Hercules and the Lost Kingdom starts with a messenger (Alex Beasley) locating Hercules (Kevin Sorbo) & asking for his help to free the lost kingdom of Troy from the evil reign of the 'Queen of the Gods' & the evil Blue Priest (Nathaniel Lees). Hercules accepts & after some advice from his Father Zeus (Anthony Quinn) about how to find Troy he sets off on his quest. On his way Hercules saves a young woman named Deianerira (Renee O'Connor) from being sacrificed & takes her along with him, Hercules first task is to find Queen Omphale (Elizabeth Hawthorne) & a compass she has that will point the way to Troy. Hercules & Deianerira also have to face gangs of thugs, giant sea monsters & ninja's in purple capes & joke shop masks on the way to liberate the lost kingdom of Troy!
This American, New Zealand co-production was directed by Harley Cokeliss & is one of six feature length made for TV episode of the popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995 - 1999), well I think so anyway, it followed Hercules and the Amazon Women (1994) & preceded Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules and the Circle of Fire (1994) & I have no idea how this compares as I've not seen any of the other's or indeed any of the original TV series. The script by Christian Williams is good natured, light hearted fun, if you don't take it too seriously then quite a lot of fun can be had & even contains some half decent mildly amusing dialogue. It moves along at a nice pace although as a whole the story feels a little empty with Hercules not having much trouble finding Troy & not encountering much resistance once there. Having said that I tend to think it's squarely aimed at pre-teen children with very slapstick fights & comedy sound effect music, suits me down to the ground then... The character's are thin & undeveloped but then this isn't trying to win any Oscars is it? I would have liked a better bad guy as well, everyone likes a cool bad guy to hate & Hercules and the Lost Kingdom does itself no favours by not having one. Since this is made for TV it isn't going to have the production values of a Hollywood blockbuster, the cinematography is bland & unexciting, the effects are surprisingly decent especially a pretty good sea monster that doesn't get to do much unfortunately, the ply-wood sets & tea cloth costumes look a little on the cheap side though. The violence is as tame as it gets & there aren't many fights anyway. The acting is of not very high calibre as one would expect. Hercules and the Lost Kingdom is a perfectly entertaining & fun way to pass 90 odd minutes if your in the right mood & like this sort of medieval fantasy adventure stuff. Worth a watch for all ages.
This American, New Zealand co-production was directed by Harley Cokeliss & is one of six feature length made for TV episode of the popular Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (1995 - 1999), well I think so anyway, it followed Hercules and the Amazon Women (1994) & preceded Hercules: The Legendary Journeys - Hercules and the Circle of Fire (1994) & I have no idea how this compares as I've not seen any of the other's or indeed any of the original TV series. The script by Christian Williams is good natured, light hearted fun, if you don't take it too seriously then quite a lot of fun can be had & even contains some half decent mildly amusing dialogue. It moves along at a nice pace although as a whole the story feels a little empty with Hercules not having much trouble finding Troy & not encountering much resistance once there. Having said that I tend to think it's squarely aimed at pre-teen children with very slapstick fights & comedy sound effect music, suits me down to the ground then... The character's are thin & undeveloped but then this isn't trying to win any Oscars is it? I would have liked a better bad guy as well, everyone likes a cool bad guy to hate & Hercules and the Lost Kingdom does itself no favours by not having one. Since this is made for TV it isn't going to have the production values of a Hollywood blockbuster, the cinematography is bland & unexciting, the effects are surprisingly decent especially a pretty good sea monster that doesn't get to do much unfortunately, the ply-wood sets & tea cloth costumes look a little on the cheap side though. The violence is as tame as it gets & there aren't many fights anyway. The acting is of not very high calibre as one would expect. Hercules and the Lost Kingdom is a perfectly entertaining & fun way to pass 90 odd minutes if your in the right mood & like this sort of medieval fantasy adventure stuff. Worth a watch for all ages.