The Art of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Hardcover)

by Stephen Rebello (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
For its latest animated feature, the Disney studio has turned again to a classic. This time, rather than a children's tale, the source is Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame. Not unexpectedly, the adaptation dumbs down and sanitizes the novel, altering its focus to place politically correct emphasis on Quasimodo's effort to overcome his deformity and gain acceptance. Further to avoid offense, the villain Frollo has been transformed from a cleric into a judge. And, of course, Disney provides a happy ending. As usual, Hyperion, the studio's publishing outlet, has produced a lavish book companion to the movie that details its history and production and includes hundreds of color and black-and-white illustrations and commentary by its creators. A disfigured main character is a departure from the glamorous youngsters that typically feature in Disney cartoons, but there is little reason to think Hunchback won't continue Disney's string of box-office blockbusters, and wherever Disney's other art book tie-ins have proved popular, so should this one. Gordon Flagg

Product Description
In a beautiful collection of animation art from Disney's new film adaptation of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, conceptual material, sketches, layout drawings, and storyboards are carefully reproduced for avid fans.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: Disney Editions; First Edition. first trade edition (June 13, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786862084
• ISBN-13: 978-0786862085
• Product Dimensions: 13.2 x 10.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #424,871 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #3 in

  Books > Children's Books > Popular Characters > Disney > Hunchback of Notre Dame

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must for Disney worshippers, November 25, 1997

By A Customer

Like Rebello's previous "Art of" books (Lion King and Pocahontas), this one is a joy to look at, but it's missing one thing. I wish it had more about the characters' voices. Often the actor or actress who voices a character influences the visual development of that character. The animator may model the character after the actor, or he or she may take one particular gesture from the actor and incorporate it into the character (like Belle - she kept brushing that lock of hair away from her face because her voice, Paige O'Hara, did the same thing). So including some information about the voices behind the characters would provide even more insight for those of us clamoring to know about how an animated film is made. But even with this one flaw, the book is gorgeous, especially the production stills of the interior of Notre Dame. And the concept art is great - sometimes it's wildly different from what actually shows up on screen, so you get a look at the evolution process. Oh - don't skip the index. The illustrations of how animators let off steam are hysterical! My favorite - "Quasi and Harriet". So, if you're a fan of Disney animation, get this!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nice companion with lots of historic background, March 20, 2009

By	Parka (Singapore) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Art of The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Hardcover)

Length:: 0:26 Mins

The Hunchback of Notre Dame is inspired by Victor Hugo's literary masterpiece Notre-Dame de Paris. This art book is very heavy into character development and the historic influences. The first chapter is on Victor Hugo and his story of Notre Dame, including a short biography. There's much of how the characters are created and influenced by Victor Hugo's life, and the little changes Disney made to adapt it as a movie.

Throughout the book, there are sections introduced writing about the cultural settings. E.g. About Notre Dame, Gypsies, how people hold feasts, etc.

Character writeup are for Esmeralda, Quasimodo, Frollo (the villain) and other miscellaneous characters. There are plenty of accompanying character sketches and film stills. Characteristics for main characters are laid out, and the role they play in the film explained in detail.

There's a chapter on the architecture and the drawings are exquisite, as expected from Paris. The text explains how the buildings are designed to convey the mood suitable for the movie.

Finally, there's the talk on the overall theme of the movie, the light vs the dark. They are placed in the movie as different metaphors, like light and shadow, good vs evil. Every character in the film is an outcast in his/her circumstance.

The book's focus is on the characters and storytelling.

There are more pictures of the book on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great book for animation fans and art lovers, February 20, 1998

By A Customer

The focus of this book was certainly ART, as it provides stunning pictures of Mideval Paris from historical archive that Disney artists meticulously researched before finalizing the background scenery. We also get a glimpse of the profiling of the psychology of each character, and their interaction that drives the story. However, at this price, I wish that they had CD-ROM version that catered to the sophisticated fans of animation art who are very interested in all of the gory technical details.