"Perhaps he knew, as I did not, that the Earth was made round so that we could not see too far down the road." -- Karen, reflecting on what Denys had taught her. Karen (Meryl Streep) is a rich Danish woman. She wants to be married. She leaves Denmark and goes to Africa to get married and start a farm. The year is 1913, and European colonialization is a fact. If this is an autobiographical account of an upper-class Danish writer, then it should reflect her experiences and point of view. The beginning of the film suggests that Karen has had many lovers, and she's written about them all. Denys (Robert Redford), however, might be the most important one, and the one that's she's saved writing about for last. The setting, then, may be Africa, but this is not a story about Africans. It's about what she learned about herself, love and romance, and perhaps, life; and maybe she was only able to learn about it in Africa, because this is the only place that a man like D...
But what if Quasimodo could find love? That had to be the question screenwriters worked with when they pitched and wrote the sequel. When we watched this film last night, my daughter said, "Who asked for this sequel to be made?" I think it's a fair question. All of the voice actors, for whatever reason, came back. But the budget is clearly no longer $100 million. The songs are weaker. The animation is weaker. And, while I don't actually mind the storyline that much (except for the ending), it's weaker as well. Esmerlda and Phoebus are married. They have a son, but neither they nor the goat look any older. They haven't aged at all. Nor have their characters developed in any noticeable way. Quasimodo does seem a little more social. He goes out and about, and none of the people run from him or throw rotten vegetables at him. Everyone seems to get along. Enter this movie's "gypsies" -- the circus people. The whole plot centers around the Madellaine (...