Hercules is a 1997 American animated musical fantasy comedy film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. The 35th Disney animated feature film and the eighth animated film produced during the Disney Renaissance, the film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker. The film is loosely based on the legendary hero Heracles (known in the film by his Roman name, Hercules), the son of Zeus, in Greek mythology. Development of Hercules began in 1992 following a pitch adaptation of the Heracles mythological stories by animator Joe Haidar. Meanwhile, Clements and Musker re-developed their idea for Treasure Planet (2002) following the critical and commercial success of Aladdin (1992). Their project was removed from development in 1993, and Musker and Clements joined Hercules later that same year. Following an unused treatment by Haidar, Clements and Musker studied multiple interpretations of Greek mythology before abandoning Zeus's adulterous affair with Alcmene. The project underwent multiple story treatments and a first script draft was inspired by the screwball comedy films of the classic Hollywood era and popular culture of the 1990s. Donald McEnery, Bob Shaw, and Irene Mecchi were brought on board to revise the script. British cartoonist Gerald Scarfe was recruited as production designer and produced over seven hundred visualization designs of the characters. Research trips to Greece and Turkey provided inspiration for the background designs. Animation for the film was done in California and Paris. Computer animation was used in several scenes, predominantly in the Hydra battle sequence.
Meg?
Speak of the devil.
Meg, my little flower, my little bird, my little nut.
Meg.
What exactly happened here?
I thought you were going to persuade the River Guardian
to join my team for the uprising, and
here I am, kind of River Guardian-less.
I gave it my best shot,
but he made me an offer I had to refuse.
Fine, so instead of subtracting
two years from your sentence, hey,
I'm going to add two on, okay? Give that your best shot.
Look, it wasn't my fault.
It was this wonder boy Hercules.
Hercules.
Why does that name ring a bell?
I don't know. Maybe we owe
money? What was
that name again?
Hercules.
He comes on with his big innocent farm boy routine,
but I could see through that in a Peloponnesian minute.
Wait a minute. Wasn't Hercules the name
of that kid we were supposed to...
Oh, my God!
Run for it!
So you took care of him.
Huh?
Dead as a doornail.
Weren't those your exact words?
This might be a different Hercules.
Yeah. I mean, Hercules is a very
popular name nowadays.
Remember, like, a few years ago,
every other boy was named Jason,
and the girls were all named Brittany?
I'm about to rearrange
the cosmos,
and the one schmeal
who can last it up
is waltzing around
in the woods!
Wait.
We can still cut in on his waltzing.
That's right.
At least we made him mortal. That's a good thing.
Didn't we?
Fortunately for the three of you,
we still have time to correct this rather
egregious oversight.
And this time, no
pull!
Nice shooting, Rex.
I can't believe this guy.
I saw everything I've got at him,
and it doesn't even...
What
are
those?
Um, I don't know. I thought they looked kind of dashing.
I've got 24 hours
to get rid of this bozo
while the entire scheme I've been
setting up for 18 years
goes up in smoke,
and you
are wearing
his merchandise!
Thirsty?
Looks like your game's over.
Wonder Boy's hitting every curve you throw at him.
Oh,
yeah.
I wonder if
maybe I haven't been throwing
the right curves at him,
Meg, my sweet.
Don't
even go there.
See, he's gotta have a weakness,
because everybody's got
a weakness. I mean, for, what, Pandora?
It was the box thing. For the Trojans, hey,
they bet on the wrong horse, okay?
We simply need to find out
Wonder Boy's. I've done my part.
Get your little imps to... They couldn't handle him as a baby.
I need somebody who can
handle him as a man.
Hey, I've sworn off manhandling.
Well, you know, that's good, because that's what
got you into this jam in the first place, isn't it?
You sold your soul to me
to save your boyfriend's life.
And how does this creep
thank you? By running off with
some babe.
He hurt you real bad, didn't he, Meg, huh?
Look, I learned my lesson, okay?
Which is exactly why
I got a feeling you're gonna leap at my new
offer. You give me the
key to bringing down Wonder Breath,
and I give you
the thing that you crave most
in the entire cosmos.
Your freedom.