DISNEY CONTENT CONTROVERSY HEATS UP.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

In recent years, Disney's animated features have drawn protests from Arab-Americans (``Aladdin''), American Indians (``Pocahontas'') and Americans concerned that the movies are too scary and/or sexy for small children (just about all of them since ``The Little Mermaid'').

If the pattern holds, ``The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' should set some kind of objection record. Based on Victor Hugo's complex, very adult 1831 novel, the cartoon starts out with a musical number involving a mother's murder and near-infanticide. Soon after that, things ramp up with the introduction of Esmeralda, the curviest Disney heroine yet (voiced by none other than Demi Moore, whose real curves will be on ample display in the descriptively titled ``Striptease,'' starting next Friday).

And that's just the surface layer of controversies that ``Hunchback,'' which co-director Kirk Wise jokingly called ``a cartoon land mine,'' could potentially trigger. Advocates for the handicapped could take issue with the hero Quasimodo's much commented-upon appearance. Gypsy anti-defamation groups could be offended by certain stereotypical portrayals - not to mention film villain Judge Claude Frollo's genocidal persecution of the ethnic group.

As for Frollo himself, even though he's been turned into a secular rather than a Catholic authority figure for the movie (nice way to avoid a replay of last year's ``Priest'' protests), he's still set up as a religious hypocrite whose moral posturing masks a twisted soul. Coincidentally, the movie opens less than two weeks after the Southern Baptist Convention called for a boycott of Disney products.

On top of all that, some early reviews have complained that the cartoon ``Hunchback'' isn't nearly as sophisticated as Hugo's massive novel - as if such literary puritanism is critically valid for a G-rated entertainment with wisecracking gargoyles.

Yet concerns about the images and messages presented in Disney's animated features can't just be dismissed with, ``Lighten up, it's just a cartoon,'' either. These things are watched repeatedly - in some cases, hundreds of times on videocassette - by impressionable children.

Although the Disney animators are sometimes blindsided by certain complaints - that it was somehow racist to have ``The Lion King's'' jackals voiced by people of color is the classic example - they say they do try to weigh their daring urges against a commitment to family entertainment.

``These movies are under a microscope,'' ``Hunchback'' producer Don Hahn acknowledged. ``They've been so successful that people look at them extremely closely, and rightly so. They tend to influence, to some extent, popular culture. But I can honestly tell you, in the process of making the movie, we don't sit around saying, `Oh, we don't want to offend this group' or `We want to support this point of view.' We really just try to tell a story that's engaging. We would go absolutely nuts if we tried to figure out how to please everyone.''

It was easier to figure, however, when they were getting too close to the fire - ``Hellfire,'' to be precise, a production number in which lust-addled Frollo envisions flaming fantasies of Esmeralda, while crying to God that she's bewitched him.

``We were a little nervous about presenting `Hellfire' to (Disney chairman and CEO) Michael Eisner,'' admitted co-director Gary Trousdale. ``But he loved it.''

``We thought it was pretty cool, but we knew we were on the edge,'' added co-director Wise. ``But that's OK. I think it's great for animation to be a little challenging. It's been a long time since a cartoon has done that.''

And if that means alarming some adults while impressing others, so be it.

``We can't forever gear everything to a 5-year-old mentality,'' observed British actor Tony Jay, who provided the voice for the psychologically conflicted Frollo. ``We started off with discussions about how far we wanted to go and what was permissible in a Disney movie. We decided what was not permissible is what we would go with, what was unexpected.'' ``I'd be much more concerned about someone saying, `This is a real sugarcoated, shallow thing that you've done' than someone saying, `You've been offensive and gone too far,' '' concluded composer Alan Menken, who's won a total of eight Oscars for his work on ``Little Mermaid,'' ``Beauty and the Beast,'' ``Aladdin'' and ``Pocahontas.'' ``This story invited this kind of material.''

Even though ``The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' may sport lightning rods as prominent as the landmark cathedral's bell towers, Disney animation president Peter Schneider pointed out that, at this early date, any controversy remains speculative.

``I have heard no controversy out of the movie, other than certain people's opinion that `it's OK for me, but it might be offensive to somebody else,' '' Schneider said.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1) The curvy Gypsy dancer Esmeralda - voiced byDemi Moore - is sure to turn a few heads in ``The Hunchback of Notre Dame.''

(2) Though his character may still spark controversy, Disney deflected some criticism by making Frollo a judge rather than the archdeacon.