‘Hercules’ Shows It Has the Muscle of the Disney Line

The Disney formula has scored again. Find an underdog, send him/her through one trial after another, then let him/her grow into maturity and greatness, then wrap it all up in clever animation and give it a bright musical score.

The studio has done it several times in recent years, from “Aladdin” to “The Lion King.” This season’s offering is “Hercules,” and children and their parents are happily buying in. The only complaint came from a few adults who said the scenes involving the Titans, huge monsters eager to destroy Zeus and his life on Mt. Olympus, were a bit intense for their smallest kids.

The passages are noisy and cartoon-violent, but only the youngest of children should be upset. By far, “Hercules” drew raves from kids ready to be carried along by a fun story and fine animation and raves from parents who finally have a flick the entire family can sit through.

“Really good. I loved the way Hercules became such a hero,” said 9-year-old Jason Kilpatrick of Mission Viejo. His dad, Frank Kilpatrick, 42, agreed wholeheartedly.

“I know kids are going to love this, [because] it has so much energy,” he said. “I honestly enjoyed it for the animation . . . and it has a really very sweet story to it.”

We’re first introduced to Hercules as an adolescent, a gangling boy (he’s drawn with really big feet) who can barely walk straight. Considering he has the strength of a god, this causes all sorts of problems. A slight, awkward push from this guy can topple a temple.

Most kids said they knew what it felt like to be different and a little clumsy. The fact that Hercules eventually grows into his muscular frame and learns to control his power excited them.

“He was such a nerd” in the beginning, said Holly Pinchon, 12, of Lake Forest. “It was funny to see how he couldn’t do anything right . . . but then he started doing everything right, and I liked that.”

Roberto Reyes, 11, of Laguna Hills was also impressed by the change in Hercules. Roberto said he often feels like a klutz when he plays sports but knows that he’ll get better as he gets older.

Roberto also liked how Hercules takes on a trainer (a satyr with the voice of Danny DeVito) to hone his athletic skills and turn him into the toughest guy in Greece. “He got him to do all those good things,” Roberto said. “They had to work together to get better.”

The movie’s love story appealed to Holly. Meg, a mortal who is controlled by the film’s villain, Hades (with the voice of James Woods), first betrays Hercules but then falls for him. They have a hard time getting together, but they keep trying.

“He really loved her [and] would do anything for her,” Holly said. “That got her to [finally] fall in love with him.”

But most kids were turned on by the action.

The tempo is fast in “Hercules,” and that kept youngsters from becoming bored. Hercules has to battle various monsters and then faces Hades, who’s plotting to take over Mt. Olympus after he destroys Zeus.

And the finale pits the hero against those Titans, a creepy lot. Jason thought all the monsters were great, especially one who keeps growing more heads each time one is chopped off.

“You couldn’t win [against something like that], but he did,” Jason said.

Although kids applauded all the action, their parents gave kudos to Disney for its trademark animation.

“This was at least as good as ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘The Lion King,’ and I think it was more colorful and imaginative even than ‘Aladdin,’ which was pretty good,” Kilpatrick said.

He, along with other parents, was somewhat disappointed with the score. Although it works with the film and has some nice patches, most agreed that none of the tunes were memorable.

“What is it they say--you don’t come out humming anything?” said Laura Green, 29, of Mission Viejo. “But that’s really minor criticism. . . . I loved it and so did my daughter [Candace, 9]. . . . She wasn’t bored at all.”

* FAMILY FILMGOER, Page 21