Sean Akizuki's Fantasy Critic

It's amusing how Claude Frollo can be deleted entirely in some Hunchback of Notre Dame adaptations or two, he becomes a good guy.  Here's two characters that were obviously copied from Gaston: Jean-Claude from "Enchanted Tales" is not Jehan Frollo at all.  He is a suave rich guy who lusts after Melody (the replacement of Esmeralda).  So far, he is not even related to Claude Frollo at all. In "Secret of the Hunchback", we have Jehan Frollo once again villainized and the wayward brother of Claude.  So Claude again is a good guy here like the 1939 version.  But he's a sheriff, not a judge.  However he looks like a bad combination of Jafar and Gaston.

Secret of the Hunchback was perhaps the most awkward adaptation of the novel.  So the movie begins where a baby is set at the Cathedral's door, Claude Frollo a young priest finds the baby but hey he's not the antagonist here!  Claude the kindly priest and his right hand man raise the baby out of pity and years later, Quasimodo grows up in Claude's care like the novel Claude but this one doesn't lust after Esmeralda.  Who does?  Well Claude's wayward brother Jehan is now the High Sheriff of Paris (who is a bearded version of Gaston!) and has his own version of Lefou.  Claude prays for Jehan's conversion. In the way, Quasimodo joins the festival of fools but not much drama- he meets Esmeralda (who looks like Belle) who falls for the poet Pierre Gringoire.  So pretty much, Jehan wants Esmeralda like Gaston wants Belle- while he's a town hero like Gaston, nobody knows he plans to get the gold that his brother Claude stored for the poor for himself.  I wo...

I just thought between the Filipino novel "Noli Me Tangere" by Filipino-Chinese writer Jose Mercado (Rizal) and that of French writer Victor Hugo, these two kind of had a common idea of people bound to celibacy who has some really BAD ISSUES! Both Padre Frollo and Padre Salvi are pretty tragic figures.  They try their best to be good priests of their religion, to be good persons (but also hypocritical, miserly and both were very pale and sickly too) but  the tragedy does begin with when they start to break their vows of celibacy to fall in love with that they believe are "inferior" women.  Frollo had a dislike for gypsies and Salvi had a dislike for Filipinos (who he calls as Indios or inferior) but in the long run, both fall in love with races they disliked which doubled their pain aside from being celibates thus the song "Hellfire" comes in.  Then it begins their madness... Frollo attempted to kill Phoebus de Chapateurs while he was kissing with Esmer...

Secret of the Hunchback has this plot which has some from the novel and its own twist and turns.  So it looks like a rehash of characters but not really.  So the beginning starts where kind Archdeacon Claude Frollo adopts Quasimodo and he does have his assistant.  Claude could not care how ugly Quasimodo was, he raised the freak anyway but warned him about society can be so unforgiving while there are good people. So Quasimodo sneaks out to see the festival and meets Pierre Gringoire a misunderstood poet and Esmeralda WHO LOOKS LIKE BELLE.  In the middle of everything, there is Jehan Frollo the Archdeacon's corrupt brother who is the High Sheriff of Paris, who looks like a cross between Gaston and Jafar, but mostly Gaston personality-wise accompanied by a bumbling sidekick like Lefou.  And what's worse is that Jehan has developed feelings for Esmeralda, wants to marry her but she HATES HIM.  So yeah, pretty much Belle as Esmeralda and Gaston as the High Sh...

I just gave a thought that while the novel Jehan Frollo was just a drunkard, movie adaptations have gone too far in deviation like turning Claude Frollo into the kind archdeacon while his drunkard brother becomes the sinister villain of the story. Here's some that can be noticed... Several versions of Jehan on film had him the evil Judge of Paris, the brother of the Archdeacon Claude Frollo (hence, I'm even surprised Disney didn't use the name Jehan for Judge Frollo and chose to use Claude instead) who develops lustful feelings for Esmeralda.   Such inspired the creation of Judge Claude Frollo to who I thought should have been named Jehan.  Cedric Hardwicke was perhaps the best Jehan adaptational villainy. Later there's a more bizarre twist- the Secret of the Hunchback did something to Jehan- he was changed itn a sinister sheriff while still maintaining him being Archdeacon Claude's brother.  In here, Archdeacon Claude again was a good guy who pitied Quasimodo...