Hercules: Zero to Hero
6.2 /10 1 Votes
Director Bob Kline Country United States | 6/10 IMDb Duration Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date August 31, 1999 (1999-08-31) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hercules: Zero to Hero is a 1998 comedy-drama adventure and fantasy animated television film produced by Walt Disney Television Animation, Walt Disney Animation Australia, Walt Disney Animation Japan and Toon City Animation, Inc., Manila, Philippines. The film is a direct-to-video followup to 1997 animated feature Hercules. It was released on August 31, 1998. The film serves as the first episode to Hercules: The Animated Series.
Contents
The film casts James Woods as Hades, Corey Burton as Zeus, Tate Donovan as Hercules, Susan Egan as Megara, Robert Costanzo as Philoctetes, Frank Walker as Pegasus, Bobcat Goldthwait as Pain and Matt Frewer as Panic.
Production
The film consists of three episodes that would later serve as episodes of the television series, bridged by additional original animation, The film is by Walt Disney Animation Australia, Toon City Animation, Inc. in Manila, Philippines, Walt Disney Animation Japan, Studios Basara, Tama Productions, Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd. and Thai Wang Film Productions Co., Ltd., Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd, Plus One Animation, Inc., Sunmin Image Pictures Co., Sunwoo Animation, Korea, Jade Animation International Co., Ltd. and Slightly Off Beat Productions Co., Ltd. by Seoul, Korea, Xindian District, Taipei, Taiwan and Japan.
Plot
The film briefly gives Hercules' history after defeating Hades for good, in which he marries Meg and revisits his teenage years. In particular, it shows an adolescent Hercules's enrollment and the beginning of his adventures at the Prometheus Academy, a school for gods and mortals, which Hercules supposedly attended during the time when he was training to be a hero with his mentor, the satyr Philoctetes.
Cast
The TV series reunited most of the original voice cast from the 1997 film. This was Paddi Edwards' last film, in which she provided the voice of Atropos.
Releases
Hercules: Zero to Hero was first released on home video on August 31, 1998.
Critical reception
Michelle Erica Green of LittleReview gave the film a rating of B+, writing that while the film "lacks the dazzling visuals of the feature film upon which it is based...it's hard not to be charmed", adding "the characters are all clever and original despite their mythic origins". Conversely, Antagony & Ecstasy gave a scathing review, writing that as the film "was assembled of four episodes of the Hercules cartoon that had already aired in 1998 and 1999", it was "perhaps the single grubbiest cash-in of [all the direct-to-video released]", adding "Zero to Hero was already going to be at such a low level of accomplishment even relative to other DTV projects".
In a review, Vern Perry of Gainesville Sun described the Disney formula as "Just give 'em what they like. And keep it up.", noting that's what the company has done with these two 1998/1999 releases. He added that this film benefited greatly from the return of some of the original voice cast including Tate Donovan and James Woods.
References
Hercules: Zero to Hero WikipediaHercules: Zero to Hero IMDb Hercules: Zero to Hero themoviedb.org