Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

5/08/2022

Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

♥♥♥

A brightly colored, exciting array of characters and colors adorn this poster for Ron Clements and John Musker's Hercules

Little Hercules is born half man half god, and he gets bullied for his over-strong clumsiness, until he meets a creature who wants to train him - and a fair lady, who ignites his hormones.

Hercules is written by Don McEnery, Bob Shaw (A Bug's Life (1998), both), Irene Mecchi (The Lion King (1994)) and master filmmakers, co-writer/directors Iowan Ron Clements and Illinoisan John Musker (Aladdin (1992), both), whose 4th film it is. 13 more individuals are credited with contributing story elements.

The film is overloaded with references and wisecracks for adults that regrettably don't add up to many laughs but certainly make Hercules seem an early study for what later came to successful fruition with Shrek (2001). Danny DeVito (When in Rome (2010)) and James Woods (Nixon (1995)) are among the fine voice performers.

Hercules is stylistically a wildly diverging, almost messy mix visually. It is enjoyable but essentially little more than a colorful children's party of a film.

Ron Clements and John Musker: Top 10: Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

The Little Mermaid (1989) - The fantastic, romantic return of Disney animation

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 252.7 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.97 times its cost)

[Hercules was released 13 June (USA) and runs 93 minutes. Development began in 1992. Jack Nicholson was sought to voice Hades but didn't pan out due to his enormous salary demand. Production took place in California and in France. The film was opened in 1 and then 2 theaters for its first two weekends before widening to open #2, behind Face/Off, to a 21.4 mil. $ first 'real' weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4), grossing 99.1 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). Though successful, the performance was disappointing in light of the preceding year's many Disney smash triumphs and Disney stock slipped 9.7%. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, for Best Song (Go the Distance by Alan Menken and David Zippel), lost to My Heart Will Go On by Céline Dion, James Horner and Will Jennings from Titanic. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. By summer 1998, the film had reportedly already brought in additionally 165 mil. $ in VHS sales and rentals. Clements and Musker returned with Treasure Planet (2002). Hercules is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

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Philip Baker Hall has died

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5/08/2022

Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

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