The “I Want” Song
Out There
There is no good way to say it, “Out There” is a knock off of “Part of your World” from the Little Mermaid. Lots of Disney characters sing this “wanting more” type of song but Out There and Part of that World express the some thought. And it’s interesting that they both point to a direction; up for Ariel and down for Quasimodo and they both mention a desire for the sun and to be with “the people”. They also kind of look alike, red hair and they both wear green. (2026 – Maybe a be harsh calling Out There a Knock Off but they are quite similar and outside of the scope them being I want Songs)
So how is the song on a music level? Got say, the song it’s self is pretty typical Disney fare. It’s one of the typical songs you’ll hear in a Disney movie, the dreamer’s song. It’s usually the main character singing about wanting something more. This song is just Quasimodo singing about even if just one day he wants to apart of the people. The music is fine, it’s nice and symphonic. The lyrics are very repetitive: he wants to be to live a day with the regular people, I get.
Quasimodo does come off naive to think that just because people live “out there” this qualifies them as normal and he also insinuates that it’s a gift for them to be normal despite the whole issue with Romani who have to live in catacombs to avoid Frollo’s genocide tendencies.
The singing is where this song fails for me. Hulce’s vibrato has too much of a wobble for me. I think this fast vibrato is meant to give Quasimodo an innocence and naivety but it too much wobble. The wobbly vibrato ruins Hulce’s performance for me and do think he a decent enough singer otherwise. (Again 2026 edit – this take of mine has change over the years.)
The best part of the song in the movie is the visuals. I remember the first time I saw it, the part where Quasimodo slid down the buttress was my favorite visual, I thought it looked fun, of course as a kid I thought it was a water slide and not a support structure. I really enjoy Quasimodo interacting with the Notre Dame, he may be dreaming on being on terra firma but Notre Dame is like his private playground.
There are a few things that appear in the song that many viewers don’t seem to notice. The first are cameos, which people notice. The Cameos are Belle (Beauty and the Beast), Pumba (The Lion King) and Carpet (Aladdin). Two other things, is Frollo can be seen in the square as Quasimodo is looking down and a satellite dish can be seen on a house in the bird’s view of Paris or La Cite in this case.
So the song is by no means in the top tier of the songs in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, it by no means is it the worst. It’s just a VERY typical formulaic Disney song.
2026 Edit- To be honest, this review is rather harsh. I held it in 2011 but not so much in 2026. And to prove a point “Out There” ranked quite high when I ranked Disney “I Want” Songs with a statical survey. So take than 2011 version of me.
Next Time –Topsy Turvy
