Hermes: Winds of Love. © 2001 Vanguard Cinema. All Rights Reserved.

Hermes: Winds of Love.
Theatrical feature, 1997. Director: Tetzuo Imazawa. 117 minutes. Format: Japanese with English subtitles. Price & distributor: VHS $29.95, Vanguard Cinema. DVD $24.99, Image Entertainment.

Movies based on ancient tales of the gods like Disney's Hercules are usually considered as mythology, distinct from such as DreamWorks' The Prince of Egypt, which is based on a living religion's true history. Hermes is superficially like any other movie version of a Greek heroic legend, but it was commissioned by the Institute for Research in Human Happiness (Kofuku no Kagaku), a modern Japanese evangelical church which considers itself the direct successor through reincarnation to the events in Greek mythology. The result is a grand spectacle like DeMille's The Ten Commandments; good entertainment whether you are a believer or not.

The IRH put up a $14 million budget for a high-quality feature from Toei Animation, directed by Tetzuo Imazawa (Transformers and Digimon Adventures) and blending cartoon and CGI imagery. The ancient world is shown as improbably clean and pretty, but the costuming and architecture are true to what is known about Greek and Cretan styles. Released in April 1997, Hermes became Japan's highest-grossing animated theatrical feature; until the release of Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke three months later.

The story is basically that of Theseus and the Minotaur. In 2300 B.C., the individual kingdoms of the Eastern Mediterranean have been reduced to vassalage by despotic King Minos of Crete. In Sitia, an island-kingdom too tiny for Minos to bother with, a prince is born who is destined to lead the Greek people to freedom. Twenty-six years after this prologue, Prince Hermes begins his career as a hero by rescuing beautiful Princess Aphrodite of Delos, who has grown up as a hostage of King Kaipeia of Lindos. Minos has wanted Aphrodite as a sacrifice to the Minotaur, so Hermes' rash act forces Sitia into a confrontation with mighty Crete. Hermes realizes his only chance is to rally Crete's conquered kingdoms into revolt. Theseus, son of the King of Athens, becomes Hermes' loyal aide-de-camp. It is while General Hermes is leading the army of rebellion against Minos and his warriors that Theseus enters the Labyrinth beneath Minos' palace, and the famous slaying of the Minotaur takes place.

These two dramatic adventures occupy the first hour of the movie. Hermes is now king of Crete by conquest, and concerned with restructuring the kingdom for the benefit of the people. Ophealis, the God of Creation, appears and enlightens him with the teaching of the gods. This includes a tour of Heaven, full of ethereal beauty with enough fantasy such as soaring winged horses and mermaids to entertain children in the audience, while adults are given generic advice to "Do good," and "Be kind to others," if you want to live there in your afterlife. Drama reappears when the dead Minos in Hell, who has fought his way up to become a major demon, leads an attack of the damned against Heaven. Hermes must once again battle his old enemy who is now a huge bull-monster. The movie ends with Hermes' return to his earthly life, ready to become a wise philosopher-king of ancient Greece. If you liked Harryhausen's Clash of the Titans, you should enjoy Hermes: Winds of Love.

Image's DVD release does not offer an English-language dub, but its extras include a short completely-animated outtake scene that fans will want, plus two theatrical trailers.