I have seen the movie and read the abridged version of Victor Huge (I don't recommend it, every other chapter is about Paris's architecture, which gets boring really quickly). In any case, it's not a Disney movie. Let me tell you what happens in this novel, warning: it's a spoiler so just skip to the next paragraph. This spoiler can be applied to pretty much anything Victor Huge writes so if you ever plan reading him, this is the most important information. Everyone dies. Esmeralda is not saved by Quasimodo and Phoebes is definitely not the knight and shining armor. He's the only character that doesn't die!
So here's my question. Who came up to the Disney company and told the executives "I got a great idea for our next big hit. How about The Hunchback of Notre Dame?" We are well aware that Disney could have thought of something better. Yet, they choose this dark tale to try to portray. We could argue that all the other stories that they have taken are actually much darker (Ariel cuts out her tongue in the real story, etc) Yet, they have been lost in translation. Unfortunately, Hugo's novel is recent enough to ask questions.
Was this some man's attempt to bring classical literature to our little kiddies? In an age when all stories, even the most simplest ones (Horton Hears a Who) are being transversed onto the screen, do we really need that? I choose not to compare the novel and the movie since both are too different to compare. The theme of both of them are too different and when the theme of the book does not match the movie, then that movie has failed to reflect the intention of the author. And it doesn't.
Don't get me wrong, it's one of my favorite Disney movies. Great actors, witty dialogue, classic Disney, despite what people may say and the gargoyle's name give tribune to Victor Huge himself. (Huge: the fat one and Victor, the skinny one, Laverne, the woman gargoyle, was named after one of the Andrews sister. I don't know why). But, it doesn't make up for the lack of despair and utter, soul-crushing feeling that Victor Huge can convey. But I suppose a children's movie shouldn't be that depressing.
Sorry Disney, I don't know what you were trying to prove with Hunchback of Notre Dame. If it was trying to do a children's adaptation of it, then I wish you put my favorite characters in it, Gringorie, (poor sap, got caught up in the wrong place at the wrong time) and Jehan Frollo (he makes a perfect foil for his older brother). But I digress. If you want the true experience of Victor Hugo's intention, go read his book. The movie is a good, but can't compare the emotion conveyed in the novel.
