<P> Produced during a period known as the Disney Renaissance, the film is considered to be one of Disney's darkest animated films as its narrative explores such mature themes as infanticide, lust, damnation, genocide, and sin, despite the changes made from the original source material in order to ensure a G rating received by the MPAA . The musical score was written by Alan Menken, with songs written by Menken and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, who had previously collaborated on Pocahontas, released the year before . </P> <P> The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released on June 21, 1996 to generally positive reviews and was a commercial success, grossing over $325 million worldwide and becoming the fifth highest - grossing release of 1996 . The film received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Menken's musical score . A darker, more Gothic stage adaptation of the film, was rewritten and directed by James Lapine and produced by Walt Disney Theatrical in Berlin, Germany, as Der Glöckner von Notre Dame, and ran from 1999 to 2002 . A direct - to - video sequel, The Hunchback of Notre Dame II, was released in 2002 . </P> <P> In 1482 Paris, Clopin, a gypsy puppeteer, narrates the origin of the titular hunchback . A group of gypsies sneak illegally into Paris, but are ambushed by Judge Claude Frollo, the Minister of Justice of Paris, and his soldiers . A gypsy woman in the group attempts to flee with her deformed baby, but Frollo chases and kills her outside Notre Dame . He tries to kill the baby as well, but the cathedral's archdeacon intervenes and accuses Frollo of murdering an innocent woman . To atone for his sin, Frollo reluctantly agrees to raise the deformed child in Notre Dame as his son, naming him Quasimodo . </P> <P> Twenty years later, Quasimodo develops into a kind yet isolated young man who has lived inside the cathedral his entire life . A trio of living stone gargoyles--Victor, Hugo, and Laverne--serve as Quasimodo's only company, and encourage him to attend the annually - held Festival of Fools . Despite Frollo's warnings that he would be shunned for his deformity, Quasimodo attends the festival and is celebrated for his awkward appearance, only to be humiliated by the crowd after Frollo's men start a riot . Frollo refuses to help Quasimodo, but Esmeralda, a kind gypsy, intervenes by freeing the hunchback, and uses a magic trick to evade arrest . Frollo confronts Quasimodo and sends him back inside the cathedral . </P>

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