ANI-MOVIES, *Hercules

Rather than sticking with his original name, Disney decided for its 35th full-length animated movie to go with the more well-known Roman name of the mythical Greek hero, Hercules. Instead of this being an epic saga up there with The Odyssey, Disney decided to turn this into a musical done to gospel for some reason and threw in more pop culture callbacks than any historically inaccurate parody could comfortably contend with. This was directed and written by the combined talents of Ron Clemments and John Musker, and they figured that their modernized approach to the Hercules myth could work exactly like it did with their take on Aladdin. The Disney version attempts to establish how Hercules was the original superhero prototype and how he went through several struggles to reach his fame, although instead of crafting a relatable story that most kids in 1997 could wrap their head around it Disney went with a bit more of a cash grab and have a lifetime cycle of victories and losses into a whirling cavalcade of whatever happened to breeze into their minds at the time. This adaptation of Hercules showboats more than it needed to and could have been just a high production animated adventure which is a genre that most theatrical Disney productions tend to skip on. Obviously in order to make the film more kid friendly they had to edit out most of Hercules' tragic moments like when he turned psycho and killed his whole family, but accomplish that Disney had to pacify the general audiences. To this they added music numbers that had no business being in the film specifically sung by the main characters about what they want out of life. Another unwanted premise was the quirky attention-grabbing secondary character introduced halfway through the movie which worked for Genie in Aladdin but here started Disney's spiral down with the introduction of the annoying Phil and continued onward with other placeholders like Mushu in Mulan and BEN in Treasure Planet which are characters that demand you stop thinking about the ropey narrative and pay attention to their overhyped antics. Hercules isn't based on a fairy tale, so that was already working against the Disney formula, plus anyone who spotted the historical hiccups in the Pocahontas movie most have had a field day pointing the ones in this one. Despite the plot complications and its questionable approach to bringing a world-famous fable to life, Disney did manage to make this one of the most visually arresting animated films of the 90s which is something a great number of people failed to notice upon seeing this for the first time, and its character designs by cartoonist Gerald Scarfe helped establish the film's unique style.

In ye olde Greece, Zeus and Hera have their god newborn son Hercules, but Zeus' charismatic brother Hades sees his nephew as a serious roadblock in his future plan to take over the world. Hades gives baby Hercules a potion which makes him mostly mortal with no memory of his origins and is raised by mortals. Years later, Hercules gets in touch with his real father who relays that Hercules can get his godhood if he becomes a genuine hero. To get this Hercules trains under the hero training satyr Phil, when it should have been Chiron who was Achilles' Jedi Master. A while later, Hercules returns and begins to bash monsters and other menaces with his super-strength which angers Hades whose plans involve releasing the Titans from their prison and conquer Mt. Olympus, so he sends a distressed damsel who owes him a favor to distract him. The non-princess heroine Megara (or Meg) gets in good with Hercules and become the Delilah to his Samson, even though she begins to actually care about him and sees the real goodness in him. The time comes for Hades' scheme to unfold, so he makes a deal with Hercules to become totally mortal while the Titans assault Mt. Olympus so long as Meg isn't hurt. Meg saves Hercules at the cost of her own life which gives him his strength back and defeats the Titans. Herc then travels to Tartarus to free Meg's soul, regains his full godhood, and sends Hades drowning in the river Styx for probably all eternity.

Hercules did very well and made three times its budget back merely from the theatrical release alone. The music by Alan Menkin is good but most of the songs not sung by the gospel-themed muses are flat. The star-studded cast includes James Woods in the performance of his troubled career as Hades, and the former Broadway version of Belle actress Susan Egan as Meg, although Tate Donovan as the title character is lackluster, and Danny DeVito's unriveting riffs as Phil get real tired real fast. The movie managed to spawn a non-canonical midquel animated TV series that lasted only a single season and didn't get much traction, even after a crossover with Aladdin. Disney's Hercules made its mark on cinematic animation, even though after three decades its flaws are still transparently apparent.