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, hot-headed villain Hades who's plotting to take over Mount Olympus! Hercules must now choose between his legendary strength or his true love, the Grecian beauty Meg. Only by learning a valuable lesson - that it's not the size of your strength that counts but the strength of your heart - will Hercules save Mount Olympus and be proclaimed a hero!
Special Agent Matti
The heroine is no blushing violet - she has a stream of one liners that could sink the Titanic - and seems like a cross between Mata Hari and Mae West (90s style). Herc falls victim of the modern trappings of success (anyone wanna buy a pair of Air Hercules sandals?) but comes through in in heroic tradition. The gospel muses, who narrate this saucy tale, are brilliant, and when was the last time you saw an African-American - let alone five - in a cartoon?
Even more interesting is the continuing push of the Disney machine against hate-mongering Christian fundamentalists (sorry, was that a tautology?) in the USA: all the gods here are Greek, and not a jot of a nod towards the Jewish one. (Some people may not be aware that in The hunchback of Notre Dame, there is a scene where the bad guy sings about the righteousness of his cause, backed up by flaming demons and burning crosses: it was cut out of the Australian versions to preserve the G rating. also, the southern USA fundie churches are boycotting Disneyland because gay and lesbian employees have the same benefits as straight ones - horrors!)
Not to say that this is a perfect film, there are some minor historical inaccuracies, and the songs aren't as good as previous efforts, but it's a darned entertaining 89 minutes that the whole family really will enjoy. See it!
G
93 minutes (1:33 hours)
DVD rental: Undated June 2000
DVD retail: 9 April 2003
VHS retail: 9 April 2003