Pocahontas
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 🎵Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?🎵
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Pocahontas is a 1995 American animated musical romantic drama film produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation for Walt Disney Pictures. The 33rd Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg and is loosely inspired by the Native American woman of the same name.
Good Qualities
- Stunning animation, especially during the songs and the wind blowing through Pocahontas' hair.
- Amazing soundtrack and musical numbers, such as "Savages" (Governor Ratcliffe's villain song which features both the Indians and settlers expressing their racial prejudice towards one another as they prepare for war) and "Colors of the Wind" (a love song between Pocahontas and John Smith).
- Speaking of "Colors of the Wind", the song (to quote Disney Wiki) poetically represents the Native American viewpoint that the earth is a living entity where humankind is connected to everything in nature. This song is about Pocahontas' exhortation to John Smith about the wonders of the earth and nature, including the spirit within all living things, encouraging him not to think of them as things he can conquer or own, but rather as beings to respect and live with in harmony. She also urges him to accept humans who are different in appearance and culture and to learn from them. Which adds a large deal of symbolism and hidden meaning to an already beautiful song.
- Beautiful character designs for the Native Americans, especially Pocahontas herself.
- It stays true to Pamunkey Indian culture. As while the historical events that the movie was based on are altered in certain places in order to make a film for young audiences (similar to The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Black Cauldron), Pamunkey Indian culture is portrayed in a shockingly realistic and faithful way.
- Some of the most memorable characters in Disney history, such as:
- Pocahontas, along with being a likable character, is also an interesting variant of the trope for the hero who seemingly has unlimited compassion and love for everyone (in most cases, even villains). Because (in the words of TV Tropes) on one hand, she's an animal lover who has a number of animal companions by her side (one of which used to be on the evil side, nonetheless), is very open-minded about encountering people from another culture and hardly ever resorts to violence.
- On the other hand, she's a lot more level-headed and shrewd than most examples of the archetype, and the main reason she fits the bill for the trope is that she knows that racism and violence between opposing races, namely the Native Americans and the English settlers, will only lead to each other becoming even more xenophobic than before, which effectively makes her the Only Sane Woman for much of the movie, and it's through her influence that other characters come to the same realization.
- Pocahontas' pet raccoon, Meeko is an adorable animal sidekick (a recurring theme in Disney animated films as previously seen in Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and The Little Mermaid).
- Pocahontas, along with being a likable character, is also an interesting variant of the trope for the hero who seemingly has unlimited compassion and love for everyone (in most cases, even villains). Because (in the words of TV Tropes) on one hand, she's an animal lover who has a number of animal companions by her side (one of which used to be on the evil side, nonetheless), is very open-minded about encountering people from another culture and hardly ever resorts to violence.
- John Smith and Pocahontas share amazing chemistry. This is solidified and especially displayed when John Smith tells Pocahontas, "I'd rather die tomorrow than live a hundred years without have knowing you."
- Proper character and story development.
- It has some of its own creative adjustments to make the film more suitable for Disney’s target audience. Like Pocahontas' age change and the story being given a happy ending.
- Amazing voice acting (especially with Ratcliffe, Pocahontas, John Smith, and Grandmother Willow). And the fact that it's so good helps the already phenomenal songs pop a lot more.
- The ending is very emotional and bittersweet. As John is nursed back to health by the tribe but in order for his sustained wounds to be able to fully heal, he must leave Pocahontas and return to England. Along with Ratcliffe, who's being sent there to face punishment for his crimes against the settlement. John asks Pocahontas to come with him, but she instead chooses to stay with her tribe to help keep peace with them and prevent any more wars or hate crimes among them. Meeko and Percy have now formed a friendship and give Pocahontas her mother's necklace, which has now been completely fixed. John then leaves on his ship while leaving Pocahontas behind, Powhatan gives him his blessing to return anytime he likes. Pocahontas is last seen standing atop a cliff, watching the ship carrying John depart.
Bad Qualities
- Starting with the elephant in the room: some historical inaccuracies. Due to changing a lot of things to make it more kid-friendly, the film doesn’t stay true to the actual historical event very well, and as such received controversy. Although to be fair, it was done to get kids to watch it. For instance, Pocahontas was only a little girl in the real story.
- Ratcliffe is considered one of the most forgettable and unlikable Disney villains due to not having much to bring to the table and having to compete with other Disney Renaissance villains. There's also his cruelty and racism that's on par with Judge Claude Frollo from The Hunchback of Notre Dame, who's far more memorable and beloved. And speaking of that film...
- Similar to the comic relief moments (especially the gargoyles) in The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the comic relief scenes in this film don't really fit its dark tone too well.
- There was a continuity error where John Smith place his musket on the rock in the waterfall, but then it disappears when Pocahontas is running away from him on the rocks.
- Kocoum's death is extremely disturbing for a family film.
- In retrospect, this film is viewed as the weakest of the Disney Renaissance films and has marked the start of Disney's decline, as it didn't perform as well as their early 1990s films (depending on your view).
Trivia
- A majority of Disney's top animators opted to animate this movie over The Lion King, thinking that it would fail and not make enough of a profit as Pocahontas would.
- Ironically, this concern aged poorly as The Lion King would make three times more money in the box office compared to Pocahontas.