That is not disrespecting classical music in any way, I simply adore it, more so than any other genre of music. What I did mean by this was that it was outstanding, one of the most effective uses of it was what sounded like the 2nd movement of Beethoven's Eroica symphony before Zeus comes to Hercules for the first time telling him what he must do though the snippet was very brief. Sadly, the classical music is the only redeeming quality of this Hercules, which is one of Golden Films' worst along with Tarzan of the Apes and The Jungle King. It is not as bad as Burbank Animation Studios' version, but while not accurate and having its flaws the Disney film actually managed to be entertaining. While I loved the classical music, I disliked the songs, when watching I found them to be little more than uninspired and derivative in melody, cheesy lyrics and out-of-tune singing, some of the high notes are really laboured-sounding. Not just that, but after watching I couldn't remember any of them. The animation is awful, the colours range between an uncomfortable mix of garish and flat and the character designs are stiff and generic, Hercules looks an awful lot like most of the male main characters in Golden Films' animations. The writing is not quite as contrived as it is with The Jungle King especially but at the same time there is nothing that stands out as anything out of the ordinary. And some of it is unoriginal and like Zeus' you're not alone very repetitive. The story takes ages to get going, and when there are any scenes that you'd consider thrilling they are not. Everything just seemed dull and unexciting, and the more actiony moments having some of the worst animation of Hercules. I wasn't expecting a faithful take on Greek mythology, that's impossible really, but, apart from Hera being the villain and Zeus being the God of Thunder, everything seems to have been ignored. The characters are dull as dishwater, with only Hera having some kind of (if clichéd) personality. The voice acting never really distinguishes itself. All in all, Hercules not only is poorly animated but it is also dull. The classical music redeems it somewhat, but for a good Golden Films animation(there actually are some very good to great ones) try Thumbelina, The Little Mermaid, The Night Before Christmas or Pinocchio instead. 2/10 Bethany Cox
