Just to get things out of the way, I do like Burbank Animation Studios' output most of the time. Most do have obvious limitations like with the animation, writing and sometimes voice acting, but remain watchable by good music, story and characters. And I am aware that this is different to Disney, I wasn't expecting this to be as enjoyable but to be at least watchable. Having enjoyed Count of Monte Cristo, White Fang(their best looking), Hansel and Gretel, Pocahontas and Hans and the Silver Skates, I was hoping that Hercules would be at least better than Burbank's versions of The Little Drummer Boy and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, but was severely let down. I suspected as such that the animation and writing wouldn't be brilliant, but even for Burbank the animation is poor, with flat colours, crude character designs and backgrounds that just lack fluency. The writing is at its corniest here, with any humorous parts falling flat and coming across as childish instead and the more meaningful parts cloying. The music is forgettable at best, while the action suffers from not being anywhere near as exciting as it should be and exaggerated movements. The story also just doesn't engage, there are parts that do feel closer to Greek Mythology than Disney, but a lot of the telling feels so dumbed down that it feels sugar-coated instead. I understand that they kept things simple for the main target audience, but in translation they forgot to add anything that would entertain from an adult perspective also. The characters are not likable, with Hercules passive and uncharismatic, which is ideally the opposite for a hero, while the voice acting manages to be overdone and clichéd. Overall, wanted to like it but the under-par quality of everything ruined it for me, sorry. 1/10 Bethany Cox
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