Hercules (film)

***Hercules*** is a 1997 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. The 35th Disney animated feature film and the eighth animated film produced during the Disney Renaissance, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. The film is loosely based on the legendary hero Heracles (known in the film by his Roman name, Hercules), the son of Zeus, in Greek mythology.

Development of *Hercules* began in 1992 following a pitch adaptation of the Heracles mythological stories by animator Joe Haidar. Meanwhile, Ron Clements and John Musker re-developed their idea for *Treasure Planet* following the critical and commercial success of *Aladdin*. Their project was removed from development in 1993, and Musker and Clements joined *Hercules* later that same year. Following an unused treatment by Haidar, Clements and Musker studied multiple interpretations of Greek mythology before abandoning Zeus's adulterous affair with Alcmene. The project underwent multiple story treatments and a first script draft was inspired by the screwball comedy films of the classic Hollywood era and popular culture of the 1990s. Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi were brought on board to shorten the script. British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe was recruited as production designer and produced over seven hundred visualization designs of the characters. Research trips to Greece and Turkey provided inspiration for the background designs. Animation for the film was done in California and Paris. Computer animation was utilized in several scenes, predominantly in the Hydra battle sequence.

*Hercules* was released on June 27, 1997, to positive reviews from film reviewers who praised James Woods's portrayal of Hades. Despite the positive critical reception, the film under-performed in its theatrical release notably in comparison to its predecessors before ultimately earning $252.7 million in box office revenue worldwide. *Hercules* was later followed by the direct-to-video prequel *Hercules: Zero to Hero*, which served as the pilot to *Hercules: The Animated Series*, a syndicated Disney television series focusing on Hercules during his time at the Prometheus Academy.

## Plot

The film begins with the five muses, "Goddesses of the arts and pro-claimers of heroes", telling the story of how Zeus came to power and prevented the monstrous Titans from ruling the world. This leads to the day Hercules is born to Zeus and Hera, much to the pleasure of the other gods except Hades, who receives word from the Fates that Hercules will one day rise to power and prevent him from taking control of the world. He sends his minions, Pain and Panic (a duo reminiscent of Ares's mythological sons, Deimos (dread) and Phobos (fear)), to kidnap Hercules and feed him a potion that will strip him of his immortality; however, they are interrupted by Amphitryon and Alcmene and, while Hercules becomes mortal, he retains his god-like strength (for the potion to fully work, Hercules had to drink every last drop, but missed one when they were interrupted).

Hercules grows up to be a misfit, challenged by his incredible strength and unable to fit in with other people. His adoptive parents finally tell him that he is adopted and they found a medal with his name on it when they found him abandoned on a road as a baby. Hercules then decides to travel to the temple of Zeus. Zeus comes down to Hercules and tells Hercules that he is his father and someone stole him from his parents (Hera and Zeus). Zeus tells him that he must prove himself a true hero before he can join the other gods on Mount Olympus. Along with his flying horse Pegasus, Hercules goes to Philoctetes, an unhappy satyr who has failed to train a true hero yet; he decides to take on Hercules as his final attempt.

After training with Phil, the three of them attempt to save the beautiful Megara, a damsel in distress, from a centaur named Nessus. A smitten Hercules barely succeeds and Meg returns to the forest, where she is revealed to have sold her soul to Hades in order to save her lover's life; her lover abandoned her and now Meg must do favors for Hades in order to avoid an eternity in the underworld. When Hades learns that Hercules is alive, he is enraged and plots to murder him again. When Hercules tries to prove himself a hero at Thebes, Hades sends the Hydra to kill him. Hercules tries to kill the Hydra by slicing off its heads, but more heads grow in their place. After a lengthy battle, he prevails by using his strength to cause a landslide, crushing the Hydra and killing it while he survives, but badly bruised and wounded. However, his victory earns him the respect and support of the people of Thebes after their earlier doubt and ridicule of him. He soon becomes a national, multi-million dollar celebrity as a result. Realizing that his plans are jeopardized, Hades sends Meg out to discover Hercules' weakness, promising her freedom in return. Hercules is disappointed to learn from his father Zeus that he has yet to become a true hero, and then spends the time and day with Meg, who finds herself falling deeply romantically in love again. When Hades intervenes, she turns against him, as she accepts her recently surfaced deep and strong romantic feelings and love for Hercules, much to Hades' dismay.

Phil learns of Meg's involvement with Hades and, thinking she willingly desires to work for him, tries to warn Hercules, who ignores Phil and knocks him to the ground in an outrage. Discouraged, Phil leaves for home. Unfortunately, through this, Hades realizes that Meg *is* Hercules' weakness. Hades arrives, interrupting Hercules' training, talks a lot, then snaps his fingers, making Meg appear. Before she can finish her sentence, Hades snaps his fingers and she disappears, tied up and gagged by smoke, then reappears with another snap of Hades' fingers. He uses Meg to try to get Hercules to give up his God-like superhuman strength for twenty-four hours, though Hercules adds the condition that Meg doesn't get hurt in any way. Meg shakes her head frantically, trying to convince Hercules not to make the deal, but he does not listen. When Hades sets Meg free, Hades spitefully reveals that she was working for him all along. Deeply heartbroken and crushed, the now-weakened Hercules loses the will to fight the Cyclops that Hades unleashes upon him when he frees the Titans from Tartarus. Meg finds and unties Pegasus and battles her fear of heights to find Phil, persuading him to come back and help Hercules regain his confidence. He finishes off the Cyclops, but just as a pillar is about to crush Hercules, Meg pushes him out of the way, saving him because "people always do crazy things when they're in love."

As a result, the deal is broken and Hercules' god-like superhuman strength is returned. Hercules, along with Pegasus and Phil, saves Olympus from certain doom and Hades returns to the underworld. Meanwhile, Meg dies of her injuries, her thread of life having been cut by the Fates. Hercules arrives and demands Meg to be revived, but Hades shows him that she is currently trapped in the River Styx, a river of souls where all the dead go. Hades allows Hercules to trade his own spirit for Meg's, hoping to return Meg's body to the surface of the river before he is killed. Hercules jumps in and as his lifeline is about to be cut by the Fates, his amazing courage and willingness to ultimately sacrifice his life for others prove him a true hero, restoring *all* of his godly powers and rendering him immortal, leaving the Fates shocked when they can't cut his thread of life as Hercules was immortal again. As he successfully returns Meg to the surface, Hades tries to talk his way out of the situation. Hercules punches him, knocking him into the River Styx. The other souls grab Hades and pull him down into the stream. Hercules revives Meg and they both head to Olympus, but when Meg's entrance is denied as she wasn't immortal like the Olympian Gods, Hercules chooses to become mortal and stay on Earth with her, which Zeus and Hera grant. Hercules is acclaimed a hero on both Earth and Olympus alike, Zeus creates a constellation in his image, and Phil is remembered for being the one to train him.

## Cast

* Tate Donovan as Hercules, based on the mythological deity Heracles. Supervising animator Andreas Deja described Hercules as "...not a smart aleck, not streetwise, he's just a naive kid trapped in a big body", and that Donovan "had a charming yet innocent quality in his readings". Donovan had not done any voice-over work prior to *Hercules*. Deja integrated Donovan's "charming yet innocent quality" into Hercules' expressions. Ricky Martin provided both the speaking voice and singing voice for the Latin American Spanish-language dub edition.
	+ Josh Keaton provided the speaking voice of Young Hercules, while Roger Bart provided his singing voice. Originally, Keaton also provided his singing voice, but his singing was re-recorded by Bart. Randy Haycock served as the supervising animator for Hercules as an infant and teenager.
* Danny DeVito as Philoctetes/Phil. Eric Goldberg, the supervising animator for Philoctetes, cited Grumpy in *Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs* and Bacchus in *Fantasia* as the inspirations for the character's design. Goldberg mentioned that they discovered that Danny DeVito "has really different mouth shapes" when they videotaped his recordings and that they used these shapes in animating Phil.
* James Woods as Hades. Producer Alice Dewey mentioned that Hades "was supposed to talk in a slow and be menacing in a quiet, spooky way", but thought that James Woods' manner of speaking "a mile a minute" would be a "great take" for a villain. Woods did a lot of ad-libbing in his recordings, especially in Hades' dialogues with Megara. Nik Ranieri, the supervising animator for Hades, mentioned that the character was "based on a Hollywood agent, a car salesman type", and that a lot came from James Woods' ad-libbed dialogue. He went on to say that the hardest part in animating Hades was that he talks too much and too fast, so much so that "it took [him] two weeks to animate a one-second scene". Ranieri watched James Woods' other films and used what he saw as the basis for Hades' sneer.
* Susan Egan as Megara. Supervising animator Ken Duncan stated that she was "based on a '40s screwball comedienne" and that he used Greek shapes for her hair ("Her head is in sort of a vase shape and she's got a Greek curl in the back.").
* Frank Welker as Pegasus. Ellen Woodbury served as the supervising animator for Pegasus.
* Rip Torn and Samantha Eggar as Zeus and Hera, Hercules' birth-parents. Anthony DeRosa served as the supervising animator for both characters. In the Swedish dub, Max von Sydow provided the voice for Zeus.
* Lillias White, Cheryl Freeman, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, and Vanéese Y. Thomas as the Muses (Calliope, Melpomene, Terpsichore, Thalia, and Clio respectively), the narrators of the film's story. Michael Show served as the supervising animator for the Muses.
* Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer as Pain and Panic, Hades' henchmen. James Lopez and Brian Ferguson respectively served as the supervising animators for Pain and Panic.
* Patrick Pinney as the Cyclops. Dominique Monfrey served as the supervising animator for the Cyclops.
* Hal Holbrook and Barbara Barrie as Amphitryon and Alcmene, Hercules' adoptive parents. Richard Bazley served as the supervising animator for both characters.
* Amanda Plummer, Carole Shelley, and Paddi Edwards as Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos, the three Fates who predict Hades' attempt to conquer Olympus. Nancy Beiman served as the supervising animator for the three characters.
* Paul Shaffer as Hermes. Michael Swofford served as the animator for Hermes.
* Jim Cummings as Nessus. Chris Bailey served as the animator for Nessus.
* Wayne Knight as Demetrius
* Keith David as Apollo
* Charlton Heston has a cameo role as the opening narrator (later named Bob in the TV series).