Hercules (1997 film): Difference between revisions

After Zeus fights and sends the Titans to the Underworld, he becomes the ruler of Mount Olympus, home of all Greek gods. Hades is sent to rule the underworld, but he makes plans to throw Zeus out of Mount Olympus with the Titans' help. The three Fates warn him that his plans would be endangered if Hercules, Zeus and Hera's newborn child, is still around by the time he tries to take over Mount Olympus. Hades sends his minions Pain and Panic to turn Hercules into a mortal and kill him, but they fail in their attempt and leave him on earth with his divine strength to be raised as a human. Hercules grows up but later learns he is the son of Gods, and in order to return to Mt. Olympus he must turn into a "true hero". He is trained by Phil the Satyr and becomes the most famous hero in ancient Greece after battling monsters of all kinds. He even saves Mt. Olympus from being taken over by Hades, but he only becomes a god again after he offers to exchange his life in order to save Megara, his love, from Hades' underworld and shows that a true hero must have a strong heart and not only physical strength.

While the film is considerably [[Bowdlerization|Bowdlerized]] from the original myths, there [[Pragmatic Adaptation|really was no alternative]] if you want to make a family film out of [[Greek Mythology]]. The result was a widely praised film, which despite not reaching the critical success of ''[[The Lion King]]'' or ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'', is considered by many to be one of the [[Disney Animated Canon|Canon's]] [[Funny Moments|funniest films]] along with ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'', ''[[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]]'' and ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]''. Plus, it's one of the only times [[Everyone Hates Hades]] has improved a work rather than dragging it down, mainly due to how genuinely [[Affably Evil|likeable]] and [[Deadpan Snarker|funny]] he is. For myth buffs, keep the [[MST3K Mantra]] in mind, and you'll find a solid, [[Rule of Funny|funny]] film with a lot of literal [[Mythology Gag|Mythology Gags]] that show that they did, in fact, [[Shown Their Work|do the research]] - they just couldn't make said research work in a G-rated family film without bumping the rating up a few notches. After all, in what other animated film is [[Oedipus Rex|Oedipus]] mentioned as a passing gag?

=== Original Film ===

* [[Death by Cameo]]: Sort of. [[The Lion King|Scar]] makes a cameo [[Nemean Skinning|as the skin of the Nemean Lion Hercules wears]] for a <ref> photo</ref> shoot. This is an in-joke to the fact that both Herc and Scar are animated by Andreas Deja.

** "Holy <ref> Heavens/Hell!</ref>"

** Thebes is called the "[[Big Applesauce]] <ref> [[Big Applesauce|Apple]]</ref>."

** "Wanna buy a <ref> watch?</ref>"

** "Somebody call <ref> 9-1-1!</ref>"

** "Keep your <ref> pants</ref> on, pal!"

** "This is the honest-to-<ref> God</ref> truth..."

** "Is this an audience or <ref> an oil painting?</ref>"

** "That's it, I'm moving to <ref> Canada!</ref>"

** "He's just another <ref> [[Ambulance Chaser|ambulance]]</ref> [[Ambulance Chaser|chaser]]."

** "...but I could see through ''that'' in a <ref> New York</ref> minute."

* [[Stealth Pun]]: Gospel is a genre related to praise and worship of a higher power. What better way to augment the story of Hercules than with a set of [[Gospel Revival Number|Gospel Revival Numbers]]?

* [[World of Snark]]: The only other Disney Canon entry that rivals this film in the amount of [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarkers]] is [[The Emperor's New Groove|The Emperors New Groove]].

=== TV Series ===

* [[Actor Allusion]]: In one episode, [[Dan Castellaneta]] voices a [[Odyssey|certain reporter]] named [[The Simpsons|Homer]].

* [[Old Superhero]]: Achilles' death was [[Retcon|retconned]] so that when his heel was hit he was instead crippled, and we see him as a weakened old man.