Patrick Stoner welcomes your questions about movies and the people who make them. Send your questions to pstoner@whyy.org. Here's the current question and answer:
Q: What was it like at the HERCULES world premiere June 14th in New York City?
A: Big!
You have to give Disney credit. When they put together an event, they don't fool around. They have a history of high-profile world premieres: CON AIR in Las Vegas a few weeks ago; THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME in the New Orleans Superdome last summer; THE ROCK on Alcatraz. They don't just book a theater and set up some spotlights; they invade and conquer.
Let me try to give you some idea of the HERCULES event. It began for those of us in the media on Thursday. We saw the film at an invitational screening and were given the opportunity to interview a wide range of people connected with the film the following day. You could talk with actors, animators, producers, composers, lyricists, and Michael Bolton (who is featured on the music video with "Go the Distance") -- as many or as few as you needed.
Then, on Saturday, film critics and entertainment reporters were shown the newly renovated New Amsterdam Theatre where the premiere would be held that night. We were also given access to the electrical floats and the people in charge of the parade that would follow the screening.
Try and picture the scene on premiere night: Right next to Times Square, a red carpet covers the whole block. It is intended to look like the outside of the Academy Awards--with searchlights, cameras and TV people pushing mikes into celebrities' faces as they arrive for the premiere. Those of us who already have seen the picture are standing in front of cameras commenting on the spectacle. Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Disney Chairman Michael Eisner talk to the assembled multitudes and introduce a dozen or so "champions"-- everything from a tennis star to the latest decathelon winner.
Following the screening of HERCULES, the invited guests go to their assigned areas on the parade route to watch the Electrical Parade that is familiar to visitors of Disney's theme parks. Finally, somewhere around 10:30 p.m., members of the media, celebrities and other guests all go back to the Chelsea Pier and the Forum of Fun, where a lot of Greek food and wine are served, Michael Bolton sings, and a truly glorious set of fireworks explode over the Hudson River, set against a perfect moon. The weather was Disney-perfect, of course.
By the time I left on Sunday, most of the known world knew that Disney's new animated film was called HERCULES and there had been one huge premiere in New York City. It all went off without a glitch.
Now, what's the film itself like? You almost forgot, didn't you? Well, the songs are not very memorable, the animation is surprisingly flat, the plot is highly predictable, and the battles (except for one with a computer-animated multi-headed dragon) are not much more effective than those you see on Saturday morning. Still, there is a nice secondary level of adult humor that is layered underneath the kid's story, and it has a good heart. I would not place it in the BEAUTY AND THE BEAST or ALADDIN class by a long shot. It's more fun than HUNCHBACK, but that's to be expected, so I suppose it's in the POCAHONTAS range of Disney-animated features. Only James Woods as "Hades" rises to the "excellent" level. The target audience is a nine-year-old male.
How will it do? It will "do" huge. The merchandising alone will drive parents and kids into the theatres. One warning: very small kids -- say, under the age of five -- may be scared; the lobby had about a dozen crying four-year-olds.
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