Disney Daze: Hercules

Hercules (1997)

Disney Animated Classic Number 35

Starring: Tate Donovan, Danny Devito, James Woods & Susan Egan

Directed by: Ron Clements & John Musker

Rating: ★★★½

One day, many years ago, Disney executives gathered around a meeting table in a land far, far away, and decided to base one of their animated classics on the Classical Myth of Hercules. But they must have done so by stipulating that under no circumstances should this movie share any plot similarities to the original Greek/Roman Myth.  After all, a film about Hercules shouldn’t really be about... Hercules.

The movie begins with Zeus and Hera having their son, Hercules (Donovan)... In the original myth, Hercules (or Herakles as he is known in Greece- Hercules is his Roman name) is a demi-God, his mother Alkmene sleeps with Zeus after he tricks her by pretending to be her real husband, and Hera (in the myth is Zeus’ wife and sister) is jealous and sets out to destroy Hercules’ life (which she does), so even after the first two minutes of the movie it is clear to see that Disney decided to make this ‘family friendly’ and by that I mean ‘has nothing at all to do with the original myths except some characters’ names are the same’. And Pegasus, the horse with wings, who isn’t even in the original Hercules myth, is, in the movie, ‘created’ by Zeus in Olympus. If you want to know the original creation story of Pegasus, let’s just say it involves Poseidon getting frisky with Medusa and Pegasus exploding out of her head stump. I won’t say any more.

Hercules with Phil and Pegasus.

But before you get worried that I will give a Classical History lesson instead of a review, I won’t (as much as I would love to). I’m simply pointing out that this Disney Classic has nothing to do with the Grecian Classic, and even though I was annoyed that they glossed over the real horror of Hercules’ story (in which Hera makes him temporarily insane so that he brutally murders his own wife and children and then carries out the Twelve Labours to earn ritual purification, after which he decides to go on a quest of bloody revenge which ultimately gets him killed), I still enjoyed the movie.

The story here is all about Hercules training and then proving that he is a hero. In Classical Disney style there are songs, most of them performed by the ‘Muses’, a gospel choir of women who are fun to watch but make little sense as to why they are there. Someone must have decided that since this is a movie about ‘gods’ then we need music that people associate with ‘God’... even though it is probably sacrilegious to compare ancient Greek and Roman deities with Christianity, but still, this is a Disney movie for children, so why am I getting so pernickety? The songs are generally weak, the best one being Meg’s song with the Muses when she is trying to decide if she loves Hercules or not. This song could easily be in a real stage musical, and it is clearly the best the bunch.  The rest aren’t really notable, except for the opening one about the ‘gospel’ truth, even though it raises questions about why Muses in ancient Greece would sing about the Gospel, since it hadn’t even been written yet. And Hercules’ song about achieving his dreams is really, really schmaltzy and painfully boring.

The Muses, while a silly idea, are fun to watch.

But this seems to be my main problem with Hercules. The plot, generally, is fairly weak and inconsistent, and it seems to cycle between a really strong Disney effort and an incredibly stupid one. The opening on Mount Olympus is really rubbish, but then as soon as Hercules becomes a teenager it becomes enjoyable. Then something insipid happens, then it’s really good... and this goes on and on throughout. It’s such a shame because it could have been a five star rated masterpiece, but unfortunately never quite gets there. The journey, however, to the final battle, which is built up throughout the entire movie as being a ‘clash of the titans’ and is resolved too easily, is really fun and exciting at times, but there is, of course, a very sappy and incredibly cheesy happy ending. Fortunately, since this is a ‘boy’ Disney movie, there are some scary moments and there is quite a lot of violence, especially towards the end.

Hades is typically evil for a Disney movie...

In amongst the confused muddle of events that unfold within Hercules, there are some standout set pieces. The sequence with the Hydra is thrilling and terrifying, and the titans at the end, even though they are defeated too quickly, are exciting.  It’s nice to see the Fates and a centaur pop up, and I liked the fact that they mixed in a lot of allusions to other Greek Myths (and even had Scar from The Lion King as the pelt of the Nemean Lion!) but I just don’t understand why they didn’t make the main story centre on the Twelve Labours. Here was an opportunity for Disney to do a darker, edgier movie but they instead opted for a safe, happy, vibrant sing-a-long. If they had made this during the low 00s period or even now, they probably would have made it grittier. I agree that you can’t have the hero murder his family at the beginning, or have him being a bisexual with a particular taste for young boys (this really was a part of Greek culture), but then if you won’t stick to the original disturbing story, why base an entire movie on this character? Surely kids will find out the truth one day? Perhaps, in schools, teachers should just tell children the real stories- not the edited versions- then Disney wouldn’t have to hide the grisly reality of ancient societies.

I obviously have issues with the plot, but one thing this film really does have going for it is strong central characters, and that gives it heart. Hercules is very endearing and you genuinely root for him. Meg (Egan), his love interest, is a very strong very intriguing character who is likeable and all the scenes between Meg and Hercules are involving since you actually want them to get together at the end. Hades (Woods) is a great villain, but his annoying comic relief sidekicks are pretty dreadful and Phil (Devito), a satyr who helps Hercules throughout, is grating- they could have done more with him. 

The heart of this movie lies very clearly with Hercules and Meg's romance...

So even though this review seems to be slating it, Hercules is actually very good and I did really like it. My main concern is that because it is stuck somewhere between ‘excellent Disney classic’ and ‘bad Disney rubbish’ it makes it very forgettable. I did actually see this movie when it came out, many years ago, but couldn’t remember anything about it. Even now, after having watched it, I still struggle to really remember what happened in it... and that of course, is not a good thing. The only thing I remember fondly, which is why I gave it a high rating, is that Hercules and Meg were such great characters; it really made the movie rise out of the depths of Hades.