Review: Hercules (1997)

The story of Hercules (voiced by Tate Donovan), the son of Hera (voiced by Samantha Eggar) and the almighty Zeus (voiced by Rip Torn), who in a slightly botched Machiavellian plan by the jealous god Hades (voiced by James Woods), is turned into a mortal, descends to the world of men, but maintains his godly strength. Although adopted by a mortal couple (one of whom is voiced by Hal Holbrook), Hercules finds himself ostracised by both the world of men and the gods. Zeus hooks him up with Philoctetes (voiced by Danny DeVito), a trainer of gods of-sorts, to help redeem Hercules so that he can defeat Hades and re-join the world of gods. Susan Egan voices Megara, whom Hercules falls for, but who has ties to Hades.

 

Beginning in 1989 with “The Little Mermaid”, Disney hit a bit of a purple patch with their animated films, but kinda hit a wall with this slightly better than mediocre 1997 effort from directors Ron Clements and John Musker (“The Little Mermaid”, “Aladdin”, “Treasure Planet”). The story of Hercules perhaps wasn’t a good fit with the Disney mould, and so many changes and liberties abound here in what has turned into a story of a zero who becomes a hero. That’s quite disconcerting and underwhelming as we watch a hunky but skinny young (and mortal) Hercules only become the strong hero after training. I get the story they are trying to tell here, but this is still supposed to be Hercules, not that scrawny kid at school who started to hang out at the gym and take ‘roids. The weird thing is that although Hercules is turned mortal via villainous machinations that are botched enough for him to retain his strength…it doesn’t play that way. He needs to train to harness his inherent strength, but because Hercules looks so skinny (certainly skinnier than he was at “Wrestlemania III”. What?), it looks like he’s training to bulk up. After fifty odd minutes he’s basically the Hercules we all know and love, and yet even then he’s voiced by the not terribly macho Tate Donovan. Perhaps indestructible godly heroes just don’t gel with the Disney mindset, so they tried to humble the character somewhat, but it’s frankly a bit too clichéd, neutered, and underwhelming (And believe me, this is just one detour from the known mythology, other reviews will point out the rest, no doubt) to be of much interest.

 

My other two big problems with the film are in regards to the music and animation. Hearing Hercules belt out a boring tune is disconcerting enough, but someone though the story needed to get all hippity hop, and so we get a group of R&B ‘muses’ to act as somewhat of a Greek chorus throughout the film. Call them Destiny’s Muses or The Ancient Weather Girls, they are so awful and unnecessary, you keep expecting them to belt out a rendition of ‘It’s Raining Gods’ or something. Why did this need to be a musical? Is this the price we pay for Elton John and “The Lion King”? At least some of those songs were memorable, these tunes (most of which are performed in the half-hearted Rex Harrison mould) are utterly forgettable. The story, if told a little more faithfully could’ve worked well enough on its own that such musical interludes would be unnecessary. These songs are so bad that even fans of musicals must surely cringe.

 

The animation, meanwhile just plain sucks. It’s so angular, ugly and nondescript that it could pass for any Nickelodeon TV animation of the last 15 years or so. In fact, Hades’ two minions look like characters from “Ren & Stimpy”, which is fine if you actually liked that crap, I guess. Apparently the design of the characters comes from artist Gerald Scarfe, and when I think of Disney, Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” totally comes to mind…as the exact opposite of how a Disney animated film should look. This is Disney and I expect the highest of standards from them. This simply will not do, it’s woefully inferior to any Disney animation prior (except the somewhat similar “Pocahontas” and “Mulan”, both rather dull Disney efforts), which shouldn’t be the case. But it’s not a matter of technological ineptitude, merely a failed artistic choice. The baby Pegasus is adorable, however. It’s like a flying “My Little Pony”.

 

Thankfully, the film does manage to get a few things right. For instance, as bland as Susan Egan is voicing Megara, the character itself is relatively complex for a Disney female love interest. Sure, she gets more conventional as the film progresses, but she’s still pretty layered and interesting for a Disney animated character. Most of the voice work is pretty good too, whether it be the perfect narration by Charlton Heston, the inimitable Danny DeVito, or the well-chosen Hal Holbrook and Rip Torn as Hercules’ mortal and godly father, respectively. In fact, grizzled Torn is such fun as the lightning bolt-throwing Zeus you wish he were in the film more. He’d certainly make for a more dominating, forceful screen presence than this take on Hercules.

 

By far the best thing in the film, however, is the insult comic stylings of one James Woods as the villainous Hades, who gets all the best moments and lines like; ‘For Pandora it was the box thing, and the Trojans? Well they bet on the wrong horse, didn’t they?’ You’re a wonderful audience, Shecky Woods suggests you try the lobster. The villain being the standout character in a film called “Hercules” is a real shame, but Mr. Woods deserves credit for making anything out of this film. There’s also a cute gag about the Venus de Milo at one point too, so perhaps the film fares best viewed as a comedy. It certainly fails as a retelling of Greek mythology, that’s for sure.

 

Barely adequate filmmaking, I’m afraid. I expect a bit more than that from The Magic Kingdom to say the least. Based on a Barry Johnson story, the script is by the directors along with Bob Shaw, Don McEnery, and Irene Mecchi (the latter of whom co-wrote “The Lion King”).

 

Rating: C+