Hercules

Release Date: June 13, 1997

Watch Date: January 31, 2023

 

    Hercules doesn’t get a lot of credit now-a-days. People didn’t understand the gospel choir, which was a reference to the Greek chorus. People didn’t like how much they changed the myth, which seems like a big complaint when the dude literally went around killing animals and wearing their skins to atone for Hera driving him crazy and causing him to murder his family – which is probably not great Disney fodder. Meg was too sexy.

    You know who does get credit? Who does get air time? Who does still get constantly referenced, and has clips shown of him? Hades. And here’s the thing – it doesn’t matter how much I love this movie, and I love this movie, and it doesn’t matter how much I think it has to offer and how people need to be a little less harsh on it and enjoy it for what it is; if the only thing that came out of Hercules was the fantastic Disney villain that is Hades? Then I’m okay with it, because Hades is spectacular.

    I have always loved Greek mythology, and I credit this film with being the spark to that obsession. There’s no way it wasn’t, because trust me, as a kid I was not hearing a lot about Orpheus, or Odysseus, or Zeus, or Demeter. But this movie made me love the gods, and when you love the gods, you want to learn about the heroes, the culture. I love that they are human in their foibles, that they never pretend to be perfect beings. I could do with a little less rape, but you can’t win them all, and ancient Greek mythology sort of had a schtick.

     The songs are fantastic, they just are. “Go The Distance” is an inspirational anthem. “One Last Hope” is somehow a song performed fantastically by Dany DeVito. Every song the muses sing is a banger. The lyrics are clever too, with lots of word play, and I love that too.

    Honestly, there’s very little I don’t love about this movie, other than the portrayal of Zeus and Hera as doting parents which, again, is forgivable since if you were to make them myth accurate you have a pretty different, R-rated, Disney film, and I don’t think we’re quite there yet. Though Meg is sexy enough that it wouldn’t be a big stretch to get there…

    Give Hercules a chance, ignore the fact that it was made after Disney’s Renaissance. Let it sweep you away, introduce you to mythological characters, and maybe inspire you to look into their deep dark histories. Couldn’t hurt anyways.