These are what we call the 'YMMV items.' Things that some people find in this work. We call them 'your mileage might vary' because not everyone sees these things in the same way. This starts discussions in the trope lists, a thing we don't want. Please use the discussion page if you'd like to discuss any of these items.
YMMV: Hercules
Disney Movie
Greeks Hate Hercules: While the rest of the world's audiences and critics liked the movie well enough (though, of course, not to the extent of The Lion King and the earlier Renaissance films), The Greeks despised this movie, even denying the film a premiere in Greece. Then again, the decision is justified, as the Greeks didn't care much for the many glaring mistakes to their own mythology, even if the rest of the movie was pretty decent. It's kind of similar to how a lot of American historians hated Pocahontas (even though that didn't get banned; it just got slammed with a lot of criticism) while other countries liked it well enough.
Then again, it IS a Disney film. Aimed at children. They can't exactly show Hercules slaughtering his family and banging everything with a hole.
Awesome Music: Let's just cut to the chase and say everything. Alan Menken is basically channeling everything he did in Little Shop Of Horrors.
Most would agree that "I Won't Say I'm In Love" is the best song.
Critical Dissonance: The film is panned as a "flippant failure" in a Disney-authorized book, along with Cult ClassicsAtlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. Conversely, the film praises Pocahontas, which is generally considered the weakest of the Disney Renaissance (but not a bad film), and it praises Chicken Little and Home on the Range, which are generally considered the two absolute worst entries in the canon. And it completely neglects to mention how popular Hades is while praising possibly the least cool/menacing villain in the canon, Governor Radcliffe!
The film is considered as such because of lower then expected box office gross, see Win Back The Crowd below. It doesn't explain why the author considered Home on the Range any good, though. No Accounting for Taste on the author's part, perhaps?
Ear Worm: Here was a kid with his act down pat! Zero-to-hero, no time flat!
For Latin fans, the Latin American Spanish version of "Go the Distance" was sung by Ricky Martin. It helps that Ricky was the voice of Hercules anyway, in the Latin American Spanish dub.
A ZERO TO HERO! Probably the most famous song from the film (especially for being the opening theme for the series).
Evil Is Cool: Hades, though anyone with magical powers and the voice of James Woods would be cool.
Fan Dumb: There were actually Christians out there who were shocked when they let their kids watch this movie and then found out it "glorified Greek mythology." Though why you would let your kids watch any film without screening it first yourself if you're that controlling about what your kids are exposed to... (And never-minding the fact that this "Greek" mythology was presented using values that were generally judged to be more "Christian" in nature. And the Muses are singing gospel!)
Genius Bonus: Many, for the Greek mythology buffs in the audience. "Zero to Hero" is full of half-second allusions to Hercules' Labors, famous Greek (and Roman) art, as well as ancient Greek culture.
When the kids are stuck under a rock, they shout, "Somebody call IX-I-I" Technically wrong (Seeing as this is Greek, not Roman) but if you know your numerals, you know they're saying "Call 9-1-1!"
Memetic Sex Goddess: Megara, who would make girls who wound up interested in girls look back on moments this may have been incredibly evident in the past (like the moment she appeared on screen and also did her washing-hair-in-the-river-thing), and boys do much the same, likely earlier, possibly whilst swallowing the same way Herc does.
Squick: The first time we meet Megara is while she is being sexually assaulted by the enormous centaur, Nessus. And this ain't one of your happy, frolickingFantasia centaurs.
Tear Jerker: The All of the Other Reindeer being played a bit too well in the scene at the agora near the beginning. Young Herc is very good at looking like a kicked puppy.
Even worse is Meg's death. If that won't yank the heartstrings, then Tate Donovan's voice acting will.
Even when you know that Meg's going to get better, you still cry a little bit at the way Hercules is sobbing over her pale body and the way he's cradling her corpse in his arms.
Hell, even PHIL is upset during this scene and he pretty much hated Meg up until she came to tell him Hercules was in trouble.
Some fans make pair of videos on YouTube where he sings The Land of The Dead by Voltaire which actually fits him perfectly.
According to the DVD commentary for the first Family Guy episode he starred in, James Woods hates to sing. Additionally, even though he loves playing Hades, Rob Paulsen voiced his verse for the House of MouseVillain Song "It's Our House Now".
What an Idiot: Hades sent his monsters to deal with Hercules instead of challenging him to a fight, which means he would easily defeat the latter with his godlike powers. What was he expecting?
There are a number of signs that the gods have limits on the degree to which they can interact or interfere with mortals. For example, Zeus and Hera never even visit Hercules' foster parents to explain who and what he is, and Zeus only communicates with Hercules by animating his statue in his temple, even after he first meets with him, so he's not just waiting for Herc to make first contact. If Hades has to do all his work indirectly, or through catspaws, it explains his lack of direct action.
Also, he was secretly planning a takeover of Olympus, so a direct confrontation would be a bit too obvious (not that Hades is anywhere near subtle, but still ...)
Hades gets Hercules to agree to give up his strength for 24 hours while he releases the Titans to take over Olympus. Then he decides to send the Cyclops to kill Hercules for no good reason. This ignoring that sending a giant to out will likely lead to Megera getting hurt, therefor breaking the deal and Hercules getting his strength back, plus, he ignores that the Fates said ''Should Hercules fight, you will fail", his strength was NEVER stated to be a requirement for him for Hades to fail.
Win Back The Crowd: Hercules was Disney's attempt to perform this feat. After the Love It or Hate It reaction audiences gave to Disney's previousefforts to appeal to a more mature audience, Hercules was meant to be the return to Lighter and Softer form. The company even promoted a large marketing blitz trumpeting the fact that it was being directed by the same guys who did The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. The final box office total ended up being even weaker than the previous two films.
Animated Series
Crosses the Line Twice: In the episode about Prometheus, rather than dancing around the fact that his liver got eaten by an eagle every day, the writers went out of their way to make every possible reference to it. However, the scene where the eagle visibly pulls his liver out, and then they proceed to argue about the eagle seasoning it while he's eating it, takes the cake.
Relationship Sue: Played with; Hercules tried to make one out of clay. It failed; When it was time to create her personality, Aphrodite interpreted "Crazy about Hercules" as a Clingy Jealous Girl. It doesn't take her long before she invoke Ax Crazy as well. When he tries to fix her personality by making her a "independent woman", she instantly put him in the friendzone. To make it worse his crafting skills were so bad, that Aphrodite had to parody the Sims just to make her look human.
