Hercules

Hercules, much like Pocahontas, seems to earn a lot of negativity for being unfaithful to the original source material. The thing is, most people who aren't as inclined to read about Greecian myths are more likely to not be aware of how far the story deviates from the material. That being said, once again this is nothing new for Disney. Over the company's entire run they have always retold stories how they wanted to and often steered clear of things that would make the story unsuitable for children. The original story of Hecules' twelve tasks on it's own is full of things that wouldn't get the green light. So.... why whine about it? As a really large fan of mythology myself, I love this film. I enjoy seeing all the references to various myths in one film even if it's not super duper accurate.

With that lengthy bit out of the way, Hercules is very much the story of what it means to really be a hero. It's also, much like the majority of the 90's films, a story about finding your place while being true to who you are.  The story itself is rather straightforward, Hercules is trying to prove himself so he can rejoin his family on Olympus, while Hades is attempting to take over the cosmos. In order to do this, Hades must first eliminate Hercules due to a prophecy given to him by the three Fates.

To be rather honest, I just really enjoy the film. The visual style is unique enough to stand out among the other canon films, and is always visually interesting to watch. While we do get some rather poor CGI work with the Hydra, we also get a lot of great looking characters. I have always loved how all of the gods are visually different, and it's quite fun to pause scenes where they are together in an attempt to figure out who is who.

For characters we get a really awesome villain in the form of Hades who is a fast-talking deal maker that has a busy schedule full of taking over the world to get to and is willing to do anything it takes to achieve his goals. He has two fun, and comical villains in the form of Pain and Panic, as well as a sadly underused minion in the form of Cerberus. Meg, our love interest is spunky and a lot of fun to watch instead of feeling like the cliche love interest who's only good for standing there looking pretty. Our main hero, Hercules is quite new to being a hero which doesn't make him perfect. Still being so new, he's learning the ropes on how to actually be a hero without being in it for the glory and the title. He is also supported by his trainer Phil, who is used just right, and by his horse Pegasus who makes for a funny sidekick.

All of the songs in this film are pretty memorable, perhaps save for the opening Gospel Truth. Zero to Hero is a rather catchy tune, while Won't Say (I'm In Love) is a great song as well as we see more of Meg as she opens up to admit her feelings. Go the Distance is a great starting song for Hercules as he sings about what he wants, and helps to show his motivation for seeking out training from Phil.

If this film has any flaws, it would be the almost constant barrage of modern day references that we seem to get in this film. While one or two uses of it would be ok to have, it just feels like there's too much of it. Seeing all of the modern references in an older period takes away from things a bit and feels more like product advertising. Perhaps the two references that really worked best were having Scar as a brief cameo, he really does make a handsome throw rug, and the Haunted Mansion reference during the song, Won't Say (I'm In Love).

With all of that said, Hercules manages to earn a solid 4/5