In tales from antiquity, Hercules was the bastard son of the god Zeus and a human mistress. Gone from the Disney version, presumably down the same sinkhole that swallowed the grim, heart-rending tragedy of Victor Hugo’s “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” are the madness, murder, incest and cannibalism of the Greek gods. Say what you will about Michael Eisner, he’s a darn sight more family-friendly than the ancient Greeks. Woe to you, Southern Baptist parents, if the animated film “Hercules” inspires your impressionable youngster to investigate the classical roots of Disney’s contemporized and sanitized story.
