(ebert, 1997)it Is More Than Sly It Is Deliberate, Pronounced, And Wondrously

(Ebert, 1997)It is more than sly it is deliberate, pronounced, and wondrously effective.
Unfortunately, Hercules' strokes for the children may be a bit too broad. Disney also has few qualms about taking dramatic, or shall we say capitalistic license with the underlying mythology of the story of Hercules in order to maximize its palatability and appeal to a mass audience. According to the original ancient tale, Hercules was the product of an errant sexual liaison between the Greek God Zeus and a human princess. Zeus' wife Hera was, predictably, unamused at Zeus' indiscretion and her jealous rage played a key role in the story as an antagonist seeking to undermine Hercules. In Disney's version, however, Hercules is the product of a loving and happy relationship between Hera and Zeus, with a disarmingly awkward demeanor and an alluring, innocent face. Furthermore, the actual Hercules of yore was a rather homicidally unpleasant fellow; among the victims of his rage-induced killing rampaged were none other than his own wife and children. The sanitizing and desecration of hallowed and thematically complex literature, sacrificed on the altar of mass-merchandising, appalled many critics. It was not that Disney attempted to re-imagine the legend of Hercules; it was that the re-imagination was a cowardly, self-serving, and shallow one:
Hercules goes about its business with the aplomb of the truly corrupt. The picture vulgarizes some of the greatest Greek myths down to the level of In Style magazine Most depressing about all this is that Hercules will be many kids' first exposure to Greek mythology, and it doesn't give them any sense of wonder or daring or tragedy, even on a corrupted pop level. It offers nothing of what has enthralled generations of kids in the storybook D'Aulaires Book of Greek Myths. (Taylor, 1997)
The only sense of wonder that the children receive, in fact, is likely derived from sheer visceral audio-visual bombast: the lowbrow humor of characters falling over and running into objects, and whitewashed, wisecrackingly harmless villains, all in giant, vivid widescreen imagery with deafening digital Dolby THX sound. To its credit, Hercules looks and sounds terrific, but like fast food, it leaves many audience members with a sour stomach after the initial delight.
Part of the aim of sanitizing the legend of Hercules is to make the character himself heroic and desirable so that in his various off-screen merchandising incarnations, he is palatable and enticing.