History YMMV / Hercules

* AmericansHateTingle: While the rest of the world's audiences and critics liked the movie well enough (though, of course, not to the extent of ''WesternAnimation/TheLionKing'' and the earlier Renaissance films), the Greeks ''despised'' this movie, [[BannedInChina even denying the film a premiere in Greece]]. They didn't care much for the [[SadlyMythtaken many]], [[LighterAndSofter many]] [[DisneyFication liberties]] taken with 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 ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'' (even though that didn't get banned; it just got slammed with a lot of criticism) while other countries liked it well enough.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Hercules regularly saves total strangers and gets quite famous for it, but is denied a spot on Mt. Olympus because "being famous doesn't make you a true hero." Sacrificing himself to save a single person whom he's in love with, however, is enough to seal the deal. None of Hercules' actions were purely selfless, but they were genuinely heroic, too, so the moral ends up reading something like "good deeds are negated if you reap lots of attention and money for them" with a side of "love stories count for more." The intention, of course, is that Hercules sacrificing his life for Meg is more heroic because there's no ulterior motive or reward, and he's aware his life will be lost in the Pit, rather than his other battles, which he fought with selfish intent to regain his godhood and with no actual ''sacrifice'', all after training for years until he was strong enough to accomplish this.

** Either that or "[[AwardBaitSong Go]] [[IWantSong the Distance]]", especially the single/end credits version performed by Music/MichaelBolton.
** The Muses, voiced and sung by the legendary Lillias White, LaChanze, Roz Ryan, Cheryl Freeman and Vanéese Y. Thomas, carry all of the movie’s [[GospelChoirsAreJustBetter gospel choir energy]]. Zero to Hero, Gospel Truth (all 3 parts), and A Star is Born are all absolute bangers.
* BrokenBase: "Go the Distance". By some, it's considered a cookie cutter IWantSong just there because every other Renaissance film had one. But there are plenty of fans who find it a genuinely moving song (especially the single/end credits version performed by Music/MichaelBolton), and enjoy its presence in the film.

!![[WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries The animated series]]
See YMMV/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries.

** Rip Torn, who voices Zeus in this movie, would later play a role in a [[VideoGame/GodOfWar very different take on Greek mythology]]. And not only that, the [[VideoGame/GodOfWar2 second game]] of that series would show the vengeful Titans climbing the Olympus.

* WTHCastingAgency: For both Mexican and Latin American viewers, Music/RickyMartin as the titular Hercules, due to his thick Puerto Rican accent. While the rest of the voice cast was filled by Mexican voice actors, Ricky Martin's voice really sticks like a sore thumb. For a better equivalent for English speakers, try to imagine Hercules being voiced by ''Music/BobMarley'', if he had been alive at the time the film was made.[[note]]This was Disney's ''first'' attempt at using famous artists to voice characters for the LA audience, so you can say they goofed up. Ricky Martin was very famous overall (though not yet internationally to English audiences) and he was signed to sing the movie's theme song for Herc. It was odd, but he did a rather good job, accent and all. It was the ''first'' time it was blatant, previous Disney movies like ''The Jungle Book'' did use famous Mexican movie actors for the dub in Latin America (Baloo is voiced by comedian Tin-Tan and is fondly remembered to this day, he repeated in ''The Aristocats'', and also voiced Little John in ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood'').[[/note]]

* AntiClimaxBoss: Granted that Hercules' final conflict of the film is with Hades, but his fight with the Titans, which was predicted by the Fates and which led to Hades causing the whole plot of the film just to prevent it happening...doesn't even last two minutes.

%%* FunnyAneurysmMoment: "Grecian Express". [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010%E2%80%932011_Greek_protests Well, damn.]]

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: Let's just cut to the chase and say ''everything.'' Alan Menken is basically channeling everything he did in Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors.

*** Either that or "[[AwardBaitSong Go]] [[IWantSong the Distance]]", especially the single/end credits version performed by Music/MichaelBolton

*** Either that or "[[AwardBaitSong Go]] [[IWantSong the Distance]]". When you can make MichaelBolton sound good, you're either {{Disney}} or TheLonelyIsland.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: While the movie's portrayal of Greek mythology went under some heavy {{Disneyfication}}, Meg [[HeroicSacrifice sacrificing herself]] to save Hercules by letting a huge marble column crush her is a pretty dark moment. Then we see her dying, clearly in pain. Then she dies. Then you see her dead body on screen prominently for a good thirty seconds, cradled by the sobbing Herc. She sure is a lovely corpse, but she sure is dead too. Not "really just unconscious", not under a reversible [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Sleeping Death]] spell: ''dead''. Then she's a spirit in the Well Of Souls, colorless, transparent and floating in an eerie green limbo, with the rapidly aging Herc swimming through more dead people to get to her. You know, for kids.

** The film is panned as a "flippant failure" in a Creator/{{Disney}}-authorized book, along with {{Cult Classic}}s like ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'' and ''WesternAnimation/TreasurePlanet''. Conversely, the book praises ''WesternAnimation/{{Pocahontas}}'', which is generally considered the weakest of the Disney Renaissance (but not a bad film), and it praises ''WesternAnimation/ChickenLittle'' and ''WesternAnimation/HomeOnTheRange'', which are generally considered the two absolute [[OldShame worst]] entries in the canon. It also completely neglects to mention how crazy popular [[LoveToHate Hades]] is, while praising possibly the least cool/menacing villain in the canon, Governor Ratcliffe!

** The first time we meet Megara is while she is being sexually assaulted by the enormous centaur, Nessus. This ain't one of your happy, frolicking ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' centaurs. This becomes even worse to people familiar enough with Greek mythology to recognize the name Nessus. [[spoiler: Nessus was a centaur killed by Hercules who tricked his wife into using Nessus's blood to create a poisoned tunic that caused Hercules to die a horrible, painful death.]]

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Hercules regularly saves total strangers and gets quite famous for it, but is denied a spot on Mt. Olympus because "being famous doesn't make you a true hero." Sacrificing himself to save a single person whom he's in love with, however, is enough to seal the deal. None of Hercules' actions were purely selfless, but they were genuinely heroic, too, so the moral ends up reading something like "good deeds are negated if you reap lots of attention and money for them" with a side of "love stories count for more." The intention, of course, is that Hercules risking his life for Meg is more heroic because there's no ulterior motive or reward, and he's aware his life could be lost in the Pit, rather than his other battles, which he fought with selfish intent to regain his godhood and with no actual ''sacrifice'', all after training for years until he was strong enough to accomplish this.

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Disney's take on Greek mythology, featuring designs from the artist responsible for the animated segments of ''Music/TheWall'' and a 1960s gospel-style soundtrack. While still critically well-received, the film under-performed commercially compared to [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame its predecessor]], only grossing $252.7 million in box office revenue worldwide.

* {{Squick}}: The first time we meet Megara is while she is being sexually assaulted by the enormous centaur, Nessus. This ain't one of your happy, frolicking ''WesternAnimation/{{Fantasia}}'' centaurs. This becomes even worse to people familiar enough with Greek mythology to recognize the name Nessus. [[spoiler: Nessus was a centaur killed by Hercules who tricked his wife into using Nessus's blood to create a poisoned tunic that caused Hercules to die a horrible, painful death.]]

** A small one, but the Muse who sings the "Gospel Truth" sequence where Zeus and Hera mourn the fact that Hercules will have to live with mortal parents is Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy, fitting with the song's tone.

** Rip Torn, who voices Zeus in this movie, would later play a role in a [[VideoGame/GodOfWar very different take on Greek mythology]].

** Thalia is [[WesternAnimation/TheMarvelousMisadventuresOfFlapjack Bubby the Whale]] and [[WesternAnimation/AdventureTime Cake the Cat]]

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Disney's take on Greek mythology, featuring designs from the artist responsible for the animated segments of ''Music/TheWall'' and a 1960s gospel-style soundtrack. While still critically well-received, the film under-performed comercially compared to [[WesternAnimation/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame its predecessor]], only grossing $252.7 million in box office revenue worldwide.

* Sugarwiki/AwesomeArt: It's definitely one of the most visually stunning Disney movies, full of great character designs, SceneryPorn, and [[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome CGI effects that still hold up today.]]