It's so funny because I always thought that Hercules is one of the lesser remembered Disney movies of the 90s. And yet it also got me, first when Mufasa's voice introduces "Go the Distance"... but then again when they hit the chorus will all of the emotional force and defiant celebration of a fireworks finale:
I will beat the odds,
I can go the distance!
I will face the world,
Fearless, proud, and strong.
You know at that moment, they are not talking about Disney characters. They are talking to the audience. It's about achieving what you've struggled your life to accomplish. I don't know. I'm not that sentimental, or so I thought. But right then, I'm kind of choking up a bit. And my cynicism falls away, telling me that this giant corporation really does have real, good, creative people in it who can put on spectacles like this one that inspire and make people feel. And even though I'm just one of their guests, I feel proud and good and ready to do more with my life. (Too much of a stretch? I don't know... but I do honestly feel at least a little bit more is right in the world.)