The film starts out with a narration by Charleton
Heston, who, with the help of the mythical Muses
retells the tale of the god Zeus saving humanity from a trio of marauding
demons sent by Hades. Once the monsters are
imprisoned, presumably forever, Zeus and the other
gods of Olympus go about their partying ways --
which leads up to the birth of a curly-haired,
golden-skinned Hercules. Hercules,
son of Zeus and Hera is destined to one day take
over Olympus and assume his place
as the guardian of the Earth.
Hades,is a wise-cracking, sarcastic
evil-doer,and has other plans in mind. After a particularly
long night of partying, which leaves the gods of
Olympus in a deep sleep, Pain and Panic
are dispatched by Hades to make
young Hercules a mere mortal - via a black magic
potion conjured up by The Fates - and
dispose of him permanently. The plan is
only partially realized. Baby
Hercules doesn't drink all the
potion - a tiny drop remains in the vial
- but nonetheless becomes mortal.
Pain and Panic bug-out double-time,
and Zeus and Hera -devastated by Hercules' fate -
dispatch their infant to Earth where he will be raised a
mortal.
On Earth, young Hercules is raised by a pair of kindly farmers,
Alcmene and Amphitryon and sheltered from nearby villagers
suspicious of the boy's god-like strength. Gangly,
clumsy and shy, Hercules is a typical teenager who
desperately wants to fit in, but doesn't know how.
With the blessing of his adoptive parents, Hercules
embarks on a journey to the Temple of Zeus. There,
he confronts a statue of the great god -- asking to
know who he really is and where he came from. As
you might expect, Zeus shows himself and tells the
boy of his true heritage but omits details about his
unfortunate status as a mortal. When pressed for
information, Zeus tells Hercules he will be re-admitted
to Mount Olympus once he's
proven himself a "real hero."
From there, Hercules seeks
out the services of "Phil,"
trainer of "real heroes" and
voiced by Danny DeVito. Phil,
initially relucant, accepts
young Hercules as his student and soon whips him
into shape. Together, they head for the countryside,
with a beefed-up Hercules doing his hero gig
whenever necessary. Soon, he is a local legend.
Hades, who has been planning for 18 years to ransack
Earth and imprison the gods, learns that Hercules is
alive and is, well, rather ticked off by that news. The
god of evil begins plotting Hercules' downfall, and
requisitions the "help" of the beautiful Meg(Visit my Meg Page). With Meg's help, Hades steals Hercules'
powers and begins his assault of Mount Olympus
after freeing the monsters formerly imprisoned by
Zeus.
...And that is all I am going to share for now, as this is a new movie and I would hate to ruin it for you!