Plot: Having endured his legendary twelve labors, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord.
Writer: Ron Clements, John Musker, Don McEnery, Bob Shaw, Irene Mecchi (Screenplay) Kaan Kalyon, Kelly Wightman, Randy Cartwright, John Ramirez, Jeff Snow, Vance Gerry, Kirk Hanson, Francis Glebas, Mark Kennedy, Bruce Morris, Don Dougherty, Thom Enriquez (Story)
Starring: (Voice Talents) Tate Donovan, Josh Keaton, Roger Bart, Danny DeVito, James Woods, Susan Egan, Bobcat Goldthwait, Matt Frewer, Rip Torn
Plot: The son of the Greek Gods Zeus and Hera is stripped of his immortality as an infant and must become a true hero in order to reclaim it.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Disney’s Weaker Years
Story: Hercules starts with narration of the legacy of Hercules before taking us back to the beginning of the Hercules legend. We see Zeus throwing a party of his baby Hercules giving his first present Pegasus before Hades interrupts the party from the underworld. Hades not content with ruling the underworld wants to rule everything and consults the all-seeing future where he learns that when Hercules enters into battle with him he will lose. Hades sends his two slaves Panic and Pain to take Hercules and take away his immortality before killing him. They do remove his immortality but fail to remove his strength or kill him leaving him with a normal family to grow up as a normal kid.
We move forward to a young Hercules struggling to fit in anywhere, not being acceptable by the locals before being told the truth by his adopted parents. Hercules sets out to make it to the home of the Gods to find out where he really came from and meeting his father who sets him off to meet Phil to be trained as a hero along with his long lost friend Pegasus. We end up with a montage to show the training where Phil sees this chance as one last chance to train a true hero. On his first mission Hercules saves Meg from a creature getting his first glimpse of love.
We learn that Meg is in fact working for Hades and once Hades learns that Hercules is still alive he sets out to finish the job Panic & Pain failed to complete all those years ago. Hades’ attempt to kill Hercules only ends up making him a hero making him the hero Hades was warned about. Can Hercules become the hero he was destine to become or will love stand in his way?
Hercules has 17 writers, really 17 how is this possible? The story really does follow a very typical Disney theme of a son trying to prove himself in his father’s shadow and someone trying to find their place in the world. The ideas of the world Hercules lives in are all nice but as a fan of Greek Mythology I always want to see the Hercules myth told in all its greatness rather than a small segment that is clearly made up for a younger audience. I feel this film is very average and the story offers nothing fresh to the animation idea and is easily one of the more forgettable Disney animations. (4/10)
Character Review
Hercules: Hercules is the son of Zeus who loses his immortality and left on Earth. He grows up a mortal with strength but ends up struggling to fit in before discovering the truth where he must train to become the hero he was always destiny to become. Hercules is a character that we all know but do we really think he has this clumsy tendencies or failure to fit ideas? I don’t think so. (4/10)
Hercules, Phil and Pagesus
Phil: Phil is the half man half goat trainer of Hercules, who sees this as a chance for him to get his last chance to train a real hero. Phil is your very generic trainer who really doesn’t get the laughs he needs. (4/10)
Hades: Hades is the God of the underworld who plans to take over the world but Hercules being alive puts a spanner in the works as Hercules is destiny to stop him. Hades makes for a good villain as he is always turned into the villain when we talk about the ancient Greeks. He is also the highlight of the film. (6/10)
Meg: Meg is the first damsel in distress that Hercules saves, but she is really forced to work for Hades even after she starts to fall in love with Hercules. Meg tries to be the alternative damsel in distress but it all gets lost when we don’t care about which side she plays on. (3/10)
Pain & Panic: These two are the bumbling slaves of Hades who keep messing up the simple ideas but adding comedic moments. These two are meant to be the comic relief but really fail to capture the idea of funny. (4/10)
Pegasus: Hercules’ loyal half horse half bird giving to him as a baby, Pegasus is one friend who is always there for Hercules when he needs him most. Pegasus does what it needs to do adding a protective friend but nothing more. (5/10)
Support Characters: Hercules has plenty of names known for being around at the same time as Hercules but not many that make too much of a difference.
Director Review: Ron Clements, John Musker – I feel these two don’t give us the film we really wanted from the word Hercules but not many do. (4/10)
Animation: Hercules has to get good points for the animation because when the Titans come they are frightening for a young audience. (8/10)
Comedy: Hercules has very few laughs if any throughout. (2/10)
Family: Hercules is one for the family to try to together it has attempted jokes for all ages really. (5/10)
Musical: Hercules has good songs used throughout with only one real memorable one. (6/10)
Romance: Hercules throws in a weak romantic angle which we see too often in Disney films. (3/10)
Settings: Hercules creates the settings Hercules could have fought in. (7/10)
Suggestion: Hercules is one that should be watch with the kids only, it falls to reach the levels other films do with the same style of story. (Try It With The Kids)
Best Part: I can go the distance song.
Worst Part: No comedy.
What Could Have Been Better? – Better sidekick characters.
Believability: No (0/10)
Chances of Tears: No (0/10)
Chances of Sequel: Turned into a television cartoon.
Post Credits Scene: No
Oscar Chances: Nominated for Best Original Music Score.
Box Office: $252 Million
Budget: $85 Million
Runtime: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
Tagline: Zero to Hero!
Overall: Hercules feels so much like a complete rip off of nearly every Disney film and never reaches its true potential.
Writer: Ryan Condal, Evan Spiliotopoulos (Screenplay) Steve Moore (Radical Comic ‘Hercules’)
Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Ian McShane, John Hurt, Rufus Sewell, Aksel Hennie, Ingrid Bolso Berdal, Reece Ritchie, Joseph Fiennes, Tobias Santelmann,
Plot: Having endured his legendary twelve labours, Hercules, the Greek demigod, has his life as a sword-for-hire tested when the King of Thrace and his daughter seek his aid in defeating a tyrannical warlord.
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Been Here Seen This
Story: Hercules starts by filling us in on the Hercules myth half human and half God. We hear how he completed his 12 labours giving him chance to live in peace from the Gods. Hercules (Johnson) has created a group of warriors that take out the unwanted armies. Hercules and his warriors are given an offer to take out a warlord Rhesus (Santelmann) for Lord Cotys (Hurt). Hercules must train the soldiers Cotys has as the battle gets closer.
Hercules comes off as a bit of let-down as if think I speak for all we wanted to see the 12 labours instead of an opening story that takes up less than five minutes of the film. The war between the two different sides ends up being boring and seem plenty of times before. It basically is no different than Dwayne’s Scorpion King we have legendary warrior who has involvement with Gods who fights for a king only to be betrayed before leading an uprising. The one good point is that we never see anything that is mythological as the stories try to tell of, instead it is just how things can be mis-read. This does have slightly better supporting characters who offer a lot more to Hercules’ backstory but in the end has been seen too many times. (4/10)
Actor Review
Dwayne Johnson: Hercules the son of Zeus and great warrior who been through the 12 labours to achieve his freedom from the gods. He leads a small group of warriors into battle against a ruthless warlord. Dwayne was built for this type of role and he does a good job with all the fighting and pure screen presence. (7/10)
Ian McShane: Amphiaraus a man who can see the future and is sent messages from the Gods. Ian offers the most laughs of the supporting cast as he keeps them on their toes about who will die and when he sees his own death his acceptance comes off very funny. (7/10)
John Hurt: Lord Cotys who hires Hercules and his warriors to fight against and warlord knowing he is only a mercenarily, but he doesn’t seem to be all we are expecting. John does the basic well and in the end he is just a big name in a film he didn’t need to be in. (5/10)
Support Cast: Hercules has a large supporting cast, we have the warriors with Hercules with the highlight being the beautiful Atalanta (Ingrid Bolso Berdal) as the deadly archer. We also have the standard names that fill this type of film, a general who dislikes Hercules, the princess who see him as the saviour and the villain who is actually fighting the good fight.
Director Review: Brett Ratner – Brett does a standard job directing where he never pushes the idea to a level we haven’t seen and just tries to play safe and steady. (6/10)
Action: Hercules has very generic fighting scenes which all come off very well but offer nothing new to the genre. (7/10)
Chemistry: Hercules creates good chemistry between the warriors which shows while in battle. (8/10)
Settings: Hercules creates authentic looking settings for the battles. (8/10)
Suggestion: Hercules is one to try, it offers very little new but action fans might enjoy this. (Action Fans Try)
Best Part of Hercules: The idea of taking away the mythological side of the Hercules story.
Worst Part of Hercules: We should have seen more of the 12 labours of Hercules.
What Could Have Been Better? – 12 Labours are what makes Hercules such an interesting story, that is what we want to see too.
