Growing up, I was very intrigued with Greek mythology. I just loved the idea of divine beings not being so good-hearted. So, when Disney released the animated Hercules movie, I will say I had mixed feelings about the film initially. Disney definitely took a lot of liberties regarding the Hercules story so the literalist in me was complaining about how they drastically changed the story. However, as time went on, I tried to take the movie as its own thing and I did like it. I loved the more “modern” take of ancient Greek history and I did love the characters. So, in the end, I did end up loving the Disney Hercules movie.

So, when Disney decided to do a series featuring a much younger Hercules as a “hero in training” all those years ago, I was, at the very least, intrigued by the concept. In the end, I did end up liking the series. In fact, I do think I like the series much more than the movie! As Disney’s Hercules: The Animated Series is on Disney+, I decided to go re-watch the series just to see if it holds up today.

As I mentioned earlier, Hercules: The Animated Series features a much younger Hercules who’s still a teenager and still training under Phil to become a hero. However, as he is a teenager, he still has to go to high school so a lot of the stories has him trying to balance his adolescent life and also his dream of being a hero so he can ascend to Mount Olympus to be with his father.

The series was released way back in 1998 and, well, it certainly shows in the animation. Disney didn’t have a problem with creating series based on their animated movies. What they did have issue with was doling out a good animation budget when it came to developing the series. Even if you don’t base the animation of the series with the big-budget movie, you can tell they didn’t put a lot of money into a lot of the scenes. While I wouldn’t say there are egregious errors in the animation, they do come off as very flat. You can even see a drop in the animation quality in some episodes as they were probably outsourced to various animation houses, leading to a lot of inconsistencies with the way they look at times.

While Disney was super stingy with the animation budget, they seemed to splurge when it came to selecting the voice actors as it seems like the Animated Series has more big name stars than the actual film. One thing I’m really grateful for is that they did get James Woods to do the voice of Hades throughout the entire series run. Honestly, James Woods’ performance was the best part of the film so I’m glad he returned for the series. They weren’t able to get Rip Torn or Danny DeVito to do the voices of Zeus and Phil, but the soundalikes, Corey Burton and Robert Costanzo, do remarkable facsimiles of them.

However, Disney did get some really primo stars to voice the new supporting cast and the other gods, who have more to do in the Animated Series than in the movie. They got names like Sandra Bernhard as Cassandra, Keith David to do Apollo, Jane Leeves for Athena, Florence Henderson for Demeter and Jason Alexander for Poseidon. Probably my favorite guest vocal performance is Lisa Kudrow’s Aphrodite. Besides giving Aphrodite a cute little ditty every time she appears, I do think Lisa Kudrow’s voice suits what Disney was going for in the character. She gives her this almost “I know I’m pretty” vibe but is still willing to listen to the requests of others. It just works!

Speaking of the music, I do wish they didn’t try to inject musical numbers throughout the series. Like with the movie, the Animated Series has the Muses come in and sing a song so they can move the story forward with a montage or something along those lines. The problem is the music is just forgettable. They’re not bad but they ain’t good either! Disney definitely upped their musical game in later shows like Phineas and Ferb so I guess they were at least trying in Hercules: The Animated Series. Still, the song numbers needed more time to cook.

Thankfully, the stories in the series can be really interesting in a childish sort of way. A lot of episodes deal with Hades trying to take over Mount Olympus using various schemes and, hey! That means more James Woods so that’s great! Other times, the tale might deal with Hercules trying to find a date or Zeus meddling in Hercules life which only causes more trouble. While not all of them are home runs, I will say there is a lot of variety so things never really get stale from episode to episode. I will say, if you’re an adult, I don’t think you’ll be intellectually stimulated but, if you’re a kid at heart, you’ll find the stories to be entertaining enough.

So, to answer the question, is Disney’s Hercules: The Animated Series worth watching today, more than a couple of decades after its original airdate? Honestly, it really depends. If you can get over the rather dated animation quality and just love to see a silly story featuring some really good voice actors, then yes. If you can’t get over how old it looks and you want something a little more stimulating, then this isn’t for you. I do say give it a chance and watch a few episodes. For me, however, as I did love Hercules: The Animated Series, it does give me waves of nostalgia watching it. Your mileage may vary.

Have you seen Hercules: The Animated Series? What other Disney movie project that got made into a TV series would you recommend? Let me know in the comments section below!