Pretty damned good - but there is this ONE problem ...

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 1999)

The Ancient Greeks and Romans were twisting the Hercules legend out of shape long before Disney got hold of it. So I'll skip the usual complaints about Hercules being Hera's son, there being a demon named `Panic' and so on. I can understand people objecting on these grounds; I think such objections are often justified, but misguided in this particular case; but there are arguments on both sides I would need to present if I were to discuss the case here - and so I won't. Let me just stipulate that fiddling around with classical mythology does not, in this case, matter. If you disagree - well, you disagree.
Alan Menken's music is hugely disappointing. So is Musker and Clement's handling of it - they once showed a great flair for staging songs, but here they seem, for the most part, uncertain as to how to work the material in. (A notable exception is `One Last Hope'.) On the plus side, animation has never been better. Disney hasn't had a villain so well animated since 1967, possibly 1961. (Look up the relevant villains, if you want.) Computer-rendering the hydra was I think a mistake, as computer rendering usually is, but that was a good scene, so I'll waive the objection. -Oh, yes: I should also put in a word for the general look imparted by Gerald Scarfe.
The story, really, was a strong one. I have to say `really' because it's easy to come away with the impression that it was not, because of one tiny element: the big battle at the end. Hercules defeated the bad guys with ludicrous ease in a weak and perfunctory scene - it lasts just seconds. This is a serious problem in the work of Musker and Clements. If you look at `The Little Mermaid', `Aladdin' and `Hercules' you'll note that they all have a ridiculously large-scale set piece at the end which tends to prompt the reaction, `Yeah, yeah.' They'll HAVE to do something about this. For the story, was, as I say - look at it objectively and ignore the concluding battle - strong. And AFTER the battle, when Hercules ... Let's just say I found this smaller drama to be much more exciting, and certainly more creative.
So it wasn't quite what it could have been. Nonetheless I predict that `Hercules' will wear its years lightly; already, it is looking stronger, more muscular, and more likely to be immortal, than `Aladdin' ever did.