Roy Conli Movies
The classic Brothers Grimm fairy tale gets a lavish CG makeover as directors Glen Keane and Dean Wellins team up to tell the tale of a fair-haired beauty (voiced by Mandy Moore) with long-flowing locks, a gallant hero with a heart of gold, and the evil witch who plots to keep these lovelorn innocents apart. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
Robert Louis Stevenson's classic tale of adventure Treasure Island gets a science fiction update in this animated feature from Walt Disney Pictures. Jim (voice of Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a young man who grew up reading tales of pirates and adventures on the high seas, and longs for similar excitement in his own life. One day, Jim happens upon a dying man who hands him a map and warns him to "Beware the cyborg" shortly before he passes on. Upon careful examination, Jim realizes the map charts the course to Treasure Planet, a distant world where hundreds of space pirates have stashed their loot. Jim is certain this is the adventure he's been dreaming off, and joins the crew of the spaceship R.L.S. Legacy and Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson) as they set out to find the fabled Treasure Planet. While Jim signs on along with his friend Dr. Doppler (voice of David Hyde Pierce), he soon becomes close friends with John Silver (voice of Brian Murray), who works in the galley but has big plans. Jim discovers just how big his plans are when Silver reveals he's part cyborg and all pirate, instigating a mutiny and attempting to take control of the ship. Despite his friendship with Silver, Jim refuses to take part in the mutiny, and soon finds himself attempting to defend law and order against a spacecraft full of reckless men. Treasure Planet's voice cast also includes Michael Wincott and Martin Short; Johnny Rzeznik from the rock group The Goo Goo Dolls contributed new music for the soundtrack. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brian Murray, (more)
After the critical and commercial success of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the Walt Disney Pictures animation studio embarked on their most serious and ambitious animated feature to date with this adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic novel Notre Dame de Paris. Quasimodo (voice of Tom Hulce) is a grotesquely deformed but kind-hearted young man who was abandoned by his parents as an infant and thrown down a well; he was rescued by the priests of Notre Dame, the massive cathedral in the heart of Paris, and he lives there, earning his keep as a bell ringer. Quasimodo has become the ward of Judge Frollo (voice of Tony Jay), an outwardly pious but deeply hateful man who treats Quasimodio with indifference and violently loathes the Gypsies who spend their days in the cathedral's courtyard. Frollo hopes to clear the Gypsies out of Paris with the help of Phoebus (voice of Kevin Kline), leader of the troops under Frollo's command. However, Phoebus does not share Frollo's racist views and harbors no ill will against the Gypsies. When Quasimodo is crowned King of the Fools after leaving Notre Dame during the annual festival of Topsy Turvy Day, the hunchback is ordered beaten by the guards as punishment, but Esmerelda (voice of Demi Moore), a hot-blooded but compassionate gypsy beauty, shows pity on him and helps free him from his chains. The lovely Esmerelda is the first woman to show kindness to the unfortunate Quasimodo, and the hunchback soon falls in love with her. However, the dashing Phoebus is also infatuated with her, and Esmerelda is attracted to Phoebus as well, though she feels a motherly affection for the hunchback. Judge Frollo finds that he also desires Esmerelda, which only inflames his hatred for the Gypsies when she refuses his proposals. Darker and less outwardly comic than most of Disney's features, The Hunchback of Notre Dame does feature comic relief in the form of Victor (voice of Charles Kimbrough) and Hugo (voice of Jason Alexander), a pair of gargoyles who befriend Quasimodo, as well as several songs from Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Hulce, Demi Moore, (more)
