Hercules was never one of my favorite Disney animated movies of the 1990s, falling far short of the likes of Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid (and even in some aspects, Tarzan), but it’s still a decent enough film that the whole family can enjoy with some fine music sequences.
Hercules: Special Edition
(1997)
Genre(s): Animation, Adventure, Family
Disney | G – 93 min. – $29.99 | August 12, 2014
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MOVIE INFO: Directed by: Ron Clements, John Musker Writer(s): Ron Clements & John Musker & Don McEnery and Bob Shaw & Irene Mecchi (screenplay) Voice Cast: Tate Donovan, James Woods, Danny DeVito, Rip Torn, Hal HolbrookDISC INFO: Features: Featurette, Music Video, Sing-Along, DVD Copy, Digital Copy Number of Discs: 1Audio: English (DTS-HD MA 5.1), French (Dolby Digital 5.1), Spanish (Dolby Digital 5.1) Video: 1080p/Widescreen 1.78 Subtitles: English, French, Spanish Disc Size: 30.2 GB Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Region(s): A, B, C |
PLOT SUMMARY
Taken from the gods as a newborn and adopted on earth, Hercules (older version voiced by TATE DONOVAN) is just an awkward pillar of strength trying to fit in. What he wants most is to impress his father Zeus (RIP TORN). When Hercules discovers Hades’ (JAMES WOODS) sinister plot to take over Mount Olympus, he goes from zero to hero and, with the help of his pals Pegasus and Phil (DANNY DEVITO), discovers that real strength comes from the heart.
SPECIAL FEATURES – 1.0/5
This review comes with a glossy, slightly embossed slip cover. Inside contains a DVD Copy and a redemption code for the Digital Copy.
The Making of Hercules (9:29) is an (older) EPK-like featurette made more to advertise the movie than provide any in-depth BTS information.
Music Video (4:47) for the song “No Importa La Distancia” by Ricky Martin
“Zero to Hero” Sing-Along (2:47) where you can sing with the film’s catchiest song
VIDEO – 4.25/5
Hercules arrives on Blu-ray presented with a 1.78 widescreen transfer and a new 1080p high-definition transfer (MPEG-AVC codec). The transfer here, like Tarzan, might not be the object of perfection but it’s still solid enough. There are some instances of aliasing, perhaps a result of when the movie was made, but colors are especially bright, contrast seems well balanced and dark levels are stark and show no major flaws like artifacting.
AUDIO – 4.5/5
The 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track meanwhile sound fantastic providing clear dialogue levels that mostly comes from the center channel while the front and rear speakers are mostly used for ambient noises or for the musical numbers. The track offers decent depth and I didn’t notice any hissing or other distortions.
OVERALL – 3.5/5
Overall, Hercules was never one of my favorite Disney animated movies of the 1990s, falling far short of the likes of Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid (and even in some aspects, Tarzan), but it’s still a decent enough film that the whole family can enjoy with some fine music sequences. The Blu-ray released by Buena Vista offers up a good audio/video transfers but for a “Special Edition”, the features fall well short with merely three vintage features.
Published: 08/10/2014