During the height of best era of Disney movies of all time (the late 1980s through the 90s), Disney put out this solid movie that is filled will heart and strong characters, but is perhaps slightly overshadowed by due to its more serious tone than others.
The story of Pocahontas told in the story is very different to the true story of the real Pocahontas that inspired the movie. The movie version of the character, voiced by Irene Bedard, ages her up and puts her in a love story with a man she was never romantically linked to. As it’s a Disney movie it also gives her a couple of animal sidekicks, and as best as my research shows the real Pocahontas didn’t have a hummingbird and racoon follow her about.
It’s a shame that for a lot of people this will be the only knowledge they have of this historical figure, and not actually know a version of the story that reflects reality. This acknowledged, the film is still very good as a Disney classic, that tells a story of a brave Disney Princess who is in a star crossed love story with John Smith, played by Mel Gibson, an English soldier, and their relationship brings a degree of peace between two peoples who would otherwise be at war.
It’s a Disney film so in order to tell any version of the story it wasn’t going to be historically accurate. The merit here is that at least it was an introduction for the youth of the 1990s to learn about Pocahontas and could then find out her true story.
The film as it is does have a slightly more serious tone, has characters getting shit and killed and does deal with the outdated attitudes of the time in a more significant way than you’d expect in a children’s film. The more serious tone perhaps meant this doesn’t get as many replays as the likes of the Lion King, Aladdin and The Little Mermaid who all had a lot more fun and silliness going on. Not that each of those didn’t have some serious moments. So many Disney films kill off some major good guy after all.
Meeko the racoon and Flit the hummingbird are the comic relief, but don’t speak English which makes for a change in the then recently released Disney movies. This allows them to do mostly slapstick humour but their personality’s shine less than the likes of Flounder and Timon and Pumba.
David Ogden Stiers voices the villain, Governor Ratcliffe, and whilst hulking and grotesque in deisgn, is one of the weaker Disney villains from the era. Stiers would later come back to voice the villain in Disney’s Hunchback and whilst they are both fine characters, they lack the impact of the likes of Jafar or Ursula.
Disney pull out some mystical magic to explain that by listening with her heart, Pocahontas can suddenly understand and speak English to John which of course makes no sense, but is as good an explanation for how they could get the love story they wanted to write to happen between people who wouldn’t be able to communicate at all.
Unusually for a Disney movie, it ends without a happily ever after as John Smith goes back to England and Pocahontas stays with her people. We do get Pocahontas prevnting a battle between the English and her father’s army, and the villain gets something of a comeuppance, but a lot of the story is left open which is continued in the straight to VHS sequel that was actually one of the better straight to video Disney movies form the 90s. This story would explore Pocahontas meeting her real love interest and places her in England.
A solid Disney film which is fun, if not the most fun of the 90s Disney movies. It does have a lot of character and heart though and a good soundtrack. It’s a rare Disney classic that is inspired by true events instead of a fairy tale, and as such is incredibly inaccurate.
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