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Review by LouAnn Jones
Mythological Hercules is this summer's hero -- thanks to the Disney film. All the pre-release hype for the movie convinced me to check out old Herc. With two boys ages ten and eight, I'm the mother of prime targets for the film, and I thought I remembered some non-appropriate-for-kids stuff about the Greek strong guy.
Well, I was right. His exploits included slaying the many-headed Hydra, wrestling the Nemean Lion, capturing the Cretan Bull and destroying the Birds of Stymphalia. Then there are his battles with the Amazons and Giants, not to mention the Trojan War and his three-year, slavish orgy with Omphale. Not for my kids, I thought.
But then the film opened and I picked up "Disney's Hercules Classic Storybook." From the first pages where five jiving mamas set the Mount Olympian stage to the conclusion where Hercules chooses to stay on Earth with his beloved Meg, it's a Disneyfied version with bright colors, lots of action, and big-eyed characters who talk in zippy modern language. "So, is this Hercules kid gonna mess up my plan to take over Olympus, or what?" Hades asks.
The 94 pages are crammed with action. Hercules, kidnapped from Mount Olympus by Hades and sent to earth to be poisoned, is rescued by a childless couple. He becomes a skilled athlete with training from the satyr Philoctetus, and the two of them depart for a real test in Thebes. On the way they meet Meg, a beautiful young woman in the clutches of the centaur Nessus and already in cahoots with Hades. But handsome hero Hercules rescues her, and true romance begins.
The plot loosely follows the myth as Hercules battles the Cyclops and the four Titans. Hercules frees the gods on Mount Olympus, hurling the Titans into space. At the end he must enter the Underworld (Pit of Death) where he rescues Meg and must decide whether he will return to Mount Olympus or remain on Earth.
Purists can find lots to criticize in this version (Hercules has a horse named Pegasus!), and parents may wonder if the Disney writers are laughing at themselves when Hades gets mad at two characters for "wearing his merchandise!" All I know is that as soon as I brought the book home, both boys wanted to read it, not just once but several times. And here's a confession -- I haven't read the real myth myself since high school days. That is, until I read "Disney's Hercules Classic Storybook" first.
LouAnn Jones is a reviewer in St. Louis, Missouri.
©1997, ProMotion, inc.
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