Ridiculous and shallow like The Emperor's New Groove this film isn't looking to be a standing piece of art with its pop culture references, but like the previous film it is highly enjoyable with the villain this time proving to be the most likable and interesting character, that is Hades wonderfully voiced by James Woods.
Hercules. From Zero to hero in this larger than life animated fun Fair. Love this film as it has Disney written all over it. Just Awesome. Plus James Woods and Susan Egan provide wonderful and hilarious voicework. Heavenly animation-Great Job!
After Zeus fights and sends the Titans to the underworld, he becomes the ruler of Mount Olympus, home of all greek gods. Hades is sent to rule the underworld, but he makes plans to throw Zeus out of Mount Olympus with the Titans' help. The three Fates warn him that his plans would be endangered if Hercules, Zeus newborn child, is still around by the time he tries to take over Mount Olympus. Hades sends Pain and Panic to turn Hercules into a mortal and kill him, but they fail in their attempt and leave him on earth with his divine strength to be raised as a human. Hercules grows up but later learns he is the son of gods, and in order to return to Mt. Olympus he must turn into a "true hero". He is trained by Phil the satyr and becomes the most famous hero in ancient Greece after battling monsters of all kinds. He even saves Mt. Olympus from Hade's take-over, but he only becomes a god again after he offers to exchange his life in order to save Meg, his love, from Hades' underworld and shows that a true hero must have a strong heart and not only physical strength.
i love this film, it is so full of laughter and adult humour even though it is a kids movie!
i watch disney when i am feeling down, and this is another winner for making me feel better!
I like disney movies but with this one... they got it all wrong!!! the story is going to confuse the kids in the future when they 'll finnally read Humer's Iliad
Great music. Very entertaining. As a Disney movie it it great as long as you don't care about it being correct. They took a Greek myth and rewrote it. They didn't get anything right! They Bastardized it!
I'm into Greek mythology and they really did tone down the true story of Hercules. But still, great fun and i saw references to every one of his 12 labors
Disney's output began to decline considerably after the roaring success of THE LION KING. POCAHONTAS was a well-intentioned but flawed fictionalization of a historical fact, and THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME, although one of the studio's best, received backlash from fans of the novel it was based on. Both of these films are of considerably higher quality, though, than their successor, 1997's HERCULES. Typical of Disney, this film is an extremely loose telling of the famous Greek myth. That alone does not sink the entire production though. The problem is that the whole thing tries too hard to replicate ALADDIN, and it obviously shows as the writers stuff every gag they can think of (even going so far as to parody their own merchandise; this only cheapens the movie instead of making it funnier or more appealing). While ALADDIN's comedy was more balanced, here it feels very forced and bloated. Further damaging to the film, however, are the lack of appealing characters (Hercules himself is a downright unlikeable and boring hero, and his "love interest", Meg, isn't much better) and the painfully predictable, contrived story (the ultimate message that true heroism is measured by the strength of a heart is poorly presented). The only memorable characters are Hercules' irascible satyr trainer, Phil (Danny DeVito) and the comical villain Hades (James Woods); but while these two own every scenes they're in, their one-liners become tiresome after a while. Alan Menken's musical score is also disappointing; while the gospel songs (as sung by the Greek chorus-like Muses) are catchy, the remainder of the musical numbers are both forgettable and uninspired. (Even the sole highlight, "Go the Distance", is lamely delivered by both young Hercules and Michael Bolton at the closing credits.) HERCULES is not a bad movie by any means; it does have its moments, but the aforementioned faults ultimately render the overall film as one of Disney's weaker efforts.
I LUV IN THE BEGINNING......
WE ARE THE MUSES THE GODDESSES OF THE ARTS AND PROCLAIMERS OF HERO'S
HERO'S LIKE HERCULES
HONEY U MEAN HUNKULES!!!!!!!
HEHEHEHE
Good move. I remember when I was younger and my family would sit down and play games and we would have my dad and mom ask us questions about Greek Mythology. This is the only movie (animated, cartoon) which is made by Disney where there is actually a mom that is alive. Normally she is dead and it's just the dad or there is no dad and there is just a evil step mom.
i like this film because I can rewatch it time and time again and it never gets boring. the characters are believable and the songs are Disney at its best
It's a wonder that it took Disney so long to get to the gods of Greek mythology...
Starting with a Day-Glo Olympian city in the clouds, this new animated feature has something old (mythology), something new (a Pegasus equipped with helicopter blades), something borrowed (a gospel singing group) and something blue (the flaming hair of Hades, which turns red when he gets mad--it works like a mood ring)...tee hee...
Hercules, known as Herc, is a rather different character here than in the pages of ``Bullfinch's Mythology.'' There, you may recall, he murdered his wife and children. Here he's a big cute hunk who's so clumsy he knocks over temples by accident, but you gotta love the guy...
Herc (voice by Tate Donovan), child of a god and a human, who must leave his father, Zeus (Rip Torn), in heaven and toil among the mortals to earn his ticket back to paradise. Herc stumbles through adolescence as the clumsy ``Jerkules'' before a statue of his father comes to life and reads him the rules. His tutor will be the satyr Philoctetes (Danny DeVito), who like all the best movie trainers advises his student to do as he says and not as he does...
Playing on the other team is Hades, Lord of the Underworld, voiced by James Woods with diabolical glee... Hades is assisted by the two little form-shifting sidekicks Pain and Panic (Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer), who are able to disguise themselves in many different shapes while meddling with Herc's well-being. Another one of Hades' weapons is the curvaceous Megara (Susan Egan), known as Meg, who is assigned to seduce Herc but ends up falling in love with the lug...
I have to admit that I enjoyed it despite the fact that I'm passionate about Greek mythology and all those inaccuracies make me grind my teeth.Some good jokes ( 'Help!Somebody dial I-X-I-I' !), some good to average songs(I liked 'I Won't Say I'm In Love'),good animation, funny characters.James Woods was totally awesome,believable as a villain and still hysterical funny ( 'How sentimental.You know,I haven't been this chocked up since I got hunk of moussaka caught in my throat';' We dance,we kiss,we schmooze,we carry on, we go home happy').Danny DeVito was also good,his character reminded me of Vincent Benedict, Schwarzenegger's twin. They are the reason I liked the movie.The muses-portrayed as five gospel-singing divas(what happened to the other 4?)- weren't that bad after all, more annoying was Zeus, seen as a Santa Claus without his read coat and that treacly Hera.I prefer her being evil and powerful,as she appears in Hercules:The Legendary Journeys.Anyway,the most annoying thing was Pegasus,acting like a giant dumb winged dog.I could did without those references to the cult of celebrity... and it delivers mixed messages:you're a zero until you become rich,popular and famous;on the other hand being a hero 'It's a work of heart...comes down to what's in you'...pretty confusing.
Absolutley Histerical, funny with a cutting edge-sinical modern humor - infused with wonderful animation, 3D stunts and great alan menken music. I loved the character of Megara - she is the first female-disney character with a sinicial modern attitute - which would set the tone for future disney-female characters.
MCT:September 1, 2008
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