Conclusion: Burbank Film's The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1986)

Gringoire and Frollo converse

Burbank Films' The Hunchback of Notre Dame surprised me. It's not amazing or anything, but compared to the other animated adaptations, like the Dingo Pictures version, it's the best of the lot.

I'm grading on a curve, in other words.

There's actual effort here. The animation is fairly well done, and there's a really nice musical score. There's an actual attempt to be dramatic, and it's remarkably faithful to the original Victor Hugo novel.

Quasimodo sulks

It's fidelity to the source material is questionable at times. Being only 52 minutes, things are obviously abridged, but I feel that a lot of the time can be used more wisely. Gringoire is in a lot of the beginning, but he is just ignored in the second half. If he just disappears, then what's the point of having him at all?

This issue is worse with Clopin, who only has a single scene. I'm not sure why they wouldn't have him lead the mob to storm Notre Dame, like in the book, but they didn't. Again, why even bother in the first place?

I paid a penny for this movie. Yes, a whole cent. For that price, I'd say it's worth it. There's debate as to whether or not this or any of Burbank Films' catalog is in the public domain. It's not confirmed as of yet, but you can find it on Youtube anyway. If you're interested, you're not losing out on anything.