THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (71)

Directed by: Gary Trousdale and Kirk Wise

The Pitch: Misshapen bell-ringer in medieval Paris helps fiery gipsy girl and gains self-esteem.

Theo Sez: A triumph, even if it never really tops its opening, the most darkly magical how-it-all-began prologue since BATMAN RETURNS. The rest never quite makes the heart soar in the same way but remains a marvellously put-together piece of work, mixing moods with quicksilver dexterity and funnier than any Disney cartoon since ALADDIN (even the songs are witty, albeit sappy-as-ever musically). Above all it brings the dark clouds of twisted passion and psychological complexity to Disney's sunny theme-park culture - and, alas, to America's climate of cotton-wool conservatism. The resulting outcry, reflected in ticket sales, no doubt means that the studio will now leave off experimentation and return to its corporate blandness; though at least a note of irony is provided by how perfectly the real-life fuss mirrors the villain Frollo's paranoid hysteria in the movie - thus confirming its point, that Christian virtue has nothing to do with religious-right judgmentalism.