The Hunchback of Notre Dame II Movie Review

Our pal Quasimodo finds love of his own in this abortive and unbearably lazy sequel to Disney's moderate success, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Unlike mostly no-name productions like The Return of Jafar, the entire original cast is back in this sequel (with the exception of Mary Wickes, who died before the original Hunchback was ever released), and how Disney convinced them to take part is beyond me. (Iron-clad contract or the promise that, after all, this will barely take an hour of their time?)

Added to the cast is Jennifer Love Hewitt as Madellaine, a magician's assistant who falls in love with Quasi -- or at least she pretends to: Her boss wants to steal the Cathedral's giant bell, which for some reason is encrusted with giant jewels on the inside. Or is she really in love with the hunchback? Sure, he's a badly animated hunchback, with thick black lines bordering his body, but so is she! So maybe it's true love after all.

While Disney's message of looking through appearances to find your soulmate is noble, the package in which it is delivered is hardly befitting it. The plot is idiotic, and the animation borders on ugly. But at least Hewitt can sing.

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