Semi-good Disney about Semi-God Hercules...

Rating: 7/10 (14 October 2016)

After 19 years, I have finally watched "Hercules". Why such a long wait? Well, let's just say in 1997, and I had other priorities in mind.
See, I was 7 when "The Little Mermaid" was made and 12 when "The Lion King" came to the screens, I guess this put me in the demographic category that most benefited from Disney Renaissance. We didn't call it Renaissance back then but I remember each new Disney was an event by itself, and "The Lion King" was the culmination. Then came "Pocahontas" and at 13, I didn't think she was worth my attention; Disney princesses weren't my cup of tea anymore. At 14, I didn't care about Quasimodo's romance with Esmeralda either. Still, "Hercules" should have tickled my curiosity. He was obviously a character in the same vein than Aladdin: young, cool and funky and the film felt laid-back and catching but I had more personal and bitter reasons to snub the semi-God.
Number one, I studied Latin in class and naturally, Greek and Roman mythology were parts of the learning. Number two, Hercules was one of my favorite characters ever since I saw "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix" and I knew all of the tasks by heart, and once I got deeper on the subject thanks to Latin, I thought the journey of Hercules was the perfect material for a spoof comic. And I draw a story of Hercules in January 1997, one that combined the caricature with the real myth, I called him Hercules, but his father was Jupiter, not Zeus, the Disney film uses the Greek names, except for the hero, of course Heracles is less cool-sounding. So, I made the story and believe it or not, one of the gags involved Hercules becoming a super star and passing by a dozens of girls screaming and getting hysterical at him (a take on the then current boys band's phenomenon).
And a few weeks later, I bump into an ad announcing the next Disney movie, and I see the exact picture. Seems like the God of inspiration tricked us, or made great minds think alike or maybe that it's just an unfortunate coincidence. Still, after that, I couldn't show my comic story without hearing a comment implying that I got the inspiration from Walt Disney. My hype was gone and I was angry at the film. No matter how promising and fun it was, I always felt it as the one that stole my idea. It took me years to finally watch it and now that it's done, I guess I can 'forgive' it, that the film didn't do as well as the other Disney movies prove that maybe the concept wasn't terrific enough to appeal to the masses, or maybe the film came in that period of uncertainty that transitioned between the Renaissance and Pixar era, the second half of the 90's.
Face it, "Pocahontas" and "Hunchback" aren't the most talked about film when we reminisce about the nineties, and it's a shame for "Hercules" that it didn't even make it in the Box Office Top 10 (unlike the others). The film deserved better, it was entertaining, the hero was a cool and gentle guy who tried to blend in a society by being a hero in the 'literal' meaning of the word, his existential quest also cleverly questions what a hero is supposed to represent, is it just a bland name defining the protagonist, the source of merchandising and advertisement, or is there more that he's supposed to find out? The characters aren't undeserving, the sidekick is a satyr and an exciting coach voiced by Danny De Vito, the love interest Meg is perhaps the sexiest Disney female character, and James Woods plays a good villain, as a blue looking Hades. If his blue flame-like hair have a tendency to turn into real reddish ones when he's angry, he's as cool as ice when he handles the situation with Zeus, Meg and Hercules, well, he's James Woods.
The movie plays it cool and low-key and I guess this is what allows the film to emerge as a nice little oddity with cult-like appeal, it's obviously meant to be one of these feel-good Disney films and not a heavy loaded drama with Shakespearian undertones à la "Lion King", the songs are upbeat, the Greek chorus chanting the hero like the Gospel gives the film a certain edge and overall, it's enjoyable, fun and entertaining in the same spirit than most Dreamworks' movies. So maybe the best compliment to Hercules is that it was ahead of its time. Even 1997 with "Titanic" and "Men in Black" was quite a tough year to compete in.