The Hunchback of Notre Dame II

A much, much more family friendly tale from the world of Quasimodo. 'The Hunchback of Notre Dame II' isn't necessarily anything terrible, I don't dislike it, but it kinda lets itself down with a tamer plot, poorer music/score and less interesting key characters. The animation certainly takes a nosedive, with all the onscreen talent looking a little worse for wear. Tom Hulce remains solid as the main man, while Jennifer Love Hewitt is at least a big name to attach to the film; her role, Madellaine, is very underdeveloped. Michael McKean is, of course, notable too, but sadly his Sarousch is a very basic villain. This film's plot is what lets it down, as they create an incredibly unimaginative story regarding a bell called La Fidèle. If that wasn't enough, the main plot point surrounding the bell is a total cop-out. At least they only made the run time 68 minutes, which avoided me getting the drag feeling; any longer then I'd be rating way less. It's not good at all, but there are numerous other Disney animated sequels that are worse.

Quasimodo and his friends are back in the direct-to-video sequel The Hunchback of Notre Dame II. The main cast returns, and are joined by Jennifer Love Hewitt and Haley Joel Osment. The animation however, is extremely poor and isn’t even up to television standards (Disney should be embarrassed). But even worse is the trite, uninspired story about a traveling circus that’s attempting to steal a jewel encrusted bell that’s in the Notre Dame cathedral. Additionally, the constant hammering of the theme of things being beautiful on the inside is annoying. Incredibly ill-conceived, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II is a generic piece of tripe that betrays Victor Hugo’s original vision.