Hercules (1997 film)/YMMV

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Disney Movie

• Awesome Music: Let's just cut to the chase and say everything. Alan Menken is basically channeling everything he did in Little Shop of Horrors.
  • Most would agree that "I Won't Say I'm In Love" is the best song.
    • Either that or Go the Distance.
• Critical Dissonance: The film is panned as a "flippant failure" in a Disney-authorized book, along with Cult Classics Atlantis the Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. Conversely, the film praises Pocahontas, which is generally considered the weakest of the Disney Renaissance (but not a bad film), and it praises Chicken Little and Home on the Range, which are generally considered the two absolute worst entries in the canon. And it completely neglects to mention how popular Hades is while praising possibly the least cool/menacing villain in the canon, Governor Radcliffe!
  • The film itself has an 83% approval rating among critics, though.
• Ear Worm: Here was a kid with his act down pat! Zero-to-hero, no time flat!
  • If there's a prize for rotten judgement, I guess I've already won that. You're welcome.
  • I am ON MY WAY! I can go the distance!
  • A ZEERO TO HEERO! Probably the most famous song from the film (especially for being the opening theme for the series).
  • Just about anything sung by the muses
• Ensemble Darkhorse: Panic, to a surprising extent.
  • Some of the gods in the TV series have gotten a fan following, especially Aphrodite.
  • Thalia, the short, fat muse, is pretty much everyone's favorite. Fittingly, Thalia is the Muse of comedy - even in the original myths.
    • Thalia's so popular, she was the Star-Making Role for Roz Ryan, who's played Sassy Black Women and/or Black-Sounding characters such as Bubbie, Cake the Cat, Witch Lezah, and the driving instructor from Sym-Bionic Titan.
  • The one thing EVERYBODY loves about this movie is Hades.
• Evil Is Cool: Hades, though anyone with magical powers and the voice of James Woods would be cool.
• Genius Bonus: Many, for the Greek mythology buffs in the audience. "Zero to Hero" is full of half-second allusions to Hercules' Labors, famous Greek (and Roman) art, as well as ancient Greek culture.
• Greeks Hate Hercules: While the rest of the world's audiences and critics liked the movie well enough (though, of course, not to the extent of The Lion King and the earlier Renaissance films), The Greeks despised this movie, even denying the film a premiere in Greece. Then again, they know more about their mythology than any other, so the inaccuracies are all the more damning to them than just simply annoying little smudges on an otherwise good narrative.
  • It's kind of similar to how a lot of American historians hated Pocahontas while other countries liked it well enough.
• Harsher in Hindsight: "Grecian Express". Well, damn.
• Iron Woobie: Throughout the movie, poor Hercules suffers from circumstances that would cause some people to become villains. But he always has a heart even bigger than his muscles and wouldn't hurt a fly... unless they did something to Meg. It's on then.
• Love to Hate: Hades.
• Magnificent Bastard: Hades, when he's being the cool chessmaster and deal-maker, rather than letting his temper get the best of him.
• Squick: The first time we meet Megara is while she is being sexually assaulted by the enormous centaur, Nessus. And this ain't one of your happy, frolicking Fantasia centaurs.
• Tear Jerker: The All of the Other Reindeer being played a bit too well in the scene at the agora near the beginning. Young Herc is very good at looking like a kicked puppy.
  • Even worse is Meg's death. If that won't yank the heartstrings, then Tate Donovan's voice acting will.
    • Even when you know that Meg's going to get better, you still cry a little bit at the way Hercules is sobbing over her pale body and the way he's cradling her corpse in his arms.
• Tethercat Principle: Wait...they left Nessus facedown in a pond.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Opportunity for a Villain Song: The film's good enough as is, but come on! Couldn't Hades have gotten a song in the actual film instead of a "The Villain Sucks" Song? He has the perfect personality for an Awesome Music one!
  • Some fans make pair of videoson YouTube where he sings The Land of The Dead by Voltaire which actually fits him perfectly.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The Hydra looks outdated now, but for theater-goers in '97, it was jaw-dropping.