11 lines
1.4 KiB
Plaintext
11 lines
1.4 KiB
Plaintext
disney's 35th animated feature-- a retooling of the olympian legend crossed with , well , the superman story-- is surprisingly soft at the center .
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great wit , great art , and a great villain ( james woods as hades , lord of the underworld and local lounge act ) can't quite stifle the yawns induced by a bland hero , his colorfully monotonous sidekick ( danny devito as the satyrical trainer phil ) , and a largely unremarkable soundtrack .
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( none of the alan menken/david zippel tunes are particular- ly noteworthy .
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some lack lyrical snap .
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others need more memorable melodies .
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boring ballads we expect , but boring production numbers , too ? )
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so , hercules is a bit of a long sit , but you won't stay bored .
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the highlights include a nifty round of animated action ( herc battling a cgi hydra ) , a steady stream of anachronisms ( " somebody call ix-i-i " ) and pop references ( " let's get ready to rumble ! " ) a la aladdin , and several long-overdue jabs at the mouse's marketing and merchandising depart- ments .
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while not as rock-solid as hunchback , it's a still a new world of improvement over pocohontas .
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directed by ron clements and john musker , with voice credits including tate donovan , susan egan , bob goldthwait , matt frewer , samantha eggar , paul shaffer , and , as lighting bolt zeus , rip torn , who's having a very good summer , also appearing in trial and error and men in black .
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