Great Entertainment, but not by Disney's standards.

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2006)

"Hercules" was a return by the Disney directing team of Ron Clements and John Musker (of "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid" fame) to the animated feature after two very sombre entries in the Disney canon, "Pocahontas" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", and they pretty much continued from where they left off with the aforementioned "Aladdin". Both of these films share common traits; both are extremely loose adaptations of established legend; they have an obvious contemporary feel, peppered with pop references (not saturated like Dreamwork's, or for that matter, many resent animated movies); both have an aspiring male protagonist and finally, both films have at least one immaculate, albeit hilarious voice acting performance. Plus the animation is given a stylish and very caricaturist form to it.
Similarities aside then, "Hercules" was the first venture for Disney into Greek myth, providing a retelling of the story about the titular hero of how he was born a God, stolen and turned mortal by Hades Lord of the Underworld (to get him out of the way for a hostile take over of Mount Olympus which Herc is destined to intervene with) and the hero, after been told by daddy Zeus that, to get back, he must prove himself a true hero on Earth.
A far cry from what was established in the myths to a lot of you in the know on these things, although Disney's always had a gift for making this work despite. And as it turned out accuracy wasn't a problem here either (to some). The story's pretty standard, like "Aladdin", and the main protagonist, while a little more layered than the former with subtexts of discrimination for his clumsiness and strength, is still on the boring side. Once again though, it's the supporting roles, the animation and the music that steal the show. Alan Menken once again saddled up for the score and together with David Zippel produced the songs, which take on a Greek chorus delivered by the quintet of Muses in a Gospel choir style. This makes for a few rousing tunes and a good intro, plus it ties in with the whole soulful, hero story they got going down. The Oscar nominee this time was an aspiring hero ballad of hopes and dreams, typically sappy stuff and does the job. The score itself melds all these tunes together here and there, plus goes other places too, but overall is not up to the stellar work of the past. Still fun though.
Animation is once again of the top draw sort. Gerald Scarfe was the artistic adviser on this one, a political cartoonist of the UK and he brings a unique style to the Disney art. It's still very colourful, using a lot of luminescent colours, but the characters are all very sharp edged and heavily caricatured to resemble Greek art. There's also a fantastic sense of scale at times in the settings, especially in the city of Thebes with its towering Marbelesque architecture and an abundance of other beautiful Greek art. It's a nice move and another example of Disney's ever curious endeavours in cultural variety at the time. CGI is used widely for one particularly great action sequence, plus for some intriguing morphing techniques utilised in Olympus.
Voice acting is of uniform good quality here with all actors acquitting themselves well with their role, especially Danny De Vito as Herc's trainer satyr Phil and Susan Egan as a very curvaceous and very tough Damsel named Megara (friends call her Meg). But the aforementioned show stealer is James Woods' Hades, who comes across as the slimiest, most charismatic movie producer slash real estate salesman type you've ever seen, motoring his mouth all over the script with ad libs aplenty. Doesn't topple William's Genie for pure comic madness, but he makes it his own character and revels in it to our fortune.
This movie is as much a comedy as "Aladdin" was, meaning that it's lighting fast with a sharp edge on the cultural references and on the Greek myths themselves. Most of the comedy comes courtesy of Hades and Phil, who get great lines, but also comes from some serious hits taken at Disney's own patented merchandising routine, used here for Herc's sake. It's well implemented and makes for good satire at times. But other than comedy, the film does the romantic angle too, plus the main moral of knowing what it really takes to be a true hero. Once again, like the former movie, it's the weaker element. Actually for most of the midsection of the film (the most entertaining part) the romance is quite touching, but eventually it gets rushed and doesn't feel as genuine. The main message isn't hammered into us and is a good one, but still isn't anything to swoon over. While comedy's a strong suite for both "Hercules" and "Aladdin", the latter had itself backed with a slightly more magical feel to it's dramatic subtext, leaving "Hercules" a little shallow.
One final point before i clean up. While the movie is a mere shadow of the myth in terms of story, it has an abundance of homages to Greek myth, including Hercules himself. I counted references to about 7 of Hercules' 12 labours (one been very prominent), plus a twist of a similar situation Hercules had with a River Guardian Centaur and his girl. Actually, the more you know about Greek myth, the more you'll find and it actually turns out to be quite a nice touch, even though none of it coheres in the order originally wrote.
"Hercules" is fine entertainment for all ages, as in the good Disney tradition. But this time, away from that tradition, it lacks a little something that Disney seemed to have mastered before and almost reacquainted itself with a few times more afterwards before sinking below the depths. Just as well, this is better animated entertainment you'll get than most non-Disney, non-Pixar and non-anime companies produce regularly.