Hercules

***Hercules*** is a 1997 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The 35th Disney animated feature film and 8th Disney Renaissance film, 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.

## Plot

Hercules, son of the Greek God, Zeus, is turned into a half-god, half-mortal by the evil Hades, God of the Underworld, who plans to overthrow Zeus. Hercules is raised on Earth and retains his god-like strength, but when he discovers his immortal heritage, Zeus tells him that to return to Mount Olympus, he must become a true hero. Hercules becomes a famous hero with the help of his friend Pegasus and his personal trainer, Phil the satyr. Hercules battles monsters, Hades and the Titans, but it is his self-sacrifice to rescue his love Meg which makes him a true hero.

## Why It's a Zero To Hero

1. Catchy and awesome musical score, including songs like "Zero to Hero", "Go the Distance", and the criminally underappreciated "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)". Not the mention that the film in general is one of the few *Disney* films that feels like it was built from the ground-up from the music.
2. Awesome performances like Danny DeVito as Phil and James Woods as Hades (a role he loved so much that he reprises it in multiple Disney-related media like *Kingdom Hearts* and *House of Mouse*)
3. A story that is an unforgettable and breathtaking one about a demi-god being kidnapped to Earth shortly after he was born and him discovering that he's destined to save his father, Zeus, as a teenager.
4. "WILL YOU FORGET THAT HEAD-SLICING THING?!?"
5. Hand-drawn animation from a masterful artist that shows the Ancient Greek atmosphere.
6. Gorgeous color palette with both the characters' designs and the backgrounds.
7. Megara is a very well-written love interest. On top of her entertaining sass, she also serves as a world-weary, reluctant servant of the villain, a dynamic that had never been used in a *Disney* film until now. She has a very believable romance with Hecules and a complex internal conflict of not wanting to hurt Hercules as she's affiliated with Hades after selling her soul to him in order to save her ex-boyfriend's life.
8. Well-executed humor and jokes like Baby Hercules chewing on a lightning bolt and tying Pain and Panic in a knot and Snowball wearing Hercules merch and blowing him a kiss during the ending.
9. Hades is one of the most entertaining and memorable Disney villains of all time. He's also much more fleshed-out and developed than the average *Disney* baddie, as he gets a look into his motivations near the beginning of the film which makes him a stronger character than the standard twist villain who's only revealed near the end and is therefore only given a motive at the last minute and everything that was established about them was therefore false. Hades himself is quotable, entertaining, but still menacing when the situation calls for it.
	* Pain and Panic are also great comic reliefs.
10. **"AND YOU ARE WEARING HIS MERCHANDISE?!"**

## The Only Bad Quality

1. Similar in vein to Disney's *The Jungle Book* released 30 years prior, the main issue is that movie takes some liberties from the original *Hercules*' myth to the point of being somewhat unfaithful to it (but that can be forgiven due to it being made by Disney, and to be fair, the original Hercules' myth contains a lot of adult-oriented material which is considered inappropriate for family audiences).
	* Consequently, this resulted most of the Greek media to pan the film due to the liberties taken, with the government even refusing to allow the film's world premiere to take place in the country like Disney wanted.