HERCULES
A film review by David N. Butterworth
Copyright 1997 David N. Butterworth/The Summer Pennsylvanian
Rating: *** (Maltin scale)
After its recent, serious-minded entries--the bleak "Hunchback" and the tragic "Pocahantas"--the Disney studios have finally put the fun back in feature-length animation with their 35th effort, "Hercules." A colorful, toe-tapping odyssey that is closer to the exuberance and charm of "Aladdin" and "The Little Mermaid," "Hercules" follows in the footsteps of those winning films, echoing their respective hipness and style.
Hercules the man (or is that the god?) lends himself well to the Disney treatment. While his twelve labors are conspicuously absent from the film, he does put in a full day's work, battling hydras, cyclops, and a love interest with ambiguous allegiances (Meg, voiced by Susan Egan, who looks like she was modeled on Fran Drescher). Meg's smart, curvaceous female is just one of the typical components of the tried-and-true Disney formula. Add also the well-chiseled hero, fighting to prove himself; the bumbling, wise-cracking sidekicks, in this case the Bobcat Goldthwait and Matt Frewer rendered Pain and Panic. And, of course, the villain.
The bad guy in "Hercules" is Hades, ruler of the Underworld, performed by James Woods. Woods is the commanding force in the movie, fast-talking, fast-scheming, and fast on his way to becoming his very own Mickey D's tie-in. With his blue, pilot light jet of hair, Hades is like a demonic auctioneer on acid, waxing mythologic and anacronistic, with topical references to Siskel and Ebert and everything in between.
Hades, wishing to topple Zeus and mount a hostile takeover of Mount Olympus, sends his shape-changing sidekicks to steal Zeus' son, the infant Hercules, turn him mortal, and knock him off. The fates have forewarned Hades that "should Hercules fight, you will fail." Pain and Panic bungle their mission and Hercules grows up mortal but with superhuman strength. After learning of his origins, Herc sets out to become a "true hero," the requirement for returning to Olympus. His personal trainer is a cynical satyr, Philoctetes ("call me Phil"), gleefully performed by Danny DeVito, whose goofy irreverence evokes both the genie from "Aladdin" and the flatulent warthog from "The Lion King."
Unfortunately, Hercules confuses fame with heroism, and it takes more than a couple of sticky situations for him to learn that true strength comes from within. Coming as late in "Hercules" as it does, this message is not too intrusive, although the film's "zero to hero" theme seems to have been shamelessly borrowed from "The Mask."
While none of Alan Menken and David Zippel's see-you-at-the-Oscars, gospel-influenced score--the pastiche-laden production numbers or slower, soul-searching ballads--contain any real show-stoppers, the five Motown muses who carry the story along provide a refreshing change of pace.
With the additional vocal contributions of Tate Donovan, Rip Torn, Samantha Eggar, Barbara Barrie, and Paul Shaffer, "Hercules" is a grab bag of personalities. But at the end of the day, it's Woods and DeVito who give "Hercules" its strength.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@mail.med.upenn.edu
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