Hercules

Woooooww!! This was so awesome.  For starters, like, the visuals. Absolutely spectacular, like this is exactly what I mean when I say I adore 2D animation. So vibrant, so fluid, the landscapes and imagery evoke something so profound and gorgeous, and an excellent homage to ancient Greek iconography and artstyles that I don’t think could have really been done this good in any other style of animation (even though stop-motion and 2D are equally incredible styles overall in my opinion). Hercules is literally insane. Not because he’s this like semi-normal-looking guy who can easily take out god-like monsters every Tuesday, but because of who he is. In the first half of the movie, Phil installs in Hercules that a hero is only as good as their weapon. But throughout the story, that value gets proven wrong over and over again by Hercules. He loses his sword, his armour gets tattered, his abilities are challenged and even taken away from him. But he never gives up. He always finds a way to make things right, he always follows his own instincts, and always improves on his own intelligence. He’s just an incredible person.  The importance of the message that the things you have aren’t what will give your life meaning. It’s what you do with what you have that gives them their purpose, and what gives your own life purpose.  A weapon is only as good as its hero. Also! The concept of giving up immortality and an eternal seat at the table with literal gods for the home that he has emotionally in Meg and his adoptive parents, and Danny DeVito satyr. The way Hercules values kindness, connection, and love, and self-sacrifice over any other aspect of life. It’s just so unbelievable to me. He’s literally perfect. Hmph… (Meg, I know you can’t fight, so you can’t keep him away from me forever!) And Hades, oh my god, like hilarious. I only know who James Woods is through growing up with Family Guy (obviously a perfectly normal show to watch as a kid), so knowing that he’s THIS GOOD at voice acting completely astounded me! Just so so so funny, so entertaining, extremely well animated, and just the type of villain where you’re begging for them to have just one more scene of screen time so they can continue being a joy to watch. Amazing stuff.  AND THE MUSIC. HELLO??? GUYS??!! I can’t even like list the songs I loved the most, because EVERY SINGLE SONG IN THIS MOVIE IS FUCKING GREAT. The fun, lively, and optimistic tone of this movie is so well communicated throughout each tune, the instrumentals are phenomenal, the singing……Holy shit.  Using gospel music to convey a Greek myth is the type of musical genius that I could never even begin to comprehend exists in this world. It’s just beautiful. Actual chills. Overall, uh, please watch this??? Maybe???!! Like this movie is wayyy too underrated (by Disney standards) for no reason at all! It’s just so amazing, the animation, the music, the characters, the story, like this is so so classic, and I can definitely envision myself watching this again and again in the future. Soooo good!