The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Disney's animated The Hunchback of Notre Dame is loosely based on the book by Victor Hugo. It belongs to the era referred to as the Disney Renaissance. The voice of Laverne the gargoyle was Mary Wickes final film role.

The gargoyles in the movie The Hunchback of Notre Dame animation do not exist in the book by Victor Hugo. The characters and plot are rewritten to insure a G rating and a movie acceptable for families. Still the movie deals with adult themes of prejudice and hate, injustice and hypocrisy

The animators took great care to preserve the character of the novel in the Disney movie. They spent several weeks in the actual Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, so that the architecture in the animation would be true to the original. They also enjoyed some humor by including their names and other team members' names in the scenery and props, even on a tombstone.

Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame exhibits humor also, in the names of the two male gargoyles, Hugo, and Victor (Victor Hugo). The plot and animation clean up the reality of the cruelties of the times.1 There are characters to identify with, some not in the original novel, but they give the viewer a hook on which to hang his interest.