Yeah i think she's one of the best or even the best female character ever shown in movie. 1. She's hot (have you seen those purple eyes). 2. She has a great backstory. 3.she has the best song
Yeah but we won't get it from Disney because they would rather shove out movies with no care for quality or developing interesting characters just for money.
They changed all their adaptations to be happier than the originals. Snow White was a LOT less happy. So was The Little Mermaid. A lot of these adaptations come from really dark stories.
@@whitenoisereacts Also, Hades was probably the most decent of all the gods. He basically never did anything controversial, and even the kidnapping incident was part of an arranged marriage at the instructions of Zeus.
The fact that being willing to sacrifice his life for someone else is what turned Hercules back into a god explains why Zeus couldn't tell Herc what he had to do to become a god. If Herc knew this in advance, he wouldn't have been able to make the genuine intent to sacrifice his life, since he would have known that he couldn't die.
And it's not just the willingness. it's the act itself. If the fates had not pulled out the string and literally cut at it, he wouldn't have regained his godhood. can be seen tha the thread doesn't go gold until the actual attempt at cutting it.
The halftime thing, yeah, I'll buy that. "I am retired" actually being two words in Greek, though? Yeah, the writers didn't know that, it's pure coincidence. Especially since Phil would say "Two words: amscray!" later.
@@en4833 You really think, after all the research they didn't do for this movie, they actually _did_ look up how many words are in certain Greek phrases?
@@HiddenWindshield I mean, they obviously weren't trying to make it at all accurate to the myths, but that doesn't mean they can't sprinkle in some easter eggs.
About Meg "learning to be the damsel in distress again," you're pretty much right. On the surface that sounds like a terrible message. Meg is very independent and part of that is because she wants to protect herself. If it weren't for the literal metaphysical contract between her and Hades, no one could tell her what to do. Ironically, Meg putting herself in danger allows Hercules to regain his strength and save the day -- and her. Meg learning to be vulnerable again was the only way they could have won.
Hercules is an underrated classic. Is it accurate to Mythology, no. Is it still an amazing movie with an insanely awesome sound trace, YES!! Love Hercules, Hades is amazing, the best Disney villan. Hades is a mode in the whole movie and we all love it. Megs background and the story of her and Hercules slowing falling for each. Love it!!
The three women who met with Hades are the fates. Clotho was in charge of spinning the thread of a mortals fate, Lachesis was in charge of despensing it, and Atropos cut the thread - determining the mortal's moment of death.
@@whitenoisereacts if you were wondering about the animation in this movie Disney hired the animator who did the animation for Pink Floyd's another brick in the wall.
But the single eye is conflating them with the Graeae, three old women that had a single eye and tooth between them, and feature in the myth of Perseus when he forces them to tell him how to find Medusa.
In Greek theater, a chorus was a group of singers that would comment on what happened in the play - they decided to play with it and make it a gospel chorus for this movie, which was super fun!
@@captainteeko4579ik this is from 2 years ago but I see your profile picture of wwx under every video from this channel I've seen lol. I just found the channel a few weeks ago and love their commentary and takes on these, so I've been binging their videos
Fun fact about the "Zero to Hero" sequence, most of it was rotoscoped!! There's a whole behind the scenes for it and it's amazing! Also, as much as I hate how much Hades gets villainized in Hollywood because people think of him as Satan, I love Hades in this film. Honestly, if we get another Greek Myth movie with Hades as a character, I would love for him, without being a villain, to have that dry humor, sassy, and sarcastic personality who's sick of his brother's shit. Honestly, I'm more surprised Zeus and Posideon aren't done as villains in Greek Myth movies...considering Zeus is *heavily infamous*
@@bluewolf6323 Considering they're actually working with Rick Riordan this time and they have some of the writers from the musical I don't think it'll be awful.
My sis-n-law was the model for one of the muses. She's a classically trained dancer. My interesting connection to this movie. The cartoon depiction of James Woods is so spot on if you know the actor at all you know it's him. He's hilarious.
Hercules has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. I used one of Meg's lines as my senior quote this year! "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress... I can handle this. Have a nice day!"
I love this movie so much. Megara and Esmeralda are two of my favourite female Disney protagonists. Sassy, fierce and unapologetic.Meg is hilarious as well. She has a real personality and is not shown as the innocent 16 year old lily white princess as a lot of Disney princesses were up to that point. Her character has depth. Hades is definitely my favourite Disney villain hands down. His witty wisecracks, cynical comebacks and dry humour heighten the effect of his ambitious evil. He's truly unique from other Disney villains. The chorus ladies are seriously amazing as well. They move the plot with such fun and sass. This is such an underrated movie.
I love Hades! He and Maleficent are my favourite Disney villains. And, originally, he was supposed to be very serious and voiced by Jack Nicholson. But then James Woods auditioned, surprised everybody with his comedic approach, got the job, and the dialogue was rewritten!
@@rebajoe Spoiler again for descendants 3 Yes indeed, Maleficents and Hades daughter is Mal, the protagonist of the descendants trilogy. She has the powers of her mother. And her colors (from clothing and hairs etc.) are violet and green in te first two movies and blue in the third movie when Hades appears. It's really cool, worth to watch it!
I remember watching this on an airplane and absolutely loving it. I missed it growing up but the music and animation especially as a history and mythology nerd I appreciated all the little details.
@@BlueDebut yeah it's based off the Greek myths so i said Heracles. I said nothing about them changing it considering Hercules is Roman. Just decided to use the accurate name just because I felt like it
Fun Fact: they originally wanted the Spice Girls to play the Muses but they couldn't do it because of scheduling issues. As a spice girls fan I would have loved that but I still love the way it turned out with the gospel choir, the music is epic in this movie!!!
Reminds me how the vulture quartet in the Jungle Book was originally gonna be voiced by the Beatles but they couldn't do it. They had to just hire random people with Liverpudlian accents.
@@Jemini4228 lol I love that fact! It's funny cuz the Beatles didn't even voice themselves in the Yellow Submarine movie. It was just more random people with Liverpudlian accents lol 😂
@@Jemini4228Actually I think only one of them wasn't available for personal reasons, afterwhich the other three declined because it just didn't seem right to do the scene with only three of the Beatles.
The reason it is three fates is because that's how it's always been in different mythology. I think it's a balance thing. Kind of like rock, paper, scissors, each keep the other in line in some way. There is even a similar trio in pagan mythology, The maiden, the mother, and the hag in that case. Even Christians have the 'holy trinity'. It's always fascinating how other cultures are the same and yet different at the same time.
Alan Menkin wrote the music for Little Shop of Horrors and used a chorus to narrate the story throughout. He decided to copy the idea for Hercules but this time used the Muses. Both were great ideas for helping 2 different stories bounce along.
It may be mythologically inaccurate, but the changes are really for the better, considering how not kid-friendly the myths are. Still one of my favorite Disney movies.
Up till this day Hades and Meg are my favourite villain and female lead characters in any animated movies. I missed the time when in order to show female lead as a badass character they didn’t have to trim down her feminine qualities. Meg is flawed and she works up on it. Hades like you both explained well reminds us of how we try to remain as a professional student/worker but ends up snapping at some things when they don’t go according to plan. I always related to him as a kid but as an adult, I feel like I am Hades. 😂 Both Meg and Hades together is sass overloaded. Also you guys guessed it correct, it actually do was an Hydra and I don’t know if you guys noticed Rodon in Zero to Hero song. When I watched Godzilla: King of Monsters for the first time, I recognised most of Titans from Hercules. By the way I’d highly recommend Legend of the guardians: owls of Ga’Hoole, The Adventures of TinTin, Meet the Robinsons, Epic, Wonder Park, Sinbad, Kung Fu Panda trilogy, Tinkerbell movies.
The reason it's always 3 is that 3 is a sacred number which commonly occurs in nature, plus its old folklore that things should come in threes hence father son and holy ghost, maiden mother and crone etc. My mum always made sure when we planted things we planted them in 3s or multiples of 3
Growing up loving mythology, this was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid, I think it was largely underrated when it came out! I love all the little myth references ("And I thought I had problems!")
James Woods was perfectly cast as the villain in the movie. Love that he returned to reprise the role in the Kingdom Hearts games and the animated TV series of Hercules.
The "three witches" (actually Fates) thing here is canon. According to Greek mythology, the first Fate spun the thread of life, the second Fate blindly chose the destiny of the person, and the third Fate recorded it all so that it would take place. (Although, the eye thing was borrowed from other mythological creatures, who also had one tooth for three of them)
Great reaction! This was one of my favorite movies growing up! The music is amazing, and it is very quotable. My friends and I still use “if, if is good” in conversations.
I use to read a lot of books on Greek Mythology before I saw this movie when I was 7 or 8. I was very confused how inaccurate it was until I remembered that's what Disney does best lol. I love it still!
@@mckenzie.latham91 TRUE!!! But there are a few things that could have been fixed - Hera was NOT Hercules' mother - Hades was not evil, even though he was made to be a villain - Hercules was a Demigod - "Hercales" was the proper Greek spelling, because "Hercules" is Roman. There were other things that I didn't really mind such as Phil's existence, the fact Hercules had a brother, and such. Other than that, I still shake my fake "Muses" hips as I watch the movie to this day.
Hercules has always been one of my favorites. The whole cast is so full of sass. Had a crummy weekend so far but I saw you guys did this and now I feel better. Thanks guys..And I'm glad y'all like Meg so much because she is iconic!
One of my favorite movies of all time! I always rewatch Hercules and Anastasia at least twice a year + watch reactions on yt and it always feels like I’m watching for the first time 🤍😭
I just had a throught. During “I won’t say I’m in love” when Meg walks passed the Muses as singing busts, one of them has their head almost on its side. I can’t help but wonder now if that was a haunted mansion reference.
This was my favorite Disney movie growing up, from the wonderful characters and art style to the music. Hercules and Meg were my childhood crushes. Loved the reaction
Heracles defeated the hydra by burning the stumps so they wouldn't grow back (in the original myth they simply grew back after a period of time instead of the more modern version that three more appeared in its place) by the suggestion of his lover/nephew. He then took the final, immortal head and buried it under a rock. Also, the hydra had poison blood and breath and he dipped some arrows in the poison which ended up biting him in the ass with his third wife.
This is one of my wife's favorite films. There was a time in our early marriage where we would literally rewind and start the VHS tape over again as soon as we'd just finished watching it. I think the record was three, back-to-back viewings of "Hercules". It was so fun to see my wife get so tickled. I loved the movie too, but watching my wife's reaction was the best. Great memories! =)
I love this movie! So glad you’re reacting to this, it’s one of my favourites for sure. For all of it, the style, music and storyline. I’m sure someone else has already said it but there are three witches due to Greek mythology. The three sisters in Hercules are the fates, they represent the past, present and future. It’s what inspired the three witches in Macbeth. Also, I love the women who are narrating, they are a literal chorus. The chorus in Greek plays, were a group of performers who comment on the action with w collective voice. This film really does feel underrated to me and it was such a joy to watch people see it for the first time. Thank you!
Hercules is so underrated! I wish more people have seen it because I absolutely love it! Hades is 100% the best Disney villain. I love his and Meg’s humor and that they are both sarcastic. Another underrated Disney movie y’all could react to is Oliver and Company!
Watching that shot of Pegasus flying, I can’t believe I forgot about the Guardians of Ga’Hoole! STUNNING animation especially for the flying sequences I also like Spirit for the interesting mix of 2D and 3D
Meg has been one of my favorite unofficial Disney princesses since I was a kid. Always loved the songs in this. Hades is a hilarious villain and Pegasus is adorable. Tbh this movie is probably a big reason why I love mythology lol. 💕
Hey guys, long time watcher here. Hercules is one of my favourite, So thought I would give you guys a little fun fact .... The actress Susan Egan who plays Meg was The original Belle in the Broadway musicals of Beauty and the Beast and she impressed them so much, they offered her the part of Meg
Wonderful and hilarious reaction!! ...and to think how Herc gave up his immortality and his status as a god for Meg to be with her while her last boyfriend whom she sold her soul for to save him betrayed her... If that's not true love then I don't know what is. 💜
Fun Fact, iirc, in the og myth Meg was Heracles's first girlfriend not his last, The order was Meg, who died when Hera drove Heracles insane, a second person whose name idr, Deianira [name translates to husband destroyer] who accidentally poisoned Heracles leading to his death and him becoming a God, and then he married his Half-Sister, Hebe, goddess of youth and daughter of Zeus and Hera
Hercules is one of my favorite 2D movies. I really hope you guys react to the Hunchback of Notre Dame, another great 2D film. It has one of the best Disney villains (in the worst way) imo.
Hades is the Disney villain I feel the most for. He has shitty, but very important job, that requires his almost constant attention and he gets no respect for it. He's basically the blue collar worker of Olympus.
33:09 Ever since I was a little kid, Hades’ “You are correct, sir!” with his pose always scratched a very specific part of my brain. I’d watch it over and over on my VHS. I use it as a reaction gif, but it never lands as it should. Good stuff.
I found your channel a couple of days ago and I’ve been watching your old videos. You are so funny and smart and I’m kinda crushing on you both 😂 Your content is really amazing and I’m looking forward to seeing more!
One thing I never noticed before watching this reaction is how just before Phil agrees to train Hercules, he gets struck by lightning. I love the symbolism that Zeus might have somehow intervened there.
Listen, I've watched a TON of your videos. And every single one feels like: one of you is a disney kid who has definitely seen the movie and loves it and is trying to convince their creative friend that it's a masterpiece. And I'm living for it.
The music from this is some of my favorite from that era of disney...movies like Beauty, Mermaid, and Pocahantas focused on more female central songs, so this connected with me as a 13 year old boy who still didn't want to grow up. When I get sad I still sing to myself...."who put the Glad in Gladiator? Hercules!"....I'm sure you guys will enjoy this one!
There were plans for a sequel that sounded super epic with a great concept. Look it up on TH-cam. But of course Disney didn't do anything with it. Shocked they didn't at least do str8 to dvd sequel, they did a bunch of those back in the day. With lion king 2 being my personal favorite. Great reaction as always guys
They did do a straight to video sequel for hercules it was called Hercules zero to hero it was about his school days it started with adult hercules telling meg about his school days then flashing back to when he was younger it was also a pilot for the tv series similar to what return of jafar was to the aladdin animated series
@@clintbrew Yeah I remember finding out later on they made a show, never checked it out. And now I can't find the exact video on TH-cam that went into detail about the cancelled sequel and it's plot. But googled it to refresh my memory. Was gonna be called Hercules 2 the trojan war
The gates to the underworld opening right before you see Cerberus always mesmerized me. They're shown for like one second, but it's so cool!! I am retired IS actually two words in Greek. XD Damn right Hades has plans for August. He probably wants a vacation with his wife when she comes back for wintertime. XD You get to see her in this movie. She's at the beginning, talking to her mother, and at the end, when all the gods are around Hercules, congratulating him. She's purple-pink and has a flower on her head. =)
And you can bet there's plenty of fanfic about them out there, and there's got to be at least one fanart of Disney!Persephone all gothed up as Queen of the Underworld.
Fun fact! Charlton Heston was the narrator of the opening scene. He was the protagonist in a lot of old, epic movies, mainly The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, and, of course, the original Planet of the Apes.
I can't tell you how interesting these reactions are for me. I'm not an artist at all. I literally color in coloring books to fight off carpal tunnel but that is about it. To hear you speak the artist lingo and see reactions especially to the classics has me mesmerized for some reason. Great job.
Scar’s brief cameo is an inside joke; the supervising animator of Hercules, Andreas Deja, was also Scar’s supervising animator. In the old Disney Animation system, each (major) character was handled by one unit of animators, led by the Supervising Animator, who would, as the name suggests, supervise the animation of said character, by briefing the animators about each shot and doing draw overs and other corrections. The supervising animator would also do the final character design (of course they needed to follow the general art style of the film). In ‘the olden days’ (until CGI took over) supervising animator was ‘the place’ to be at Disney. They were the rockstars of animation, whose work would get featured on every documentary and whom would be interviewed alongside the director. The Nine Old Men took part of story meetings and had some say over the story. Nowadays Supervising Animator(s) in CG look over ALL the animation/character acting. Also, Andreas Deja has a great blog called Deja View, which should be mandatory reading for animation enthusiasts.
I quote the rant Hades has at the end of the credits, "So whaddya say? It's happy ending time! Everybody's got a little taste of something, except me, I've got nothing! I'm left with nothing. Anybody listening? It's like I'm what, an echo or something? Hello! Hello! I am talking to what, hyperspace? Nobody's listening..."
Many animated people died in the making of this movie. Moment of silence for all of the ppl that were crushed/burned/stepped on by the titans. Thank you.
Everytime you guys react to a Disney movie i keep saying it's one of my favorites lol but Hercules is for sure so special, I love the entire movie, everything about it is amazing, the songs are all a bop! Not to mention my queen Meg...she's just the best.
When Phil shouts "am-scray", that's a bit of a throwaway joke. He is speaking in pig-latin, (cause we're in ancient Roman mythology) a kind of code (used for fun) where you change a word u putting the final sound first, then the beginning of the word, rouning out with "ey" on the end. So when he says "am-scray", that's pig latin for "scram".
4:56 "Why is it always three witches? They do that in Macbeth, they do that in... I feel like it's always three!" Well in Greek mythology and therefore this movie, those are the three Fates. In Macbeth, the Three Sisters/Weird Sisters/Wayward Sisters are also a reference to the ongoing legend of the Fates. Greek mythology kinda had a big influence on the arts globally :P So with the Fates as one of the earliest/oldest instances of witches (plus the Roman version, and maybe even the Norse Norns?), people tend to group their witches in three, and from there it also became a point of reference to call it a female version of the 'Holy Trinity' (AKA The Power of Three - this is the 90s Charmed fan bubbling up in me too). I'm guessing some of the examples that came to mind for you might have been the Spellman women in the Sabrina series' (and the Weird Sisters in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), the Charmed Sisters, the Sanderson Sisters, even the witches in The Wizard of Oz... Three is the smallest number we need to create a pattern, the perfect combo of brevity and rhythm, so it also is a simple mechanism to include in the concept of fictional magic to increase the effect or the power. Omne trium perfectum - every set of three is complete!
Three as a point of power also commonly comes out in magical fiction even without three witches - like Harry, Ron and Hermione, or the Deathly Hallows. Seven and nine are also common numbers of power :)
That bit about Achilles, if you remember the illiad he was shot in the heel by Paris and his heel was his mortal point which is why that killed him. And then Phil shot Paris with poisoned arrows. Thanks to this movie and an episode of overly sarcastic productions on Hercules, I now imagine this version of Phil doing so.
Thanks guys for the reaction! I really like Hercules, I grew up watching this movie, such a clasic and deserves more attention As well as with 9 (from 2009)! an amazing animated movie from the other side of the spectrum (darker but still pretty enjoyable in different ways) and even more underrated Hope you give it a chance! It gives a lot to talk about
What makes you a true hero is your willingness to put others before yourself in all the ways that can be interpreted. Selflessness is a heroic attribute. But it must go beyond the people you’re close to. A true hero helps anyone Who truly needs it no matter who they are, not for glory or recognition, but just because it’s the right thing to do.
I'm adopted. My parents specifically asked the social worker attached to my adoption how to handle it once I was old enough to understand, and she told them to NOT keep the adoption itself a secret and to answer my questions when they were asked. As a result I always knew I was adopted, and when I was really little it was my favorite story: how my mom "picked me out" at the hospital. (In reality she was pointing to my bassinet through the nursery window so the nurse could hold me up for her to see, but four-year-olds don't understand that's not how adoption works. lol) The parents should have raised Hercules with the knowledge that while he wasn't their child by blood, he WAS a gift from the gods that they had fervently prayed for and been blessed with, and that they loved him unconditionally as though he was blood to them.
This is the first of only three times thus far I can think of in the Disney canon where the girl is older than the guy - it's Meg and Herc, Kida and Milo from Atlantis, and the creators of Encanto said Julieta is about three years older than Agustin.
Is Meg the best female character in a Disney movie? Prove me wrong lol
Yeah i think she's one of the best or even the best female character ever shown in movie.
1. She's hot (have you seen those purple eyes).
2. She has a great backstory.
3.she has the best song
Numero Uno for sure.
I think Liz Gillies will be perfect for Meg in the upcoming Hercules remake.
She's deff one of my favorites
@@morganspider-manmarvelfan6110 yesss liz gillies would be perfect!!
We seriously need more villains like Hades in movies. So sassy, sarcastic, and loaded with dry humor
have you tried critically acclaimed mmo rpg Final Fantasy XIV 😏
Yeah but we won't get it from Disney because they would rather shove out movies with no care for quality or developing interesting characters just for money.
The Devil is a smarmy Hollywood agent. James Wood totally nailed it.
@@marslara If I recall Final Fantasy The Spirits Within has James Wood.
Wasn’t it basically just James Woods being himself lol 😂
The biggest lie Disney has ever told: Zeus is a caring father and faithful husband and Hera is a kind mother and wife.
Well...in this version he is. It's clearly a different take and I'm totally ok with that
After all the Percy Jackson books I'd read as a kid, I couldn't take Zeus and Hera seriously in this movie 😂
They changed all their adaptations to be happier than the originals. Snow White was a LOT less happy. So was The Little Mermaid.
A lot of these adaptations come from really dark stories.
Especially because hades is the least worst Greek god
@@whitenoisereacts Also, Hades was probably the most decent of all the gods. He basically never did anything controversial, and even the kidnapping incident was part of an arranged marriage at the instructions of Zeus.
The fact that being willing to sacrifice his life for someone else is what turned Hercules back into a god explains why Zeus couldn't tell Herc what he had to do to become a god. If Herc knew this in advance, he wouldn't have been able to make the genuine intent to sacrifice his life, since he would have known that he couldn't die.
Exactly. Self-sacrifice isn’t self-sacrifice if you’re doing it for selfish reasons that’s the opposite. I really appreciated that.
@@itsjustmaddisen And it's not even self-sacrifice if you can't actually die.
Nah, the reason is Zeus has no idea how to become a god. He was born one. He doesn’t have what it takes to become one
And it's not just the willingness. it's the act itself. If the fates had not pulled out the string and literally cut at it, he wouldn't have regained his godhood. can be seen tha the thread doesn't go gold until the actual attempt at cutting it.
Hades says “it’s only halftime” at the halfway point of the movie
When Phil says “two words, I am retired” I am retired in Greek actually is two words
The halftime thing, yeah, I'll buy that. "I am retired" actually being two words in Greek, though? Yeah, the writers didn't know that, it's pure coincidence. Especially since Phil would say "Two words: amscray!" later.
@@HiddenWindshield scram means to "leave quickly," which in Greek, is two words.
@@en4833 You really think, after all the research they didn't do for this movie, they actually _did_ look up how many words are in certain Greek phrases?
@@HiddenWindshield I mean, they obviously weren't trying to make it at all accurate to the myths, but that doesn't mean they can't sprinkle in some easter eggs.
About Meg "learning to be the damsel in distress again," you're pretty much right. On the surface that sounds like a terrible message. Meg is very independent and part of that is because she wants to protect herself. If it weren't for the literal metaphysical contract between her and Hades, no one could tell her what to do. Ironically, Meg putting herself in danger allows Hercules to regain his strength and save the day -- and her.
Meg learning to be vulnerable again was the only way they could have won.
And if Hades wouldn't have used that cyclops, he could have won xD
Its not a terrible message though because in reality, the best messages are just good and subtle lol
Meg was also an emotional manipulator, what she did to Hercules was awful.
¿?
@@theawesomeman9821 Because Hades made her.
Hercules is an underrated classic. Is it accurate to Mythology, no. Is it still an amazing movie with an insanely awesome sound trace, YES!! Love Hercules, Hades is amazing, the best Disney villan. Hades is a mode in the whole movie and we all love it. Megs background and the story of her and Hercules slowing falling for each. Love it!!
I love how they depicted Hades as a fast talking crummy used car salesman. Well done.
@@calebanderson5546 omg now I'm picturing Saul/Jimmy from BCS as Hades
I completely agree. Couldn't have said it better.
If it was accurate, all the characters would just be dicks.
Underrated? You sure about that?
The three women who met with Hades are the fates. Clotho was in charge of spinning the thread of a mortals fate, Lachesis was in charge of despensing it, and Atropos cut the thread - determining the mortal's moment of death.
Thanks, that's really cool.
@@whitenoisereacts if you were wondering about the animation in this movie Disney hired the animator who did the animation for Pink Floyd's another brick in the wall.
But the single eye is conflating them with the Graeae, three old women that had a single eye and tooth between them, and feature in the myth of Perseus when he forces them to tell him how to find Medusa.
Why does this seven days ago? 😭
@@ppgbuttercupp Subs on their Patreon get this earlier.
In Greek theater, a chorus was a group of singers that would comment on what happened in the play - they decided to play with it and make it a gospel chorus for this movie, which was super fun!
And to make it more interesting, the Chorus was sung by the muses, basically the goddesses of inspiration.
@@taqresu5865 and the origin and etymology for the words music and museum :)
@@captainteeko4579 I didn't notice that until now lol
@@captainteeko4579ik this is from 2 years ago but I see your profile picture of wwx under every video from this channel I've seen lol. I just found the channel a few weeks ago and love their commentary and takes on these, so I've been binging their videos
“Indoor plumbing, it’s gunna be big” said by the Future Eye is one of THE BEST lines of all Disney movies
Fun fact about the "Zero to Hero" sequence, most of it was rotoscoped!! There's a whole behind the scenes for it and it's amazing! Also, as much as I hate how much Hades gets villainized in Hollywood because people think of him as Satan, I love Hades in this film. Honestly, if we get another Greek Myth movie with Hades as a character, I would love for him, without being a villain, to have that dry humor, sassy, and sarcastic personality who's sick of his brother's shit. Honestly, I'm more surprised Zeus and Posideon aren't done as villains in Greek Myth movies...considering Zeus is *heavily infamous*
They're working on a series based on Percy Jackson right now.
@@liljenborg2517 Please let it be better than the movies...
Well, they almost all are to some extent. A lot of the Greek gods were huge and extremely petty assholes.
@@bluewolf6323 Considering they're actually working with Rick Riordan this time and they have some of the writers from the musical I don't think it'll be awful.
I don’t think Poseidon should be adapted as a villain
"Literally shot by Cupid"
"More like freakin' STABBED"
Dude, that hit a bit close to home for me 😂😂😂
Fun fact: Susan Egan who voices Meg, originated the role of Belle in the Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast in 1994.
My sis-n-law was the model for one of the muses. She's a classically trained dancer. My interesting connection to this movie. The cartoon depiction of James Woods is so spot on if you know the actor at all you know it's him. He's hilarious.
That is SO COOL!!!
Hercules has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. I used one of Meg's lines as my senior quote this year! "I'm a damsel, I'm in distress... I can handle this. Have a nice day!"
That’s cool!!
I love this movie so much. Megara and Esmeralda are two of my favourite female Disney protagonists. Sassy, fierce and unapologetic.Meg is hilarious as well. She has a real personality and is not shown as the innocent 16 year old lily white princess as a lot of Disney princesses were up to that point. Her character has depth. Hades is definitely my favourite Disney villain hands down. His witty wisecracks, cynical comebacks and dry humour heighten the effect of his ambitious evil. He's truly unique from other Disney villains. The chorus ladies are seriously amazing as well. They move the plot with such fun and sass. This is such an underrated movie.
Well you are getting both in the next few weeks!
@@whitenoisereacts That's amazing. Looking forward to it.
@Seven Ellen yep...when you are older, you catch more of the message of Frollo's song...he is so creepy
When Phil says, "Two Words; I am retired." is actually a play on Greek words because to say it in Greek is only two words.
I love Hades! He and Maleficent are my favourite Disney villains. And, originally, he was supposed to be very serious and voiced by Jack Nicholson. But then James Woods auditioned, surprised everybody with his comedic approach, got the job, and the dialogue was rewritten!
He was so perfect for this role. Miss him in movies
Hades had a crush on Maleficent in House of Mouse.
@@rebajoe Spoiler for descendants 3
YES, and now they have a daughter!
@@kurikuri6683 really? Neat
@@rebajoe Spoiler again for descendants 3
Yes indeed, Maleficents and Hades daughter is Mal, the protagonist of the descendants trilogy. She has the powers of her mother. And her colors (from clothing and hairs etc.) are violet and green in te first two movies and blue in the third movie when Hades appears.
It's really cool, worth to watch it!
I remember watching this on an airplane and absolutely loving it. I missed it growing up but the music and animation especially as a history and mythology nerd I appreciated all the little details.
Yeah although the heracles mythology is lacking in a lot of ways. They obviously took liberties with it considering it's damn Disney. 😂
@@Alexanderthegreat159 yeah they gave him the Roman name because it's more well known so it's good marketing
@@BlueDebut I said nothing about them giving him the wrong name.... Are you okay? Did you have a stroke?
@@Alexanderthegreat159 no it's just a little thing I noticed when you said Herakles mythology even though it's based off the Greek myth.
@@BlueDebut yeah it's based off the Greek myths so i said Heracles. I said nothing about them changing it considering Hercules is Roman. Just decided to use the accurate name just because I felt like it
Fun Fact: they originally wanted the Spice Girls to play the Muses but they couldn't do it because of scheduling issues. As a spice girls fan I would have loved that but I still love the way it turned out with the gospel choir, the music is epic in this movie!!!
Reminds me how the vulture quartet in the Jungle Book was originally gonna be voiced by the Beatles but they couldn't do it. They had to just hire random people with Liverpudlian accents.
@@Jemini4228 lol I love that fact! It's funny cuz the Beatles didn't even voice themselves in the Yellow Submarine movie. It was just more random people with Liverpudlian accents lol 😂
For real, the gospel chorus elevates this movie to the next level.
@@Jemini4228Actually I think only one of them wasn't available for personal reasons, afterwhich the other three declined because it just didn't seem right to do the scene with only three of the Beatles.
Who would have guessed, if you add likeable characters, constant comedy, great villain and amazing songs - you got an amazing cartoon!
That's tru!!
The reason it is three fates is because that's how it's always been in different mythology. I think it's a balance thing. Kind of like rock, paper, scissors, each keep the other in line in some way. There is even a similar trio in pagan mythology, The maiden, the mother, and the hag in that case. Even Christians have the 'holy trinity'. It's always fascinating how other cultures are the same and yet different at the same time.
And the three witches in Macbeth.
the Hecate as well. Maiden, Mother and Crone.
True. “Three” is a common number in many mythologies/religions.
Alan Menkin wrote the music for Little Shop of Horrors and used a chorus to narrate the story throughout. He decided to copy the idea for Hercules but this time used the Muses. Both were great ideas for helping 2 different stories bounce along.
It may be mythologically inaccurate, but the changes are really for the better, considering how not kid-friendly the myths are. Still one of my favorite Disney movies.
Up till this day Hades and Meg are my favourite villain and female lead characters in any animated movies. I missed the time when in order to show female lead as a badass character they didn’t have to trim down her feminine qualities. Meg is flawed and she works up on it. Hades like you both explained well reminds us of how we try to remain as a professional student/worker but ends up snapping at some things when they don’t go according to plan. I always related to him as a kid but as an adult, I feel like I am Hades. 😂 Both Meg and Hades together is sass overloaded. Also you guys guessed it correct, it actually do was an Hydra and I don’t know if you guys noticed Rodon in Zero to Hero song. When I watched Godzilla: King of Monsters for the first time, I recognised most of Titans from Hercules.
By the way I’d highly recommend Legend of the guardians: owls of Ga’Hoole, The Adventures of TinTin, Meet the Robinsons, Epic, Wonder Park, Sinbad, Kung Fu Panda trilogy, Tinkerbell movies.
Yeah they are SO FUN!!!
Highly recommend watching “Prince of Egypt”! The animation is absolutely GORGEOUS and the music and story is incredible!!
Oh yes please!! Ramses was my crush on that movie
The reason it's always 3 is that 3 is a sacred number which commonly occurs in nature, plus its old folklore that things should come in threes hence father son and holy ghost, maiden mother and crone etc. My mum always made sure when we planted things we planted them in 3s or multiples of 3
That's cool!!
Love him or hate him, James Woods made this movie! Every time he raged out or cracked a joke, I was buckled! Best Disney “villain” there is 😂
Growing up loving mythology, this was one of my favorite Disney movies as a kid, I think it was largely underrated when it came out! I love all the little myth references ("And I thought I had problems!")
"You guys are *not* the best parents."
Real Greek mythology: "You would be correct."
James Woods was perfectly cast as the villain in the movie. Love that he returned to reprise the role in the Kingdom Hearts games and the animated TV series of Hercules.
The "three witches" (actually Fates) thing here is canon. According to Greek mythology, the first Fate spun the thread of life, the second Fate blindly chose the destiny of the person, and the third Fate recorded it all so that it would take place. (Although, the eye thing was borrowed from other mythological creatures, who also had one tooth for three of them)
The Graeae. The crones who share a single eye and tooth.
Great reaction! This was one of my favorite movies growing up! The music is amazing, and it is very quotable. My friends and I still use “if, if is good” in conversations.
Couldn't agree more!
I use to read a lot of books on Greek Mythology before I saw this movie when I was 7 or 8. I was very confused how inaccurate it was until I remembered that's what Disney does best lol. I love it still!
an accurate greek myth movie would be 18+ or RATED R for incest, murder, rape, infanticide and etc.
@@mckenzie.latham91 TRUE!!! But there are a few things that could have been fixed
- Hera was NOT Hercules' mother
- Hades was not evil, even though he was made to be a villain
- Hercules was a Demigod
- "Hercales" was the proper Greek spelling, because "Hercules" is Roman.
There were other things that I didn't really mind such as Phil's existence, the fact Hercules had a brother, and such. Other than that, I still shake my fake "Muses" hips as I watch the movie to this day.
Hercules has always been one of my favorites. The whole cast is so full of sass. Had a crummy weekend so far but I saw you guys did this and now I feel better. Thanks guys..And I'm glad y'all like Meg so much because she is iconic!
"holy Hera"
From a coach who can't help but coach, Phil is an icon, he knows a gift when he sees it
One of my favorite movies of all time!
I always rewatch Hercules and Anastasia at least twice a year + watch reactions on yt and it always feels like I’m watching for the first time 🤍😭
I just had a throught. During “I won’t say I’m in love” when Meg walks passed the Muses as singing busts, one of them has their head almost on its side. I can’t help but wonder now if that was a haunted mansion reference.
Ikr
This was my favorite Disney movie growing up, from the wonderful characters and art style to the music. Hercules and Meg were my childhood crushes. Loved the reaction
Heracles defeated the hydra by burning the stumps so they wouldn't grow back (in the original myth they simply grew back after a period of time instead of the more modern version that three more appeared in its place) by the suggestion of his lover/nephew.
He then took the final, immortal head and buried it under a rock. Also, the hydra had poison blood and breath and he dipped some arrows in the poison which ended up biting him in the ass with his third wife.
Susan Egan, who voices Meg, has done some Ghibli work, as she has dubbed for both Lin from Spirited Away and Gina from Porco Rosso.
I love her!!
@@whitenoisereacts Ah, who doesn't...
She's also great as Rose Quartz in Steven Universe
This is one of my wife's favorite films. There was a time in our early marriage where we would literally rewind and start the VHS tape over again as soon as we'd just finished watching it. I think the record was three, back-to-back viewings of "Hercules". It was so fun to see my wife get so tickled. I loved the movie too, but watching my wife's reaction was the best. Great memories! =)
I love this movie! So glad you’re reacting to this, it’s one of my favourites for sure. For all of it, the style, music and storyline. I’m sure someone else has already said it but there are three witches due to Greek mythology. The three sisters in Hercules are the fates, they represent the past, present and future. It’s what inspired the three witches in Macbeth.
Also, I love the women who are narrating, they are a literal chorus. The chorus in Greek plays, were a group of performers who comment on the action with w collective voice.
This film really does feel underrated to me and it was such a joy to watch people see it for the first time. Thank you!
I love the way you guys described Hades as a villain, he definitely feels very grounded and more realistic than most Disney villains
5:10 in the german version they say "Elvis is alive but dont tell anybody!"
Hercules is so underrated! I wish more people have seen it because I absolutely love it! Hades is 100% the best Disney villain. I love his and Meg’s humor and that they are both sarcastic.
Another underrated Disney movie y’all could react to is Oliver and Company!
Sadly yes..I think lama prince was popular and tarzan back in the late 90s.
You guys should definitely react to Tarzan after the Hunchback of Notre Dame. It has great animation, and the best 90s Disney soundtrack
Yes! I'd love to see how they react to Frollo! Definitely the most evil Disney villain with the best song Hell Fire!!
Watching that shot of Pegasus flying, I can’t believe I forgot about the Guardians of Ga’Hoole! STUNNING animation especially for the flying sequences
I also like Spirit for the interesting mix of 2D and 3D
I'd definitely pay to have them watch Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron and/or The Road to El Dorado
So if you don’t know the art style was inspired by Gerald Scarfe. The guy who did the art for Pink Floyd’s The Wall vinyl cover art and movie art.
Meg has been one of my favorite unofficial Disney princesses since I was a kid. Always loved the songs in this. Hades is a hilarious villain and Pegasus is adorable. Tbh this movie is probably a big reason why I love mythology lol. 💕
I can’t believe she’s not official!!!! SO LAME
@@whitenoisereacts Right? She deserves more recognition.
James woods did such a great job as hades 😂
Really looking forward to your reaction!
Hercules is one of my favourite ever Disney movies!!
I love this movie so much. I don't understand why it is so underrated.... :(
Thank you for reacting to it !
Hey guys, long time watcher here. Hercules is one of my favourite, So thought I would give you guys a little fun fact .... The actress Susan Egan who plays Meg was The original Belle in the Broadway musicals of Beauty and the Beast and she impressed them so much, they offered her the part of Meg
I love your reactions guys! How you take every movie seriously and get the message.. So cool! Also Hades hair is everything 😂
Wonderful and hilarious reaction!!
...and to think how Herc gave up his immortality and his status as a god for Meg to be with her while her last boyfriend whom she sold her soul for to save him betrayed her...
If that's not true love then I don't know what is. 💜
Fun Fact, iirc, in the og myth Meg was Heracles's first girlfriend not his last,
The order was Meg, who died when Hera drove Heracles insane, a second person whose name idr, Deianira [name translates to husband destroyer] who accidentally poisoned Heracles leading to his death and him becoming a God, and then he married his Half-Sister, Hebe, goddess of youth and daughter of Zeus and Hera
Hercules is one of my favorite 2D movies. I really hope you guys react to the Hunchback of Notre Dame, another great 2D film. It has one of the best Disney villains (in the worst way) imo.
Hades is the Disney villain I feel the most for. He has shitty, but very important job, that requires his almost constant attention and he gets no respect for it. He's basically the blue collar worker of Olympus.
33:09
Ever since I was a little kid, Hades’ “You are correct, sir!” with his pose always scratched a very specific part of my brain. I’d watch it over and over on my VHS. I use it as a reaction gif, but it never lands as it should. Good stuff.
I found your channel a couple of days ago and I’ve been watching your old videos. You are so funny and smart and I’m kinda crushing on you both 😂 Your content is really amazing and I’m looking forward to seeing more!
Awww thanks so much my man!! Welcome to the channel!!
In 1998 they made a show of Hercules, showing his training as a teenager, he did more than a montage. It's only 1 season but it's pretty good.
Can’t wait for Pocahontas, The Lion King and The Hunchback of Notre Dame 😀 great musicals!!!!!
18:03 "I'm walking here!" That line is from Midnight Cowboy, which was said to be ad-libbed by Dustin Hoffman.
One thing I never noticed before watching this reaction is how just before Phil agrees to train Hercules, he gets struck by lightning. I love the symbolism that Zeus might have somehow intervened there.
Listen, I've watched a TON of your videos. And every single one feels like: one of you is a disney kid who has definitely seen the movie and loves it and is trying to convince their creative friend that it's a masterpiece. And I'm living for it.
This movie had such a different vibe from the others of its time. Hercules actually is a dark story but they did there Disney magic and made it fun.
Hyped that this is live now. One of my favs! Such a great score and awesome animation. Love the style of this film.
I’ve been watching your reactions for over a year now I think! I love your uploads so much they always make my day. Thanks guys 🫶
12:34 “two words, I am retired” in Greek it’s actually two words! You got to love the details in this!
Great reaction guys 🤩
The music from this is some of my favorite from that era of disney...movies like Beauty, Mermaid, and Pocahantas focused on more female central songs, so this connected with me as a 13 year old boy who still didn't want to grow up. When I get sad I still sing to myself...."who put the Glad in Gladiator? Hercules!"....I'm sure you guys will enjoy this one!
There were plans for a sequel that sounded super epic with a great concept. Look it up on TH-cam. But of course Disney didn't do anything with it. Shocked they didn't at least do str8 to dvd sequel, they did a bunch of those back in the day. With lion king 2 being my personal favorite. Great reaction as always guys
Oh shoot dude!!
They did do a straight to video sequel for hercules it was called Hercules zero to hero it was about his school days it started with adult hercules telling meg about his school days then flashing back to when he was younger it was also a pilot for the tv series similar to what return of jafar was to the aladdin animated series
@@clintbrew Yeah I remember finding out later on they made a show, never checked it out. And now I can't find the exact video on TH-cam that went into detail about the cancelled sequel and it's plot. But googled it to refresh my memory. Was gonna be called Hercules 2 the trojan war
That's unfortunate. I also love Lion King 2 btw. 💕
The gates to the underworld opening right before you see Cerberus always mesmerized me. They're shown for like one second, but it's so cool!!
I am retired IS actually two words in Greek. XD
Damn right Hades has plans for August. He probably wants a vacation with his wife when she comes back for wintertime. XD
You get to see her in this movie. She's at the beginning, talking to her mother, and at the end, when all the gods are around Hercules, congratulating him. She's purple-pink and has a flower on her head. =)
And you can bet there's plenty of fanfic about them out there, and there's got to be at least one fanart of Disney!Persephone all gothed up as Queen of the Underworld.
Love this movie so much. The music is everything 🤩
Fun fact! Charlton Heston was the narrator of the opening scene. He was the protagonist in a lot of old, epic movies, mainly The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur, and, of course, the original Planet of the Apes.
6:43 "You guys are not the best parents" LMAO you have no idea XD
Oh we do...lol
You guys have one of the best reaction channels! A lot of fun!😃😃😃
I can't tell you how interesting these reactions are for me. I'm not an artist at all. I literally color in coloring books to fight off carpal tunnel but that is about it. To hear you speak the artist lingo and see reactions especially to the classics has me mesmerized for some reason. Great job.
Scar’s brief cameo is an inside joke; the supervising animator of Hercules, Andreas Deja, was also Scar’s supervising animator.
In the old Disney Animation system, each (major) character was handled by one unit of animators, led by the Supervising Animator, who would, as the name suggests, supervise the animation of said character, by briefing the animators about each shot and doing draw overs and other corrections. The supervising animator would also do the final character design (of course they needed to follow the general art style of the film).
In ‘the olden days’ (until CGI took over) supervising animator was ‘the place’ to be at Disney. They were the rockstars of animation, whose work would get featured on every documentary and whom would be interviewed alongside the director. The Nine Old Men took part of story meetings and had some say over the story. Nowadays Supervising Animator(s) in CG look over ALL the animation/character acting.
Also, Andreas Deja has a great blog called Deja View, which should be mandatory reading for animation enthusiasts.
Oscar Winning Actor Charlton Heston, who played Moses in The Ten Commandments and Judah Ben Hur in BEN HUR, narrated the opening.
Oh cool!!! He is sucha great actor!!
Oh, if you hadn't seen Ten Commandments or Ben hur put it on your list. Those are classics!
"Memo to me- maim you after my my meeting." Is my fav line. I would quote it constantly when after I got the VHS. I was like 8 😂
I quote the rant Hades has at the end of the credits, "So whaddya say? It's happy ending time! Everybody's got a little taste of something, except me, I've got nothing! I'm left with nothing. Anybody listening? It's like I'm what, an echo or something? Hello! Hello! I am talking to what, hyperspace? Nobody's listening..."
What's funny is that in the lore Hades is the nicest and everyone else is busy trying to make each other miserable along with the mortals.
Many animated people died in the making of this movie. Moment of silence for all of the ppl that were crushed/burned/stepped on by the titans. Thank you.
Fun fact. When Phil says, “Two words: I am retired” it’s actually because in Greek that phrase is only two words. It is “Είμαι συνταξιούχος”
Everytime you guys react to a Disney movie i keep saying it's one of my favorites lol but Hercules is for sure so special, I love the entire movie, everything about it is amazing, the songs are all a bop! Not to mention my queen Meg...she's just the best.
When Phil shouts "am-scray", that's a bit of a throwaway joke. He is speaking in pig-latin, (cause we're in ancient Roman mythology) a kind of code (used for fun) where you change a word u putting the final sound first, then the beginning of the word, rouning out with "ey" on the end. So when he says "am-scray", that's pig latin for "scram".
Thank you for your complete and comprehensive training. Very good!
The character designs for this movie are soooooooo good and every song in this movie is fantastic!
4:56 "Why is it always three witches? They do that in Macbeth, they do that in... I feel like it's always three!"
Well in Greek mythology and therefore this movie, those are the three Fates. In Macbeth, the Three Sisters/Weird Sisters/Wayward Sisters are also a reference to the ongoing legend of the Fates. Greek mythology kinda had a big influence on the arts globally :P So with the Fates as one of the earliest/oldest instances of witches (plus the Roman version, and maybe even the Norse Norns?), people tend to group their witches in three, and from there it also became a point of reference to call it a female version of the 'Holy Trinity' (AKA The Power of Three - this is the 90s Charmed fan bubbling up in me too). I'm guessing some of the examples that came to mind for you might have been the Spellman women in the Sabrina series' (and the Weird Sisters in The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), the Charmed Sisters, the Sanderson Sisters, even the witches in The Wizard of Oz... Three is the smallest number we need to create a pattern, the perfect combo of brevity and rhythm, so it also is a simple mechanism to include in the concept of fictional magic to increase the effect or the power. Omne trium perfectum - every set of three is complete!
Three as a point of power also commonly comes out in magical fiction even without three witches - like Harry, Ron and Hermione, or the Deathly Hallows.
Seven and nine are also common numbers of power :)
Yeah this movie is so good and I really like Hades as well he is also a very fun comedian villain. Also the Titans have names as well.
I have so many Hades gifs saved on my PC and phone. They're the best for responding to people when you want to be a smart ass lol
At the end of the credits we get more hades dialogue that’s pretty funny
That bit about Achilles, if you remember the illiad he was shot in the heel by Paris and his heel was his mortal point which is why that killed him. And then Phil shot Paris with poisoned arrows. Thanks to this movie and an episode of overly sarcastic productions on Hercules, I now imagine this version of Phil doing so.
Thanks guys for the reaction! I really like Hercules, I grew up watching this movie, such a clasic and deserves more attention
As well as with 9 (from 2009)! an amazing animated movie from the other side of the spectrum (darker but still pretty enjoyable in different ways) and even more underrated
Hope you give it a chance! It gives a lot to talk about
Hades in this movie is a used cars salesman. But a really sharp, dark and witty one.
Thinking about the final trial is a bit reminiscent of Orpheus. When Orpheuss love gets taken to the underworld, he goes there to find her.
this is probably my favorite classic Disney animated film
You guys remember the PS1 game they did for this movie? It was so hooked as a kid.
What makes you a true hero is your willingness to put others before yourself in all the ways that can be interpreted. Selflessness is a heroic attribute. But it must go beyond the people you’re close to. A true hero helps anyone Who truly needs it no matter who they are, not for glory or recognition, but just because it’s the right thing to do.
Yeah it’s awesome!!!
I'm adopted. My parents specifically asked the social worker attached to my adoption how to handle it once I was old enough to understand, and she told them to NOT keep the adoption itself a secret and to answer my questions when they were asked.
As a result I always knew I was adopted, and when I was really little it was my favorite story: how my mom "picked me out" at the hospital. (In reality she was pointing to my bassinet through the nursery window so the nurse could hold me up for her to see, but four-year-olds don't understand that's not how adoption works. lol)
The parents should have raised Hercules with the knowledge that while he wasn't their child by blood, he WAS a gift from the gods that they had fervently prayed for and been blessed with, and that they loved him unconditionally as though he was blood to them.
Me too, I always knew I was adopted. I'm a black girl and my parents are white
This is the first of only three times thus far I can think of in the Disney canon where the girl is older than the guy - it's Meg and Herc, Kida and Milo from Atlantis, and the creators of Encanto said Julieta is about three years older than Agustin.