Hercules (1997)

Had to write about this one when I saw it in the listings yesterday. It's the one Disney film that got its hooks into me completely, at least for a while - the only one where I know all the words to all the songs, and the only film I've ever seen more than once at the cinema. For a time, it was a sanity valve through the nastier parts of an abusive relationship, and even now, nearly twenty years on (how did that happen?) I'm not entirely sure that what follows will be entirely objective.

So, here's the basics. Disney's Hercules sees the House of Mouse tackling Greek mythology, albeit without too much regard for the source material. Despite the trappings, what we basically have is a retelling of Hans Andersen's The Ugly Duckling, as the infant god Hercules finds himself trapped in the mortal realm due to the schemes of the villainous Hades (voiced by James Woods). As he grows, however, it becomes obvious that Hercules (Tate Donovan) has kept his divine strength, making him a gawky liability in his rural hometown. Eventually, his adoptive father is forced to tell him the truth, and he sets out on a journey to regain his godhood, aided by jaded satyr Philoctetes (Danny de Vito) and followed at every step by the sultry Megara (Susan Egan). Their progress, meanwhile, is charted by a  gaggle of elegantly-dressed muses, whose songs provide exposition at convenient twenty-minute intervals.

Tonally, this is one of Disney's lighter efforts, pitched somewhere between Tangled and The Emperor's New Groove. Sure, the message is there about being yourself as hard as you can, but there's a lot of horseplay to leaven it all, much of which comes courtesy of Pegasus, the comedy flying horse. The voice work is good on all counts, particularly James Woods and Danny De Vito, both of whom impersonate themselves with considerable gusto, and the songs, written by the team who did Little Shop of Horrors, are a sort of gorgeous cod-Motown affair that really floats my boat so long as I remember the first rule of Disney animations and don't listen to the lyrics. The visuals, meanwhile, are heavily inspired by the works of Gerald Scarfe, resulting in a look at once looser and spikier than the usual house style.

I've revisited Hercules a few times since the 90s, but not all that often - it takes me back to a point in my life that I'd rather forget. Trying to look at it through unclouded eyes, however, it actually stands up relatively well. I know people will have you believe that the studio's modern classics are from the Little Mermaid/Beauty and the Beast/Aladdin/Lion King era; they may be right, but Hercules is carried with broader brush strokes and a lighter touch that make it far less eminently mockable. Back in the day, too, it felt courageous of Disney to offer up a heroine who wasn't a total ingenue - Megara is very much in the Katharine Hepburn/Barbara Stanwyck mould, and that was probably what guaranteed the film its place in my heart at the time. 

Probably not the greatest thing Disney have ever done, but it still suits my tastes better than most of their output from any era.