Hercules (1997)

I watched Disney's "Hercules" with my boys the other night, and they seemed to greatly enjoy it, and, while I'm not a particular fan of Disney's movies, it was enjoyable enough. Good performances from the actors, reasonably good animation, and a typically Disneyfied storyline made it light fun.

That said, it's curious to see the Disney cultural meatgrinder go to work on the Greek myths. I mean, where to start? The saucy Megara (she looks hot) stole much of the show (but not too much, mind you -- it's Disney, after all), but I watched her happy ending with Herc and thought "Lordy, she's doomed." given that I know what happened to the "real" Megara when she hooked up with Hercules. NOT a happy ending for her or their kids. Of course, the cuddly, doting Hera was a total pie on the face of Greek mythology -- I mean, Hera? HERA? The original Olympian shrew bar none? A loving mother figure to Hercules? She wasn't even his mom, and what's more, Hera hated Hercules more than she hated most of Zeus's bastard children!



What else? How about the Judeo-Christian ethic evident in Hercules's growth as a hero -- Zeus saying something like "Being strong's not enough; what matters is the strength of your heart." Or something like that, in the context of his love and self-sacrifice regarding Megara. I mean, obviously, it's DISNEY, so they'll hew toward mawkishness whenever possible, but to invert the Greek heroic tradition to serve a Judeo-Christian ethic amused me to no end -- ancient Greeks would've choked at such a representation of Hercules.

The Titans were curiously rendered -- two of them resembled Norse Giants (Ymir and Surtur, if memory serves -- ice and fire giants). They certainly looked impressive enough, but it was odd to me, seeing these grand Norse Giants somehow standing in as Greek Titans. Somehow, I can forgive the gospel-singing Muses (they were entertaining enough), but the hash they made out of the myths was perplexing.

All the same, taking it unseriously, it was enjoyable on its own merits, but Zeus help any kid who gets their understanding of the Greek myths by way of Disney! It was pretty to look at, and fun to listen to (and James Woods was having a blast as Hades, clearly), but I felt like I needed to inoculate my boys against Disneyfication by reading actual Greek myths to them!