A Familiar Greek Hero Gets a Hilarious 90's Twist from Disney

Rating: 10/10 (19 April 2016)

Hercules is a 1997 animated feature film and the 35th full-length animated feature in the Walt Disney Animation Studios Canon. The film stars James Woods, Charlton Heston, Danny Devito, Tate Donovan, Rip Torn, Matt Frewer, and Bobcat Goldthwait. Loosely adapted from the Grecian legend Heracles, son of Zeus and Alcmene and great-grandson/half-brother of Perseus, this incarnation of the Greek hero is given a hip, modern-day, 90s Disney vibe to it! The plot of the film starts on Mount Olympus, where all of the legendary Greek gods live. Hercules (voiced by Joshua Keaton/Tate Donovan), the son of Zeus and Herra, is born possessing god-like strength as a young toddler. In fact, he is so strong that when Hades (voiced by James Woods from "Any Given Sunday"), lord of the Underworld visits Olympus bearing a gift, he gets his finger crushed by Hercules. This infuriates Hades so much that he, along with his hilarious and loyal henchmen Pain and Panic (voiced by stand-up comic Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer from "Honey, I Shrunk the Kids"), devise a plan to kill the immortal Hercules by turning him into a mortal human being after Hades gets insight from three bizarre and grotesque characters known as the Fates who can reveal the past, present, and future that Hercules could prove to be a threat to Hades taking over Mount Olympus in the future. While they were successful in turning him mortal, they didn't kill him as Hades wanted so as he was planning his uprising, Hercules lived his life on earth after being rescued and taken in by two humans, where he would grow up. After various circumstances caused Hercules to realize that he was different than everyone he was around, he, along with his trusty friend and sidekick since birth Pegasus, seek out Zeus, who then tells him to find Phil (voiced by Danny Devito from "Batman Returns"), the trainer of a lot of "would-be" heroes so he can prove himself to be a true hero and rejoin Zeus on Olympus. Once he does this, he then goes out to prove to Zeus and everyone else that he has what it takes to become a true hero. Along the way, he meets the snarky, sarcastic, and free-spirited Meg (voiced by Susan Egan), who goes on to become Hercules' eventual love interest and will later cause our hero to have to make a critical decision and prove that a "true hero isn't measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart." From the opening narration by the legendary Charlton Heston to the rapid fire comedy delivered by James Woods' portrayal of Hades to the gospel-like numbers written by Academy-Award Winning Composer Alan Menken ("Beauty and the Beast", "Aladdin") and David Zippel and sung by the Muses, this movie is a worthy addition to the Disney Renaissance and a more light-hearted themed departure from the dark and grim themes seen in The Hunchback of Notre Dame the previous year. I honestly don't see why this movie gets so much flack for being the weakest film of the Disney Renaissance when personally I think that Pocahontas was the weakest film of the Disney Renaissance because of the lack of a strong story and strong antagonist (which are two things that Hercules has). The characters are great (my favorite is Hades) and the animation, story, and music done in a way that can only be done in the grand tradition and innovation of Walt Disney. If you haven't seen this movie and you're looking for a good movie to watch for family movie night, go to your local movie store or Netflix and watch it! You won't be disappointed! This was released during Disney's most profitable era to date and I still pop this in the VCR every once in a while! My rating: Two thumbs way, way up!!! 10/10!!!