The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Roll over, Victor Hugo. This 1996 cartoon feature, based on Hugo's 1831 Notre Dame de Paris, is surely one of Disney's ugliest and least imaginative efforts. It's especially unattractive in its fast editing and zooms. There's a glib happy ending to replace the novel's, a cute pipe-smoking goat, and politically correct positions on Gypsies and hunchbacks—though virtually no feeling for Paris or France, which might have interfered with all those commercial tie-ins. If your main aim is to find somewhere to park your kids, the familiar Disney formula is at your service. Among the voices used are those of Demi Moore, Tom Hulce, Kevin Kline, Jason Alexander, and Mary Wickes; Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise are the credited directors. By Jonathan Rosenbaum