Great review. Better than the last one Nostalgia Chick did on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KznZcK7ksf4

Rewatched this for the first time in probably 15 years, and honestly I feel it doesn't hold up as much. It's still a good movie, and I still love Hades and the Titans, but the movie has some significant problems, especially with the leads.

Meg, and, to a lesser extent, Hercules both fall flat. I get that they're both young and Hercules especially is supposed to be kind of immature, but after a point their attitude just comes off as kind of grating. Hercules' naivete plays well against Meg's cynicism, but both of them eventually fall into that kind of sappy Disney idealism around love that is so very hit or miss. In this case, it's a big miss, as it doesn't really feel like they could have made such a connection based around their interactions. Meg's falling for Hercules in such a manner also feels out of character, considering what else we know about her. Her VA also feels kind of, I don't know, too forced? Her snark and her delivery ultimately feels like it falls flat a lot of the time.

I also didn't care for most of the songs, which didn't feel like they compared to most of the other films from the Disney Renaissance era (be honest: "I Can Go the Distance" is kinda lame compared to anything from Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, or even Pocahontas or The Little Mermaid).

This by no means means I dislike the film. I think there are a lot of really funny moments in it, the Hydra fight is fantastic, and, as I said, the villains are all around great; Hades is one of the best from the Renaissance era. The ensemble cast was also quite charming, whether we're talking about Phil and Pegasus or Pain and Panic, or even the Theban commoners. I wish the gods had been fleshed out a bit more, but this wasn't a story about the gods. In the end, it was a story about humans and the human spirit.

The animation was also beautiful. The way they animated the songs with the Muses was really striking, and I appreciated the way it felt like they were trying to capture a bit of antiquity even as they were performing quite modern songs. The Hydra fight as mentioned is a standout, with some great CG work helping sell it as a really fearsome and scary monster. The Titans are all designed in a really cool manner; I especially like the Ice Titan, with his sleekness and his jagged edges. Overall a lot of the artwork is just really well done.

As for any mythological discrepancies, despite knowing more about classical mythology than any one person should, this movie's liberties didn't really bother me because they were treated pretty respectfully and the movie wasn't really about that anyway. I do have the minor gripe, though, that almost the entire film is Greek except for our hero's name. *sigh* And Herakles is such a cool name, too! I mean, I know Hercules is more well-known, I get it, but if only, right?

Ultimately I have a feeling of a decent film that could have been great, but problems with the leading couple drag it down significantly. This is really rather sad, because so much of the rest of the film is very good. Good action, good animation, a great villain and good supporting characters, all wrapped in a very exciting and funny package. If the core of the story had just been somewhat better, this would have been up there with the greats.

Just went back, and had to up my score from a 7 to an 8.5. The impressive animation, fast pacing, fun songs and characters, and sweet love story... it's kind of a dumb movie, but very entertaining.

This movie gets way too much flak. Sure, it's only loosely based on the Greek mythology, but if you can go past that it's an awesome movie with my favorite Disney visuals, great songs coupled with clever and funny writing. Love it to bits!

Falls more into the dumb fun category than typical Disney.