If the Disney team had set out to craft a cartoon response to the ongoing attacks against the company by socially conservative critics, it could not have come up with a more devastating one than its new animated feature.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame offers a pleasant surprise for people who were wondering how the studio could make a story about suffering and bigotry into a fun family film.

It's not what Victor Hugo had in mind, yet it works magnificently.

This beautifully animated Disney version of the Victor Hugo story features magnificent drawing, fine voice work, medium-grade music and some lags in the story.