Hercules

1997 "The man. The myth. The movie."
7.3| 1h33m| G| en
Details

Bestowed with superhuman strength, a young mortal named Hercules sets out to prove himself a hero in the eyes of his father, the great god Zeus. Along with his friends Pegasus, a flying horse, and Phil, a personal trainer, Hercules is tricked by the hilarious, hotheaded villain Hades, who's plotting to take over Mount Olympus!

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

Phonearl Good start, but then it gets ruined
JinRoz For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.
John Baek I first saw this as a child and didn't remember much. After I saw it for the second time with fellow college freshmen, I realized that Disney put so many puns and references in its version of the Greek myth we know as Hercules. Of course my mind screamed out at me all of the contradictions with the actual mythology -- like there were more than just 4 Titans and they weren't elemental creatures that could easily take down the Olympians. Anyways, the movie is very funny, I laughed a lot, like when some character says "call IXII" and you realize that it's 911 in Roman numerals. I feel like many Disney movies, in the same way, make modern references that are anachronistic with their settings; like especially for Hades, who does not talk like an ancient god of the underworld but is very sardonic and speaks like we modern folk. As a whole, Hercules is not a super well-made film, it's a cliché love at first sight story and a journey to find oneself. After all, so much of fiction is about finding one's identity. It's also about heroism. What does it mean to be a hero? If you've read the Percy Jackson series, which by the way is a great way to learn about the Greek myths, then most likely you'll see so many flaws in this movie but still, it's hilarious, the soundtrack (kudos to Alan Menken) is amazing and nice to sing along to if you know the words, and you leave with a nice warm feeling. Go the distance!
ElMaruecan82 After 19 years, I have finally watched "Hercules". Why such a long wait? Well, let's just say in 1997, and I had other priorities in mind. See, I was 7 when "The Little Mermaid" was made and 12 when "The Lion King" came to the screens, I guess this put me in the demographic category that most benefited from Disney Renaissance. We didn't call it Renaissance back then but I remember each new Disney was an event by itself, and "The Lion King" was the culmination. Then came "Pocahontas" and at 13, I didn't think she was worth my attention; Disney princesses weren't my cup of tea anymore. At 14, I didn't care about Quasimodo's romance with Esmeralda either. Still, "Hercules" should have tickled my curiosity. He was obviously a character in the same vein than Aladdin: young, cool and funky and the film felt laid-back and catching… but I had more personal and bitter reasons to snub the semi-God.Number one, I studied Latin in class and naturally, Greek and Roman mythology were parts of the learning. Number two, Hercules was one of my favorite characters ever since I saw "The Twelve Tasks of Asterix" and I knew all of the tasks by heart, and once I got deeper on the subject thanks to Latin, I thought the journey of Hercules was the perfect material for a spoof comic. And I draw a story of Hercules in January 1997, one that combined the caricature with the real myth, I called him Hercules, but his father was Jupiter, not Zeus, the Disney film uses the Greek names, except for the hero, of course Heracles is less cool-sounding. So, I made the story and believe it or not, one of the gags involved Hercules becoming a super star and passing by a dozens of girls screaming and getting hysterical at him (a take on the then current boys band's phenomenon).And a few weeks later, I bump into an ad announcing the next Disney movie, and I see the exact picture. Seems like the God of inspiration tricked us, or made great minds think alike or maybe that it's just an unfortunate coincidence. Still, after that, I couldn't show my comic story without hearing a comment implying that I got the inspiration from Walt Disney. My hype was gone and I was angry at the film. No matter how promising and fun it was, I always felt it as the one that stole my idea. It took me years to finally watch it and now that it's done, I guess I can 'forgive' it, that the film didn't do as well as the other Disney movies prove that maybe the concept wasn't terrific enough to appeal to the masses, or maybe the film came in that period of uncertainty that transitioned between the Renaissance and Pixar era, the second half of the 90's.Face it, "Pocahontas" and "Hunchback" aren't the most talked about film when we reminisce about the nineties, and it's a shame for "Hercules" that it didn't even make it in the Box Office Top 10 (unlike the others). The film deserved better, it was entertaining, the hero was a cool and gentle guy who tried to blend in a society by being a hero in the 'literal' meaning of the word, his existential quest also cleverly questions what a hero is supposed to represent, is it just a bland name defining the protagonist, the source of merchandising and advertisement, or is there more that he's supposed to find out? The characters aren't undeserving, the sidekick is a satyr and an exciting coach voiced by Danny De Vito, the love interest Meg is perhaps the sexiest Disney female character, and James Woods plays a good villain, as a blue looking Hades. If his blue flame-like hair have a tendency to turn into real reddish ones when he's angry, he's as cool as ice when he handles the situation with Zeus, Meg and Hercules, well, he's James Woods.The movie plays it cool and low-key and I guess this is what allows the film to emerge as a nice little oddity with cult-like appeal, it's obviously meant to be one of these feel-good Disney films and not a heavy loaded drama with Shakespearian undertones à la "Lion King", the songs are upbeat, the Greek chorus chanting the hero like the Gospel gives the film a certain edge and overall, it's enjoyable, fun and entertaining in the same spirit than most Dreamworks' movies. So maybe the best compliment to Hercules is that it was ahead of its time. Even 1997 with "Titanic" and "Men in Black" was quite a tough year to compete in.
Filipe Neto This film tells the story of Hercules, a bastard son of the Greek god Zeus, whom immortality is stolen and, therefore, is given to humans to be created, becoming a hero thanks to his impressive strength. Directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, who also ensure the writing of the script, the film has excellent designs, a good cast of voice actors and musical pieces by Alan Menken.Despite all the efforts in merchandising, this movie is not the best that Disney has presented. First, the script is nothing more than an adaptation, too free and imaginative, of a classic legend, much publicized in mythology. The film does not tell the whole tale, preferring to create a new story with some of the elements found in myth, ignoring everything that does not fit the intention of making a film for children. One of the most interesting and comical characters is Phil, a chubby faun who becomes coach and friend of Hercules. At times, he steals the attention of the Greek hero. The way the film puts the nine Muses (as Soul singers and narrators of the story) does not convinced nor pleased. More interesting was Meg, a character who exemplifies the way the ancient Greeks regarded the woman, a beautiful thing, but bad and that could be dangerous.In any case, this film is still good, deserve to be seen and appreciated for what it is
utgard14 Lackluster Disney movie that tells the story of Hercules. The whole thing lacks creativity, calculatedly following the Disney formula to the letter. We have stupid comic relief sidekicks, cheesy songs, a clichéd story, and lots of dumb in-jokes and references. It's moderately well-made for what it is but 'what it is' is the problem. I thought the voice work was fine and the animation not bad (but nothing terribly impressive). The songs are really lame, including the insufferably corny "Go the Distance." Of the films that came out during Disney's Renaissance period, this is one of the worst. Not a terrible watch when viewed in a bubble but, if you've seen even a few Disney animated films before, this will seem very tired and unoriginal. The worst part of it all is that, despite all the action and comedy, it's incredibly dull.