Hercules
Hercules is the thirty-fifth animated feature in the Disney
animated features canon. It was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation,
directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, and released by Walt Disney Pictures
and Buena Vista Distribution on June 14, 1997. The film starring the voices
of Tate Donovan, Susan Egan, Danny DeVito, James Woods, Bobcat Goldthwait,
Matt Frewer, Rip Torn, Samantha Eggar, Josh Keaton, Lillias White, Paul Shaffer
and Charlton Heston. The movie depicts the adventures of Heracles (known in
the movie by his Roman name, Hercules), the son of Zeus, in Greek mythology.
The storyline also draws much of its inspiration from Superman: The Movie,
as well as The Karate Kid and Rocky. Though Hercules did not match its predecessors,
it still took over $99 million in domestic revenues and over $252,700,000 worldwide.
The movie was later followed by Hercules:
The Animated Series, focusing on
Hercules during his time at the Prometheus academy and Hercules: Zero to Hero,
a direct-to-video movie.
Overview
In the film, Hercules is the son of Zeus and Hera. In the Greek myth, he is
the son of Zeus and a mortal, earth-born woman, Alcmene. Alcmene and her husband,
Amphitryon, appear in the Disney's Hercules version, as Hercules' "foster
parents", like Jonathan and Martha Kent to Superman.
Hades, voiced by James
Woods is cast as the villain, although he more closely
resembles the Christian devil than the Greek god of the underworld, who has
never been depicted as particularly evil, but more as cold and unfeeling, feared
by gods and men alike, yet still just. This idea is similar to that of the
Hades of the Marvel Universe, who wanted to overthrow Zeus and was an ambitious,
scheming god. In the movie Hades is a fast-talking, manipulative dealmaker
with a fiery temper, who hates his job as lord of the underworld and plots
to overthrow Zeus.
Disney took considerable liberties with the "Hercules" myths, since
some of the original material and characters were deemed inappropriate for
younger viewers by the Disney studios moral standards, such as Hercules being
conceived through a god posing as a mortal woman's husband, and of his stepmother
Hera's attempts to kill him. Disney also made use of stereotypes when designing
the look of the characters, particularly the gods, such as depicting the Moirae
as demonic hags (merging them with the Graeae), the Muses as divas, and the
Titans as brutish giants.
Due to the name's prominence in Western culture, they went with the Latin
Hercules rather than the actual Greek Herakles.
Disney's Hercules
The Disney version of Hercules has almost nothing to do with the Heracles myths,
and should not be regarded as the actual stories about the mythological hero;
rather, it is a spin on the character and the culture of ancient Greece. (The
film does contain a brief reference to The Twelve Labours and other myths pertaining
to the character, however, such as the Hydra and the Erymanthian Boar. In the
movie, Hades sends these monsters to him, rather than their being encountered
as they are in the myths). Some other Greek myths are appropriated, as well.
One is the myth of Bellerophon, from which was taken the winged horse Pegasus
and the scene where Hercules is swallowed by the Hydra (for Perseus it was
the dragon Cetus) and cuts his way out. Another is the myth of Orpheus, who
goes to the underworld to try to bring back his love, Eurydice. The most obvious
is when Hercules is fighting a titanic battle with the Hydra, a lizard-like
monster whose regrows three heads for every one severed.
Production
Because noted British caricaturist Gerald Scarfe (who contributed the animated
segments for the film adaptation of Pink Floyd's album "The Wall")
designed the characters, the film has a quirky visual style unusual in recent
Disney films.
Reactions and Criticism
Hercules, while by no means a failure, was a financial disappointment for Disney,
which by this point had been enjoying an unbroken string of chart-topping smashes
throughout the 1990's. This movie marked the end of that period, and from this
point on the studio has yet to recapture the tremendous box office success
it enjoyed in the first half of the 1990's. Instead, it saw a string of smaller
hits (such as Mulan) as well as endured some rather spectacular failures (Atlantis:
The Lost Empire, and especially Treasure Planet)
The film is considered by some to mark a downturn in the quality of the studio's
output, marking the end of the renaissance period which began with The Little
Mermaid. The film does, to be sure, have a very different feel from that of
most Disney films during this period: it is primarily a comedy, the first one
produced by the studio since 1988's Oliver and Company. Despite its mythic
setting, it is more cartoony and far less dramatic than its immediate predecessors,
the more realist and artistically ambitious Pochahontas and The Hunchback of
Notre Dame. Other observers, however, contend that this break was a good thing,
that the mid-90's Disney films were growing too pretentious and that a return
to light-hearted, fun cartoon animation was not unwelcome. They also point
to the excellent and memorable character animation which gave literally dozens
of mythological figures each their own unique look and mannerisms, making them
almost instantly recognizable. The film's gospel-inspired soundtrack and its
tendency to play fast and loose with mythology are also singled out for both
criticism and praise.
|
