Hercules (1997)

Young Hercules (Josh Keaton, singing voice: Roger Bart)

20130612,3:
While this Disney movie doesn't have a chock-full of memorable songs like Aladdin (1992) or The Lion King (1994), I have always liked the song "Go the Distance." I also like "I Won't Say (I'm in Love)," the movie's love song, a bit more than "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," the love song from The Lion King.

In terms of the movie itself, the plot is good, simple, and light. Even Hades (James Wood), the movie's antagonist, brings humor to the movie and becomes something of a villainous equivalent to the Genie (Robin Williams) in Aladdin.

While not a villain to be feared like some of Disney's top villains*, he's still a cool one.

The Muses, the film's narrators. Left to Right: Thalia (Roz Ryan), Melpomene (Cheryl Freeman), Calliope (Lillias White), Clio (Vaneese Y. Thomas), and Terpsichore (LaChanze)

On a different note, the quality of the animation is top-notched, as to be expected of Disney animation studios.

If you like Disney animation, then Hercules shouldn't disappoint. If, however, you've never seen a Disney animation, you might consider watching some of their more popular animations first.

*My top 5 Disney villains - roughly by mixture of evilness and impact: definite #1, Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty; definite #2, Cruella de Vil from 101 Dalmatians - for her pure insanity and desire to kill puppies; at #3, Scar from The Lion King - what he did to his brother, and how he did it, was just plain evil; at #4, Ursula from The Little Mermaid - she always gave me the creeps; and finally, #5 goes to The Queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Honorable mentions go to Frolio from The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Jafar from Aladdin.

Meg (Susan Egan), Hercules (Tate Donovan), and Pegasus

[20130809][20160713]

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Instant Comments:
2a: Paused at Hades interrupting, just about to leave, and Zeus makes a joke.
2b: Resume. It was just 6 min into the film.
2b: Despite being assigned the underground, why doesnt hades have a glow?
2b: Despite his strength, Hercules was still mortal so if ever there were a time to try and destroy him it would have been as a baby...
1x, 2b: I love the song "Go the Distance"
1x: "Nymphs, they can't keep their hands off me."
1x: I probably didn't notice when I was younger that Phil accepts, because he got struck by lightning which we can only assume was sent by Zeus.

The Hydra

1x: The Karate Kid (1984) reference.
1x: "Use your head." "Oh."
1x: Oh, I didn't realize Meg was short for Megara.
1x: "You know how men are, they think 'No' means 'Yes' and 'Get lost' means 'Take me, I'm yours.'"
1x: "I don't think your pinto likes me very much." Apparently a pinto is, according to the Wikipedia equine coat color page, is defined as "a multi-colored horse with large patches of brown, white, and/or black and white."
2b: Pause at 33, after Pegasus drops an apple onto Hercules head.

Hades (James Woods) and Zeus (Rip Torn)

2c: Resume Hercules.
2c: Second time I noticed use of gods versus my god
2c: "Nut, Meg"
2c: Thats the sound of Tigger ("That's it I'm moving to Sparta")
2c: Haha. Someone call I X I I.
2c: I don't think I realized that, they debate "vase" versus "vahse" in the song
1x: Meg says, "Nice shooting, Rex": mixing the phrase "Nice shooting, Tex" together with Rex which is the title of a king in (ancient) Rome. In particular, rex is Latin for king. [I never realized this was the etymology behind the "rex" portion of Tyrannosaurus (tyrant lizard) rex (king). Note that tyrannos and sauros are Greek, but the binomial nomenclature for species is only required to use Latin grammatical forms.]

Hercules dons the Nemean lion's pelt while posing for a vase painting

1x: Hahahaha. "[...] and you are wearing his merchandise!"
2c: Scar
1x: The first of Hercule's twelve labors is to slay the Nemean lion. In this scene, we see Hercules donning a lion's pelt while posing for a vase painting. However, the pelt we see belongs to Scar, the antagonist in Disney's The Lion King (1994).
2c: I learned while watching Haunted Mansion that the busts scene of the song is a reference to the Haunted Mansion
2c: This kind of anti-love song
2c: In fact Meg didn't really have a choice and was trying to do right...

2c: Why didn't he kill hercules? [It's apparent in a couple scenes; I guess I meant directly][20211218: I read that this would not be far off from the source mythology in that Gods/Goddesses would not directly kill mortals]
2c: I don't remember what the Cyclops is being assigned to do.
2c: Hehe "everyone's been captured, I've been captured"
1x: Aww... perfect build-up to "That's Phil's boy."
1x: Ha, near the end of the credits we hear Phil talking to himself.
1x=20130612, 1x=20130613, 2a=20211209, 2b=20211210, 2c=20211211

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Released 19970627.
Watched many times before as a kid. I think I saw it theaters, but I'm uncertain.
Watched first quarter 20130612, remaining quarters 20130613 (Netflix, Instant)
Watched first six minutes 20211209, next twenty-seven minutes 20211210, remaining minutes 20211211 (Disney+)
Hercules (1997) Ron Clements, John Musker. 93 min

Phil (Danny Devito) and a closer look at the pelt: it's Scar!

Relevant Links:
Hercules (RottenTomatoes.com)
Hercules (IMDb.com)
Hercules (1997 film) (Wikipedia.org)