they show the burning of Paris is a huge accomplishment and the music playing during it is just amazing. 

There's also a really nice bit of music done as Quasimodo does his walk of humiliation back to the cathedral. Remember, before this he had sung his song about how much he wanted to spend one day "out there" and now as he's leaving after being tortured and made a fool of you hear the same tune in the background but it's being played slowly in a minor key showing that Quasimodo's dreams were not filled the way he hoped. 

There's also a nice shot of Quasimodo during the time right before Esmeralda is to be executed chained up like King Kong but he soon starts to break the chains to go and save Esmeralda and we see how powerfully strong he is.

There is also one of my favorite Disney surprises is that in most of their movies they have some characters from other movies make appearances in other movies in a way that would make sense for the character to be there. There are 3 characters that do that in this movie and they all do it at the same time. Since this is in France, you can see Belle walking through the streets holding a book and also two men are carrying the body of a dead hog home and that hog is Pumbaa. A guy standing near these two is holding the Magic Carpet from Aladdin. Look at the picture and you'll see what I mean.







One last Camera shot that I love is during the song "Topsy Turvy" where Clopin is holding onto a pole and we see his reflection in a puddle. He's literally "turning Paris upside down" because it's topsy turvy day.



You should definitely go see this film. It has amazing animation, wonderful music, great voice actors, and it has happy ending, as all Disney animated feature films do. I know that isn't part of the book but the rest of the movie actually stays pretty close to what Victor Hugo wrote. It is a joy to watch it multiple times. So, look at the pictures of the animation I've posted in this blog and listen to the music and then you'll want to go watch the movie and see for yourself why it is so amazing.