Disney Princess Review: Pocahontas

Pocahontas

All right, well here we are with one of my least favorite movies of all time: Pocahontas. It’s not that I hate this movie; it just never really piqued my full interest over all. It has a lot of great points. While “Colors of the Wind” is not that good a song in my opinion, its visuals and colors give it a lot of presence and power to it. Looking at the film, I think that is mostly what many people like about the film. The story is not that interesting let alone inaccurate and overdone. Just about everyone who had seen this movie when it came out had already learned about it mostly at school. Going back to the artwork it does have a somewhat more realistic look to it, other than the talking tree (which I never got but she was funny at times) the film is more real than most Disney films up to this point, like Sleepy Hollow or 101 Dalmatians. I think this would have been better if it was treated as small piece: white man arrives on new land, meets Native American girl, they fall in love, etc. but more as an orchestration.

The villain is not that interesting; Ratcliff never seemed to have the drive or energy that other great villains had. He was made a bit more real like a lot of the film but he never seemed to wow me within either of the films. John Smith is somewhat bland and serves as the avatar for the audience who learns what we are supposed to. He is also the only Disney male to get the girl and then be dumped for another though Disney doesn’t really acknowledge that. The music is not that great in my opinion, “Colors of the Wind” is the best song but I often think it can be a bit too heavy emotionally. “Mine, Mine, Mine,” has to be the worst song for a villain as while catchy and a little funny it does not really do anything. “Savages” is GREAT, but it is not a villain song, it’s somewhat like the last part of the “Kill the Beast” from Beauty and the Beast.

Now one of the best elements of this movie is the comedy between Meeko, Percy, and Flit. It is a bit weird that despite this film being about communicating with nature, the animals do NOT talk. That isn’t really a problem because the comedy between the three relies on them just being animals and the realism this film brings is one of it’s greatest strengths. The chief was a really strong part of the movie, he was very stoic but also cared a lot about his daughter.

I enjoy looking at this film more than I do watching it, I don’t mind the historical inaccuracies and I do like the direction it went but it just can’t keep my attention. The music doesn’t do much for me, the villain isn’t that great, but the work put into the animation and music do make it worth at least one watch.

The sequel (though I do not think this film warranted one) is not much better, the music is forgettable and the great visuals are GONE and John Smith gets dumped though in her defense he was believed to be dead. It even brings Ratcliff back just for him to fail AGAIN! At least when Jafar came back you still felt like he was a threat, Ratcliff now works the political scene where he tries to be the great manipulator like Jafar and Grima Wormtongue which I think works but again nothing to do. John Rolfe, who became the second love interest of Pocahontas, is not even considered to be her love interest in the eyes of Disney (so you have to wonder which John gets screwed over more). This is another piece of evidence to prove that Disney has trouble with sequels. 

Now on to Pocahontas. While the movies did not really make her that interesting at first glance if we take a step back she is actually pretty interesting. Her refusal s to marry the man her father picks out for he because he is too serious, makes her somewhat similar to Belle and Jasmine. She deals with a lot: imperialism, racism, losing the man she loved and being stuck in a strange land, while trying to save her people. Because of how much the film tried to be culturally accurate she is very spiritual and I think if the movie were more popular she would have made a great party member in Kingdom Hearts. She likes to play around and have fun but knows when to put it aside by the second film. In the first film well . . . . . . . let’s just say a woman who jumps off of a waterfall is not exactly what I would consider fun but then again I’m weird.  I think she would have been better if she was not treated as an inaccurate history lesson. The first film has her showing limited interest in John Smith’s culture because she spends most of her time teaching him. If this incarnation of her was real I think she would have something to with the Tribal Police or even a teacher because that is pretty much all the movie really shows us about her. I would say she warrants a C- to a B and that B is because I think if the movie were done better she would be more interesting in my opinion.