(no subject)
So I was watching the Nostalgia Critic's latest video "Top 11 Villain Songs" earlier this week. I know, laugh if you want to, but I usually enjoy his stuff, particularly his Top 11's where he'll usually pull out an entry or two that has me saying aloud "I totally forgot about that movie/TV show/scene!"
Well, this one was no different. Now, I love villains--based on the simple fact that they are usually the most interesting character, the one that will stick with you long after you came out of the theatre or put the book down. Batman was cool and intense, but let's face it folks: the Joker was the one who really had our collective behinds in the seats. And what's always the best song in a musical? Why the villain song, of course! So I naturally had a ball with this list. The songs were fun, even catchy in a sick, twisted way--c'mon you know you've sung "Be Prepared" with disgusting glee!
That is until the top song on the list: "Hellfire" from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Good holy God! I'd be hard pressed to find anything more intense in any sort of film, live-action or animated! The imagery, the lyrics, the Latin, all swirling together to make what has to be the most shocking scene Disney has offered since Fantasia. As soon as I re-watched this scene I just had to go and buy the DVD.
Admittedly, when I first watched Hunchback back in 1997 I wrote it off for being just too different from what I had been used to Disney giving me. To be quite frank, I don't think I "got" it. Well, older and wiser, I do now. While those damn talking gargoyles are still out-of-place, I found it really worked. I really hope that someday they bring the German stage musical version, Der Glockner von Notre Dame, over to Broadway. The musical had several changes from the movie (the gargoyles are presented as figments of Quasimodo's imagination, for instance) that I think would have made the movie a flat-out animated masterpiece. If only, if only....
Well, this one was no different. Now, I love villains--based on the simple fact that they are usually the most interesting character, the one that will stick with you long after you came out of the theatre or put the book down. Batman was cool and intense, but let's face it folks: the Joker was the one who really had our collective behinds in the seats. And what's always the best song in a musical? Why the villain song, of course! So I naturally had a ball with this list. The songs were fun, even catchy in a sick, twisted way--c'mon you know you've sung "Be Prepared" with disgusting glee!
That is until the top song on the list: "Hellfire" from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
Click to viewGood holy God! I'd be hard pressed to find anything more intense in any sort of film, live-action or animated! The imagery, the lyrics, the Latin, all swirling together to make what has to be the most shocking scene Disney has offered since Fantasia. As soon as I re-watched this scene I just had to go and buy the DVD.
Admittedly, when I first watched Hunchback back in 1997 I wrote it off for being just too different from what I had been used to Disney giving me. To be quite frank, I don't think I "got" it. Well, older and wiser, I do now. While those damn talking gargoyles are still out-of-place, I found it really worked. I really hope that someday they bring the German stage musical version, Der Glockner von Notre Dame, over to Broadway. The musical had several changes from the movie (the gargoyles are presented as figments of Quasimodo's imagination, for instance) that I think would have made the movie a flat-out animated masterpiece. If only, if only....