Buy it... only if you are a absolute, die-hard collector of the Disney musicals and were a young, appreciative teen at the time you first saw the film.

Avoid it... if you grew accustomed to the quality of the serious, magical, and dramatic musicals that Alan Menken produced for Disney in the early 1990's.

Menken

Hercules: (Alan Menken) By the mid-1990's, skeptics were wondering when the powerful bubble of Disney's succession of musical hits was finally going to burst. In 1996, a powerful and serious rendition of The Hunchback of Notre Dame literally frightened some viewers, but nevertheless impressed nearly every listener with its music. The film had followed a series of musicals so influential that AMPAS had created a separate Oscar category simply to accommodate the fact that these animations kept winning all the music-related awards each year (over their equally or more worthy dramatic counterparts). Composer Alan Menken was at the helm for most of this success (except for The Lion King), and the level of respect he received in the industry was unparalleled, not to mention that these films made him a rich man. The bubble burst with one giant pop in 1997, however, with Hercules. So hard the mighty fell with this project that Menken's term with Disney would largely be ended until his luke warm resurrection half a dozen years later with a few more Disney duds. While commercially Hercules fared well enough --any Disney film along these lines was a fiscal success-- the film was appropriately slammed by both critics and Disney purists. The reason for this whoppingly poor response was one of logic; the Disney musicals had always used the same formula going back to The Little Mermaid, and Hercules flipped that formula backwards. The Disney musicals were popular because they were serious enough to keep adults interested while also containing one or two silly comedy songs to entertain the kids. For Hercules, Disney and Menken flipped it around so that the entire film was a comedy routine and one token serious ballad was included to tie the film in with the basic identity of its franchise. The other problem with the film was the obviously misplaced style of vocals for the story. Hercules is essentially a feel-good esteem-building comedy set in mythic times. Menken tackles the film by infusing it with a dominant gospel voice, however, and while the overarching comedy elements were meant to bridge the huge logic gap that exists between location and music style, he still failed.

In the end, Hercules is nothing more than a curious, if barely tolerable, head-scratching anomaly. Like most of the Menken/Disney soundtracks, you can separate the songs from the score and analyze them separately. The songs, unfortunately, are the disgrace of Hercules. Even if race weren't an issue --and it definitely is-- the entries by Menken this time around are simply cliched and/or weak. Serving as evidence that the production team seemingly knew exactly what it was doing when it began the production, the semi-retired (but keenly appropriate) Charlton Heston is hauled in to provide a teaser prologue. With his booming voice beginning the narration, you're reminded immediately of Beauty and the Beast. But that's the point... after luring you into the formula, Heston is interrupted by the obnoxious voices of the muses that occupy most of the playing time early in the film. The comedy thus enters the scene immediately and barely relinquishes its control. The three "Gospel Truth" songs, written for dynamic black female voices, are a page torn from the more dated pop writing of Andrew Lloyd Webber, and while they have the faint, basic traits of Menken's writing, they simply don't fit with the remainder of the film. More importantly, unlike most effective gospel tunes, these ones simply aren't cool. They continue with "One Last Hope," "Zero to Hero," and "A Star is Born," all of which were intentionally infused with a dated 1980's pop style; the film could very well have benefited from a more contemporary (or at least timeless) sound. Even the standard "female song of longing" is interrupted by this style, causing Susan Egan's superior voice (who many of you will recognize as Belle in the Broadway show of Beauty and the Beast) to be wasted in "I Won't Say." that leaves only two songs that actually fit Menken's typical formula. The straight comedy routine for Danny DeVito in "One Last Hope" is an embarrassing exhibition of the actor's total inability to sing, and while these songs are tolerable when surrounded by serious pieces, it's double the annoyance here. Indeed, it seemed like an eternity since Robin Williams graced Aladdin with true talent.

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The only redeeming song in Hercules is the standard ballad for the main character. If "Go the Distance" had been supported by the usual array of strong Menken songs for auxiliary characters, it may have been sufficient. But even as the highlight song of the film, it's still seriously flawed. The major problem with it is the whiny voice of the younger Hercules character; his tone is remarkably irritating. It's to be assumed that the Michael Bolton single/pop version of the theme represents the adult voice of Hercules, and like all the other pop songs in the franchise, this one is finely tuned. Bolton is mixed with his usual amount of flowing reverb, though, which seems like it would work for the character. As for the score, there's nothing truly spectacular to discuss. The strangest thing you'll notice about it is the fact that almost none of the gospel attitude and style from the songs carries over to the score. In fact, very few of the themes from the songs are translated to the score (except "Go the Distance" and "I Won't Say"). The format of the score is mostly standard Menken orchestral material. The final track even has the usual reprise of a major song to follow a big choral crescendo (that is the formula practice for the franchise). Two score tracks will stand out, however, and both offer short choral performances. In "The Prophecy" and "Phil's Island," Menken employs a varied choir for the few mystical scenes in the film. The first track is quite remarkable, actually, with a layering of voices over the full ensemble that will remind listeners of Danny Elfman or Alan Silvestri's work. Otherwise, the score is safe and harmless, releasing some comedic energy in "Rodeo" but never straying too far from the kind of simple monotony that usually occupies Menken's more mundane score writing. As a whole, the project remains ill conceived and poorly rendered. The choices for vocal artists aren't obvious and the lyrics are lousy in many of the songs (it was about this time that the absence of Menken's former collaborator, Howard Ashman, was badly felt). For fans of the great Disney musicals of the early 1990's, Hercules is understandably a source of great frustration; it was a terrible, but predictable way for Menken's series of projects to end. The older style of animation featured in these films was on the way out anyway, and Menken's era seemed tied to that technology. Still, a better end to the famed collaboration would have been merited. As Egan sings at the start of her song, "If there's a prize for rotten judgment, I guess I already won that..." Disney should have considered the irony of that line more closely before actually making this film.   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Songs: FRISBEE
Score: **
Overall: *

Bias Check:

For Alan Menken reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.45 (in 11 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.54 (in 56,205 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.