Thursday, March 21, 2013

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II (Bradley Raymond, 2002) Review

You know you're in for a treat when I tell you that this is the best image I could find...

Show of hands, how many of you knew this existed? Well, it does and as you might expect, it was direct to video. That can only mean one thing: it sucks. You never know though, I did actually enjoy Aladdin and the King of Thieves so maybe we're in for a treat. After all, they got the original cast back as well as other well known talent such as...Haley Joel Osmand and...Jennifer Love Hewitt.....ohhhhhh...well, here's The Hunchback of Notre Dame II...not exactly thrilled about this.

With Frollo's threat gone from Paris, Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) has now been accepted into society and still keeps to his job as bell ringer of Notre Dame. Esmeralda Demi Moore) and Phoebus (Kevin Kline) now has a child, Zephyr (Haley Joel Osment), who has become a good friend of Quasimodo and he also gains a new friend when a circus arrives in Paris. Madellaine (Jennifer Love Hewitt) seems to be smitten for Quasimodo (short sighted, I assume). There is also a new villain called Sarousch (Michael McKean) who wishes to steal the largest and most expensive bell in Notre Dame.

Most direct to video Disney films suck and, yeah, this one does too. I theorise that the only reason this film exists is just because people complained that Quasi didn't get the girl at the end of the first film so Disney wanted to continue the tradition. I will give the film credit in that Madellaine is quite an enjoyable character. They could have done a lot worse and made a boring character...I'm not saying shes's the most mind blowing character ever but she's good enough. The other new characters are just...boring and/or annoying and, as is tradition for Disney sequels, the animation is much worse. It looks....eh....

It gets worse though.  Did I mention that the first film has one of the best soundtracks in any Disney film? Yeah, you can go and throw that out the window now. The soundtrack in this is... forgettable to say the least. I can only remember one song and I really wish I didn't because it's freaking annoying (auuuuugh! *smashes head on desk*). Even the villain is boring. Sure he's funny but after Frollo he just seems crap. You can't even top Frollo...or the first film so why did you even bother?

The Hunchback of Notre Dame II is, as you probably could tell, is a much worse film than the first. There are a few things I enjoy but, all in all, it comes off as cheap and forgettable. The soundtrack is crap, the new characters are annoying and just feels off. All the time I was watching this, I just wanted to watch the first one again. 

Verdict:
2/10
A cheap and forgettable that feels insulting to the first film. Just watch the first one again, you'll get a better experience. 

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