HERCULES (65)

Directed by: John Musker and Ron Clements

The Pitch: Hercules (or "Herc", as he's generally known), the son of Zeus, must prove his worth as a "true hero" before he can ascend to his rightful place among the gods of Olympus.

Theo Sez: Traces of the didacticism that marred last year's HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE-DAME, notably when the young Hercules is labelled a "freak" because of his superhuman strength (kids, don't make fun of folks who are different ; everyone is Special in their own way) ; and of course the terminally bland songs are blander than ever. Yet this is possibly the most adventurous of the Mouse's recent offerings, casting off the traditionally gentle mien of films aimed at children for the hard-bitten urban worldview of today's clued-in big-city kid, exemplified in the exaggerated comic belligerence of the film's (James Woods-voiced) villain Hades, Lord of the Underworld : whether referring to arch-enemy Zeus as "Mr. Hey-You-Get-Off-Of-My-Cloud" or making small talk about his morbid domain ("yeah, a little dark a little gloomy, fulla dead people what d'you expect?") he's a marvel of fast talk and mercurial restlessness, a used-car salesman at a sucker convention - and the best Disney villain since Scar in THE LION KING. Yet the film isn't (fortunately) much like that one, making self-referential digs at the spin-offs that inevitably follow in the wake of every Disney (Hercules action figures, "Herculade", "Air-Hercs") and unable even to play coltish sentimentality with a straight face - when it features a button-cute shot of baby Hercules bonding with baby Pegasus it can't resist an irreverent cut to a roomful of watching faces, all smiling asininely and going "Aaahhhh...". The result is enjoyable but too brittle (especially for its target audience), not even isolating its manic element the way ALADDIN did - it's all edgy, even the animation stark and spiky. "Magic" is a grossly overused word, but HUNCHBACK at least tried for a rough approximation of it ; here it just seems irrelevant - and that surely can't be a good idea.