The Court of Miracles

"The Court of Miracles" is a song from Disney's 1996 animated feature The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The song is sung by the film's gypsy narrator Clopin, King of the Gypsies and head of the gypsy hideaway known as the Court of Miracles. It is sung when Quasimodo and Phoebus stumble upon the hideaway and Clopin proceeds to sing about the terrors that await them there and the fact that they will never escape after seeing the secrets they have seen. It is 1:27 minutes long.

Synopsis

BSLCrane wrote "Quasimodo has decided to help and together they find it and try to warn them but are caught and accused of being spies before they can warn the gypsies. They are immediately sentenced to hanging by Clopin and this is told during the song 'The Court of Miracles'." The Court of Miracles is so named, as many of the gypsies feign disability (such as blindness or being lame) in order to receive alms whilst begging. After spending the entire day pretending to be handicapped, they return to the Court and drop the charade, therefore being able to see and walk again as if by "a miracle."

Production

Two love songs were originally written in the place where this song fits in the movie, after Esmeralda saves Phoebus from Clopin's hands.

Critical reception

The song has received a mainly positive response, with several critics calling the song better and more suited to the film than "A Guy Like You", another of the soundtrack's more light-hearted songs. Sputnikmusic wrote "our buddy Clopin has to let his mouth run amidst 'The Court of Miracles' and remind us no Disney film is complete without some sort of obnoxious distraction. Shame it had to sneak a path onto the soundtrack like a dirty gypsy." UnshhavedMouse wrote "'The Court of Miracles' is a fun, dark song. In fact it's almost a villain song in tone." Filmtracks said "breaking the spirit of the film's larger tone is 'The Court of Miracles', a jaunty and short gypsy-styled piece meant to extend the narrative rather than establish another primary theme."