Despite the flaws...

Rating: 7/10 (19 May 2002)

Hercules is a great movie, and I would recommend it to anyone. It has some groundbreaking animation (for its time), absolutely lovable characters, hilarious tie-ins with other movies, and great hidden meanings and wisecracks.
First of all, I would like to say that Pegasus is a rare character, one of the best ever designed by Disney. He is such a unique, funny, and playful character that one almost wishes he is real. He truly brings the movie to life, for without him it would have been pretty dull.
The animation I mentioned was the lighting effects. This, I believe, was one of Disney's first true accomplishments in lighting effects, especially with the characters. They can have normal, somewhat bright faces of a mortal, the shining aura of light that represents a god, and the pale skin of death.
The characters are what one will remember after seeing this movie. It is too hard to dislike the villain ("I must have gotten some brimstone in my ear"), his cronies Pain and Panic perform great comic antics ("Yeah, get the goods, sister!"), Pegasus has a mind of his own, Meg is sarcastically funny, and Phil is a little overbearing and too serious at times. The whole group makes the movie.
The tie-ins I mentioned are very small things. Like, for instance, Phil has an uncanny resemblance of Aladdin's Genie. Look at his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. And when Hercules is posing for the vase painter, guess whose skin he's wearing. It's a lion, with a Scar above the eye... (He'd make a very handsome throw rug)
If you watch closely, you can see some really funny stuff happening to the characters while they're talking or doing other things. For instance, Meg and Hercules are falling in love and Meg steps back, only to be poked in the back by a statue of Cupid. There are lots of these things that happen in the movie... just little, nearly hidden jokes that are hilarious if you find them.
The action is great, and the plot is well thought out. There are some flaws with this movie, however, and some big mistakes. I think the Muses are the biggest mistake. Not only are the songs on this movie low for even Disney standards (besides "I Can Go The Distance"), one will wish the Muses were shot before they could continue singing because their songs are the ABSOLUTE WORST! And there are some goofs, such as Hercules puts his hands into the river of death one minute, then the next he has to dive down fifteen feet to reach it. Just little things like that. They don't really hurt the movie.
This is a great movie. If one overlooks the flaws, it is one of Disney's best, nearly getting as high as maybe The Emperor's New Groove or Aladdin. Watch it if you get the chance.