History YMMV / TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisney

* CompleteMonster: [[Characters/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisneyJudgeClaudeFrollo Judge Claude Frollo]], the [[KnightTemplar fanatical]] Minister of Justice, is a deeply prejudiced and hypocritical official who seeks to [[FinalSolution totally exterminate the gypsies]] scattered around Paris. Frollo [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduces himself]] by murdering a fleeing mother and nearly drowning her infant child for the crime of being deformed. With the archdeacon's intervention instilling the fear of divine retribution in him, Frollo dubbed the child Quasimodo and raised him in isolation under emotional abuse. [[VillainousCrush Deeply enraptured]] with the gypsy woman Esmeralda, Frollo resolves to make Esmeralda his or watch her burn, offering "choose me or the fire" when she's tied to the stake. Frollo has gigantic sections of Paris burned in his further attempt to find the gypsies, orders a family torched alive in their own house, and even tries to murder Quasimodo himself in the end after having seemingly murdered Esmeralda, forsaking all piety to reveal the monster he's always been within.

* AccidentalAesop: The citizens of Paris are implied to be more or less on the same page as Frollo where the Romani are concerned, and for years have either been ignorant to - or vaguely supportive of - his acts of persecution and attempts at ethnic cleansing. But, when Frollo starts targeting regular white, Christian Parisians and directing his atrocities in their direction, this is a step too far and is the catalyst for the population turning against Frollo (made very clear in Phoebus' speech: "Citizens of Paris! Frollo has persecuted OUR people, ransacked OUR city! Now he has declared war on Notre Dame herself! Will WE allow it!?"). This is unfortunately spot-on to how society at-large tends to respond to inequity, social injustice, or religious/ethnic persecution - only doing something about it when it affects them and comes into their own backyard.

** Was the soldier who interrupted "Hellfire" actually the Brutish Guard, or was it an angel sent by God to help Frollo? There are several points worth bringing up: first, the guard's face cannot be seen, so it's uncertain whether it's actually one of Frollo's soldiers or an angel as theorized. Second, the light behind the guard appears like the light of Heaven while the fire behind Frollo looks like the fires of hell. The guard sounds as though he's pleading for Frollo to let go of his obsession with Esmeralda, knowing it'd lead to his damnation. However, Frollo is too deep in denial of his sins to acknowledge his wrongdoings and ignores the angel's warning by giving into his lust for Esmeralda. When the guard closes the door, the light disappears, meaning that Frollo has rejected going to Heaven. Third, the Brutish Guard usually speaks with a coarse and gruff voice, even around Frollo, but during 'Hellfire', his voice sounds soothing and gentle, a complete contrast from his usual self. If this to be believed, then God did give Frollo a chance to repent for his crimes, but Frollo was too proud and too deep in denial of his sins to do so.

* HateSink: The Oafish and Brutish Guards, on the other hand, are little more than thuggish bullies and essentially the medieval version of [[DirtyCop dirty cops]] with no such charm or admirable qualities as Frollo. They not only rival their leader in their bigotry towards romani, but they are responsible for starting the disastrous downward spiral that causes Quasimodo to be tormented by the crowd during the Festival of Fools, which Esmeralda putted a stop to herself by freeing him and calling Frollo on his crimes.
** Frollo can hit too close to home for those who have been victims of emotional abuse, racism, and even attempted rape.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Some have a disturbing habit of justifying Frollo's actions.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Despite Frollo being the main villain, he is nearly universally loved for being a realistic portrayal of a monstrous, corrupt government official, as well as being an overall well-rounded, complex antagonist. The Oafish and Brutish Guards, on the other hand, are little more than thuggish bullies with no such charm or admirable qualities as Frollo. They not only rival their leader in their bigotry towards gypsies, but they are responsible for starting the disastrous downward spiral that causes Quasimodo to be tormented by the crowd during the Festival of Fools.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Some have a disturbing habit of justifying Frollo's actions.

** The actual, present day Notre Dame [[note]]Before the massive 2019 fire at least[[/note]] has two pillars missing, a damaged gargoyle, and a broken doorknob. Not only does this damage happen in the climax, it's all significant in some way.

* PresumedFlop: It's remembered for being the only Disney film to get a UsefulNotes/GoldenRaspberryAward nomination, and the first Disney Renaissance entry to not win any of its own UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nominations-- cementing its reputation as the animation studio's biggest failure of the decade. However, despite the bafflement caused by some MisaimedMarketing hiding the movie's darker themes, it still made over $300 million.[[note]]In fact, the Razzie nom was exactly "Worst Movie to Gross Over $100 Million", a quantity ''Hunchback'' barely scraped domestically, and which follow-up ''Westernanimation/{{Hercules}}'' ended up a million short[[/note]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Endlessly marketed to kids with cute dolls and toys and such... and then Frollo sings "[[VillainSong Hellfire]]", which is all about his lust for Esmeralda and how [[IfICantHaveYou she will burn if he can't have her]]. There is no ambiguity about the nature of his feelings for her. Also, he "accidentally" kills Quasimodo's mother and then tries to outright murder him as an infant, flat out saying he's going to send him to Hell. That happens ''just minutes into the film''. It even got a G rating in North America. Interestingly enough, one of the film’s actors Jason Alexander even said he thought the film was too dark to take his kid to. And that’s coming from a guy who played the most child friendly character in the movie!

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Despite Frollo being the main villain, he is nearly universally loved for being a realistic portrayal of a monstrous, corrupt government official, as well as being an overall well-rounded, complex antagonist. The Oafish and Brutish guards, on the other hand, are little more than thuggish bullies with no such charm or admirable qualities as Frollo. They not only rival their leader in their bigotry towards gypsies, but they are responsible for starting the disastrous downward spiral that causes Quasimodo to be tormented by the crowd during the Festival of Fools.

* RetroactiveRecognition: The Oafish Guard is voiced by Bill Fagerbakke, aka ''[[WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants Patrick freaking Star!]]'' And [[WesternAnimation/LloydInSpace Kurt!]] And [[{{WesternAnimation/Gargoyles}} Broadway!]] And he uses the ''exact same voice'' for him too!

* CompleteMonster: [[Characters/TheHunchbackOfNotreDameDisneyJudgeClaudeFrollo Judge Claude Frollo]], the [[KnightTemplar fanatical]] Minister of Justice, is a deeply prejudiced and hypocritical official who seeks to [[FinalSolution totally exterminate the Roma]] scattered around Paris. Frollo [[EstablishingCharacterMoment introduces himself]] by murdering a fleeing mother and nearly drowning her infant child for the crime of being deformed. With the archdeacon's intervention instilling the fear of divine retribution in him, Frollo dubbed the child Quasimodo and raised him in isolation under emotional abuse. [[VillainousCrush Deeply enraptured]] with the Romani woman Esmeralda, Frollo resolves to make Esmeralda his or watch her burn, offering "choose me or the fire" when she's tied to the stake. Frollo has gigantic sections of Paris burned in his further attempt to find the Roma; orders a family torched alive in their own house; and even tries to murder Quasimodo himself in the end after having seemingly murdered Esmeralda, forsaking all piety to reveal the monster he's always been within.

* MisaimedMarketing: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eg4NO2M0Z8Y The]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBIWQeBaPKo original]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7M-HZomy4eM trailers]] heavily emphasized the comic relief characters and the brighter musical numbers, especially the gargoyles and "Topsy Turvy", [[NeverTrustATrailer without giving even the slightest impression]] of [[DarkerAndEdgier the incredibly dark, emotional story and characters]] the film would later stand out for. Funnily enough, the video commercial describes it as [[BlatantLies "loaded with laughs"]]. Director Gary Trousdale was [[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6fVE4aa-UkM aware of this]].
-->'''Trousdale:''' The marketing department at that time thought, "Well, we'll maybe fool people into thinking it was light-hearted, happy Disney." They played up the gargoyles and they played up the Feast of Fools. And so all the marketing at that time was, "It's a celebration! It's a festival!"

** The film itself, particularly when first released. Many viewed it as a wildly-misconceived bastardization of Hugo's novel, to the point that the screenplay received a Razzie nomination. Its reputation has, however, improved since then.

** Frollo was often thought of as [[EvilIsCool cool]] despite having much less reason to be thought of as such ([[MoralEventHorizon and much more NOT to]]) than other Disney villains. Instead of being a [[EvilIsSexy muscular macho-man]] like [[WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast Gaston]] or a powerful sorcerer like [[WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}} Jafar]], he is a genocidal self-righteous old religious fanatic. But for all his decidedly uncool qualities, his character ended up winning many people over.
*** While it may not have been the intent of the filmmakers, it's still easy to see why Frollo got the EvilIsCool treatment. After all, he's a truly menacing and effective villain. What's more egregious is fans who believe EvilIsSexy. Sure, Creator/TonyJay's [[ArousedByTheirVoice voice is quite pleasing]] and his sexuality is a key part of Frollo's character. But you'd think [[DirtyOldMan an old man perversely preying on a repulsed younger woman]], and being perfectly willing to kill her should she reject his advances would be an enormous turnoff for all viewers.

** The insistent accusations that Quasimodo is "monster" seem far more fitting in the setting when you learn that "monster" came from a term for people with birth defects.