This is the kind of movie I feel Disney is best at. Disney has always struggled with really dark movies like The Black Cauldron or Hunchback of Notre Dame, both of which seemed to try to overcompensate for their themes with really out-of-place humor. Getting back into form with Hercules, the story and tone is a lot lighter. At the same time, they don't have quite the level of juvenile humor that the aforementioned movies had.
Hercules is the story of a boy trying to find his place in the world and recover his godhood. Hades received a Prophecy that his plan to take over Olympus would fail if Hercules fought, but his minions failed to kill Hercules after making him, Mortal. There is a brief bit at the beginning where Hercules doesn't know he was born of the gods, but it's not kept secret for very long. For reasons that are never really specified, so long as he proves himself a true hero he can return to Olympus as a god and be with his family.
The first thing I want to highlight is the glue that kind of holds the movie together, the Muses. The movie kicks off with narration that sounds like you are about to get some epic Greek tale of tragedy, and suddenly he is cut off by the Muses to let you know what kind of movie you are in for. And these ladies kill it for the rest of the movie. They are involved in almost every song, either as the lead vocals or backups, and constantly keep the energy of the show high. Despite not being characters in the actual story going on, I would say they are probably one of the show's most important elements.
That leads me into saying that Hercules, in terms of consistent quality, maybe the best Disney Soundtrack. Every song does great at setting the mood, they are all great fun to sing along with, and even the weaker songs of the soundtrack are sung by Danny Devito as Phil, and he makes them so much fun. Even Michael Bolton couldn't ruin 'I can go the Distance' when he sings it during the ending, as much as he tries.
As far as the story itself goes, I will say it's really predictable and pretty mediocre. I'm realizing this is true of a lot of Disney films, but it still wins you over with its fabulous characters. The best one probably being Hades. He does a wonderful job at bouncing back and forth between a hilarious dick to legitimately threatening. There is this odd aura about him where no matter how often he is the butt of someone's joke, he never stops feeling like a legit threat. It's a very hard balance to pull off, but there is one thing the show does that I think helps this out, though I'll have to explain a different aspect of this film I like that isn't directly related to Hades.
Hercules does something well I wish a lot more films could do well, and that is showing how the world works without having to explain it. The gods in Hercules cannot directly impact the world. Beyond the visual gags of Hades appearing, he never once directly impacts the world unless he is explicitly allowed to by the person he is targeting, specifically through any deals he makes with them. This, I think, is what allows him to also retain his threat. Of course, this also applies to Zeus, who isn't able to interact with his son until Hercules calls on him at the temple. It seems to vary from god to god how they can interact, but it's always never directly. And never once does the show feel the need to explain this, it becomes obvious as the show goes on.
As I mentioned before, the story is pretty predictable so there isn't much reason to delve too deeply into it. Hercules was one of my favorite Disney films growing up, and to this day I still love it. It's hilarious, the characters are fantastic, the songs are wonderful, and it just looks great. This was a real treat following the last two Disney reviews, and if you're up for a fun adventure I highly recommend it.
