SpecialsTarget Disturbing yet enthralling

CommentsXp Best movie ever!

Phillipa Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

Jenni Devyn Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

minamurray Sets and costumes are stark and simple - gypsies seem to find their clothes from modern-day garbage, Esme is stuck in ugly peasoup-colored dress - but what Notre-Dame de Paris loses in visual beauty and spectacle it wins with wonderful music and drama. Helene Segara is strong-voiced and suitably tortured as innocent gypsy Esmeralda, Garou is my favorite Quasimodo and Daniel Lavoie (too handsome to be Frollo, actually) is wonderfully hammy as racist, repressed priest: he gets many of the best and most evocative songs, sings them very well indeed and manages to evoke odd mixture of hate toward Frollo's actions and sympathy toward the man himself. Weird. For some reason librettists has changed Frollo's obsession to gypsy Esmeralda - his "angel of darkness" - from lust/infatuation to lust/hate. Unfortunately it has Hugo's downer ending, which is, quite frankly, even more depressive and frustrating than it's touching, but the result is oddly captivating.

Renfieldette Richard Cocciante and Luc Plamondon's comedy musicale is one of the finest world musicals I have seen. The thing about foreign musicals is they do not carry subtext and thought provoking material in the songs, but within the staging and visuals. Don't expect Stephen Sondheim. The great thing about these types of musicals is that you can think about what's going on while you watch it, and just enjoy the music on CD. The performers are fantastic. I've long been a fan of each of them, Julie Zenatti being one of my favorite solo artists. Garou OWNS the role of Quasimodo, and the rest of the cast is pitch perfect as well. All of the songs are melodic and romantic, and the french language is the icing on the cake. The story is much more accurate than the Disney version, and includes one of the most gorgeous songs ever written, "Belle."

Risto Pohjola Despite not being a true musical performance this is truly a great performance with great singers.Garou with his special voice as the hunchback.A performance i really like.I could sense the pain in his voice.Beautiful Helene Segera as Esmeralda.A vulnerable soul in a racist world.Patric Fioiri as the confused soldier not knowing to whom to give his love.Daniel Lavoie as the priest Frollo torn by the love for Esmeralda and his faith.Bruno Pelletier with his beautiful voice playing Gringoire the poet. Great dance and stage work. Well written music that express all the feelings from each character Great ensemble in a great piece of musical history.

katdawg620 I love this musical. I always hated musicals until I saw this one. The music, the acting and the sets blew me away. I was glad I speak French, because that made it even more enjoyable because I actually understood what they were singing. I grew up with this story and it's always been one of my all-time favorites. How can you not be in love with this plot? It's all love-triangles and stuff like that, and it's put perfectly in place for this story. What caught my attention immediately was the first song "Temps Des Cathédrales" because the vocals were so powerful and strong and after that was simply amazing. Seeing it in French really makes a difference because it really puts you in place of the musical. This is by far the most amazing musical ever presented. Je l'adore!!!!