Hercules 1997 Film Review

Disney is known for turning classic fair tales and classic kids books into animated feature films however they very rarely if ever tackle films from Greek mythology. With the very film that i'm going to be talking to you all about today being one such a film as it's based on a classic Greek hero who's story has been told multiple over times across various films and TV shows with one such animated TV show even being made by Disney themselves and so then join me as I review the film that is an underrated film from one of Disney's most creative eras with the film in question being called simply just "Hercules" enjoy.

The plot of this film is young hero Hercules does whatever it takes to become a hero and earn his place back on Mount Olympus whilst also trying to stop the god Hades from killing his father Zeus and becoming the ruler of Mount Olympus. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual plot that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good with this the plot of this film being a really fun take on the legend of Hercules but at the same time given the character that there adapting this films plot does feel like it's on the weak side of things when compared to all of the other Disney animated films from around this same time period where there was more of an effort to give us good and interesting plots which does result in this films plot which is still good in it's own right feeling like it's on the weaker side of things by comparison as the film doesn't really focus that much on it's main plot with the film being more focused on showing us Hercules became a hero in the first place then it is in telling a good story as we don't need to spend alot of time in seeing how Hercules became a hero as that's something that could be summed up in a montage but for whatever reason the makers of this film wanted to pad out the plot by showing us things that don't play into the main plot of the film with this films plot also being really rather entertaining and as well as being really rather engaging as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least.

Starring in this film is Tate Donovan as Hercules , Josh Keaton as Young Hercules and Danny DeVito as Philoctetes. Also starring in this film is Susan Egan as Megara , Rip Torn as Zeus , Samantha Eggar as Hera , Bobcat Goldthwait as Pain , Matt Frewer as Panic , Patrick Pinney as The Cyclops , Hal Holbrook as Amphitryon , Barbara Barrie as Alcmene , Paul Shaffer as Hermes , Jim Cummings as Nessus , Wayne Knight as Demetrius , Mary Kay Bergman as The Earthquake Lady , Corey Burton as The Burnt Man , Kathleen Freeman as The Heavyset Woman , Keith David as Apollo , Frank Welker as Pegasus and James Woods as Hades.

Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual acting that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With all of this films actors turning in some really good performances with some of them like for example Susan Egan being so good in their roles that it's hard to picture quite literally anyone else playing these characters as alot of this films actors not only are these characters but put so much of themselves into the characters as well well with the best example of this being James Woods who actually ad-libbed alot of the lines between Hades and Meg and talked so fast that it was hard for the animators to animate the character and yet he still managed to turn in a good performance in this film with James Woods being the best actor in this film as he is just such a joy to listen to in this film with it being hard to tell just what his character is going to say next and yet anything and everything that his character says feels true to his character as this is a character that would be unpredictable and would be flipping between angry and happy at the switch of a light which is something that does make his performance in this film all the more fun to see as you never really know what it is that your going to be getting with the acting that's in this film really being helped by the fact that this films script is just so good that all this films actors have to do is just say the lines as they are written and a good performance will come out of them naturally which is something that really does help to raise the overall quality of the acting that's in this very film.

Doing the animation for this film is Walt Disney Feature Animation , Hanho Heung-Up Company and Richard Purdum Productions. Now then interms of what I personally thought / felt about the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual animation that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good and while yes this films animation won't ever be as good as the animation from say either The Littler Mermaid or even The Lion King for that matter it is still really good looking animation and this film was coming out at a time when Disney was just knocking it out of the park every single time with there animation be it for TV or for film and yet here whilst the animation does still look good it does go to those rather zany places with the characters facial expressions which is fine for a character like Hades for example who is a rather over the top character but the film also gives those kind of expressions of characters like Phil and Hercules which doesn't work as those kinds of over the top cartoonish expressions doesn't really fit there characters and would have been better served if those kinds of expressions were given to both Pain and Panic with the film mixing up some really early CGI work at the start of the film which granted does look a little bit more dated when compared to the films of today but at the same time tho it's blended in so well that you do kind of forgive it with the film even using some CGI elements all throughout the rest of the film but it's when we get to the acting from the characters where the animation really does shine through as we get to see what the characters are thinking and feeling alot of the time without a single line of dialog being said and all of that does come through in the characters more somber facial expressions all of which do work really well and prove that while yes this films animation isn't the best that Disney have produced but at the same time it's not the worst either.

While Hades might be the best male character in the film easily the best female and the most funniest character in the film has to go to Meg. As she just has the very quick and very sarcastic wit about her which does make her a really funny character and even her song "I Won't Say (I'm In Love)" could be seen as her being sarcastic as her whole character is all about going against what is expected of her and that does mean admitting that she's in love with Hercules with the character really being the best character in the whole entire film as well as she gets alot of painfully funny and memorable lines of dialog that add to her character and while she might not be the best female character that Disney has ever created she is the one character that people think of the most when they think of this film and it's something that makes you wonder why Disney haven't been pushing her more as she is a strong female character who knows what she wants and knows how to get it and while yes she does have her flaws in this film she overcomes those flaws and because of it she becomes a stronger person as she has to over come her own fear of falling in love again due to the fact that her old boyfriend almost died and she has to over come her fear of Hades as well both of which are things that play into the films final act and they are both things that make her character standout from all of the female characters that Disney has created recently all of which are just bland and boring characters and yet Disney is happy to push them to the moon and back and yet they won't do anything with a character that is not only a really interesting character in her own right but is also adored and loved by a great deal of people as well.

This is a of course a musical film with the films songs being written by this films composer Alan Menken and David Zippel. While the film doesn't have alot of songs in it those that it does have are some really good songs and while it would be very easy to say that "I Won't Say (I'm In Love)" is the films best song as it is a really good song and one that does deserve all of the praise that it gets for not only being really well written but also really well sung as well the best song in the whole entire film has to be "Go The Distance" because of the fact that not only is a well written and well sung song but it also carries on the plot of the film with the song telling the story of the struggle that young Hercules goes through not only to find a temple with his birth dad in it but to also prove not only to himself but to others that he can be a hero and while Meg's song is a really fun filled song it does feel like that it's pausing the plot just to sing that song where as with this song the film tells apart of it's plot through it with it being helped by the fact that the song is sung really well by Back To The Future: The Musical star Roger Bart with it being a shame that Disney really doesn't use either of these two songs alot of the time sure they would release cover versions of them but that's really it as they don't use either song in any meaningful way outside of this movie when they really could have done as they could use either song as an instrumental in any of the Kingdom Hearts video games or even have them playing again as an instrumental when playing Disney Speedstorm as these songs are just that good and are sure to get many people singing along to them whenever they get played.

There would be no way to talk about this film and not talk about the films main villain Hades as he really does steal the show alot of the time. With the character not really being evil but in this case that doesn't really harm the film as all it does is make the character all the more fun to watch as we see him get frustrated with his two minions Pain and Panic over every little thing that they do and while he does have a plan which is kill of Hercules and storm Mount Olympus to claim it for his own which does feel like a generic villain plot but here it is something that does oddly work for this character as this is a character that would get petty of anyone who has even the slightest more success then what he does and the fact that the character does have some pretty funny lines of dialog does make him standout as one of the more better badly done villains that Disney has ever done as here you can at least tell that there's some effort put into his character unlike the villain from Home On The Range or even alot of the villain from the direct to DVD Disney sequels for example but at the same time tho it would have made the character all the more better if the film did focus on his scheme a little bit and if we did get to see the character actively take steps into achieving his goal as while he does plan things out in the film we don't get to see the thought process behind it with it seeming like that he was making up these plans as he went along instead of actually crafting something that would better suit him in the long run and heck it would have helped if we got to see more of him actually being threatening as the few times that we do get to see him be threatening it really does make those all the more better because of it.

Now then this film has / had an exact grand total running time of exactly one hour and thirty two minuets and forty seconds. Which to be frank is a perfectly solid running time for this film to gave as this film really does have the right amount of plot there to really cover that amount of running time but at the same time tho this film really doesn't use it's running time all that wisely as it spends far to long on setting up Hercules becoming a hero then it does in developing either the plot of the film or even the films romance with both of them feeling more of an afterthought to the film and while yes the film did have to set up how Hercules became this hero it could have done it with a montage of scenes that aren't that well connected to the main plot of the film other then maybe showing that Hades is actually sending all of these monsters to Thebes which would then allot for more time to be dedicated to either the romance of the film or the main plot of the film to be alot more well developed then what they already are in the final cut of the film and with the romance part of the film actually being a key plot point in the film it would also have helped to make that plot point be all the more impactful as well with the films characters bearing slightly better in this regard as they are as well developed as they were ever going to be but at the same time tho it would have been nice if this films characters were alot more developed and had more going or them then what littler personality that the film gives them in the first place as that would help for the films more emotional moments to land all the more harder then what they already do in the final cut of the film but I really will admit that this film really does have some really good pacing to it tho. 

So now then as this is a action film that really does mean that I have to actually talk about the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film well then in all honesty I in all honesty personally thought / felt that the actual action that's actually featured / presented to us in this very film was in all honesty really good. With the films action scenes being alot more better then what you'd expect from Disney as when you think of Disney you don't usually think of good looking action scenes at least not from there animated films and that's exactly what we got in this film as while this films action isn't as good as the final fight scene in The Lion King that doesn't mean that this films action was bad as it really wasn't with the best action scene in the whole film being the entire third act as that's when we get to see Hercules fight a Cyclops without his strength which does lead to some pretty creative looking scene with Hercules first stabbing the Cyclops in the eye with some fire before then tripping it up causing it to fall over a cliff and then you add in all of the stuff with Hades not only taking over Mount Olympus but also having to deal with now fully power Hercules which is something that does lead to some really fun action itself with it getting all the more creepier when the duo enter the underworld with Hercules literally fighting to save Meg's life all of which combines to make the entire act action scene the best action scene in the film with the film itself being filled to the brim with good looking action scenes in it's own right with that being just how good alot of this films action scenes are as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. 

Overall it's not that hard t see why this film spawned a franchise which does include a prequel animated TV show as this film really is that fun to watch but at the same time tho this film quite clearly isn't the best film that Disney have put out either as it's a film that does feel like a generic Disney film albeit one that's also really fun to watch and has plenty of funny moments in it as well in my freaking opinions anyways / at least. Now then i've talked about all of the good and as well as all of the bad things that re in this very film in this very review and as such that really does mean that this very film really does earn itself a grand old score of exactly a 7.5 out of 10 from me.

Now then as or where I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review well then boys and girls and as well as ladies and gentlemen I personally got all of the images that I personally used in this very review from the official Disney fandom wiki page and Google Images. With my personally preferred website to use to get images really from this very film being the really great the official Disney fandom wiki page this is really because of the fact that really all of the images that I really indeed got and really used from the official Disney fandom wiki page are all really high quality really with all of the images that really are all and of course really currently up and on the really great and the really solid the official Disney fandom wiki page really are all being really fairly high in quality and as well as them all really being fairly high in definition.