Hercules is an animated film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. The plot is a retelling of the Greek Myth of Hercules, though it combines a lot of different stories together, so it is not beat for beat. We see a young Hercules (Tate Donovan), be ripped from his parent’s arms and raised as a mortal. After he finds out about his supernatural heritage he sets out to become the biggest hero in the world and regain his place amongst the Gods.
I remember watching this in school as a treat on the final day of term, I remember enjoying it. My how times change.
So I have a laundry list, to borrow the phrase, of problems with this film. Firstly narratively it is a mess. There is two defined acts and then a third one that just feels like a bunch of stuff cobbled together, the result of this is a film that has a sizeable amount of the bloat.
The gospel soundtrack is one of the better aspects about the film, it adds an extra element that is hard to describe and enhances it completely. However, a lot of the normal songs ,(mainly the ones sung by Hercules himself), lack any charm or catchiness, this creates a noticeable dip in the soundtrack. Furthermore, the voice actor for Hercules doesn’t give the role any passion or character, Hercules feels like the blandest most stereotypical hero, in his own film and that is the fatal flaw.
The supporting cast are also a mixed on the one hand you have James Wood and Danny DeVito, both of whom are excellent, on the other hands you have the rest who are again so bland and devoid of personality that they just fade into the background.
Overall, this film showed me that rose-tinted glasses are a real thing, it is very meh and feels both too busy and also empty at the same time, it is perplexing.
Pros.
The gospel soundtrack
Woods and DeVito
Cons.
Hercules is boring and bland
It tries to hard to cover everything
The non-gospel songs are bad
The supporting cast are a very mixed bag
2/5
Reviewed by Luke
Another Millennial Reviewer 