The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Jetlag) [2002]

[Cross-posted on the Bad Movie Night Facebook page.]

In a continuation of what could aptly be called "The Hunchbackening" as we attempt to watch as many versions of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" both good and bad as we can, we watched the Jetlag Productions version. It starts in a way that implies that it may be one of a series of films about classic books where some kids go on a roller coaster through movie clips but there was no conclusion to that frame narrative so who knows.

The movie follows the plot of the book more accurately than any other version of "Hunchback" except maybe the French stage musical including a bunch of minor characters like Pierre Gringoire and Fleur-de-lis except somehow no one dies. Even Disney had the nerve to kill off Frollo. In this one, Quasi pushes Frollo off a small bridge at the end and we never see him again so we can assume whatever we want. This movie also, while not a direct romance like the other animated movie that we watched, did end with Quasi and Esmerelda disappearing together. 

So was it fun to watch? Yeah. The animation is lazy and there are weirdly long pauses between dialogue. Phoebus is the only one with a French accent and is constantly fooling with his moustache and, as expected, Frollo was comically evil but this time without a cool villain song. There were actually two songs in this movie and they were both lazy, an intro and a Quasi loves Esmeralda number. They were so lazy, I almost didn't mention them.

Spoon Rating: 6

Afterwards we watched an episode of "Madeline" where they put on a play of "Hunchback" and Gerard Depardieu is there. We don't recommend it.