Pocahontas (1995) - ★★★

Director: Mike Gabriel, Eric Goldberg
Voice Actors: Irene Bedard, Judy Kuhn, Mel Gibson, David Ogden Stiers, Christian Bale, Billy Connolly, Linda Hunt, Russell Mean

Here's how I think the movie Pocahontas was conceived:

"Hey, let's have a Native American Disney Princess."
"Sounds good, who can we use."
"Pocahontas?"
"I think we've hit the jackpot!"

Yes, Disney has tried to do the impossible by making a children's movie out of America's brutal history with the Native Americans. I didn't find it offensive, but I didn't find it very entertaining either. It's one of the most beautiful animated films I've ever seen, and best of all, it has the most beautiful Disney song of all time. "Colors of the Wind," sung by Judy Kuhn.


Basically, the Native American's are at bliss with their beautiful land and way of life. They farm, they laugh and they love... but then an English explorer with a lust for gold decides to invade their land. On one side we have Pocahontas, a wild-child and beautiful woman that wants to discover her 'path in life.' On the other side, we have an Englishman named John Smith, who is renowned for teaching savages a lesson in other countries (but apparently he's a good guy). Anyway, these two fall in love in the midst of a conflict between the Native Americans and English. It's like an unintelligent Romeo and Juliet.

Just Pocahontas being all free spirited 'n stuff.

To me, Disney's most beautiful song is Colors of the Wind. I was waiting for that song to come on for the whole movie, because to me it's the peak of the film. There were two songs that were really good, and that was one of them. So in that respect, the music isn't quite as good as most Disney films, but that song more than makes up for it in my opinion. Pocahontas has a wonderful score too by Alan Menken, which truly heightens the beauty of the animation.

So far in my Disney Blogathon, this film holds 3rd place for Best Animation. The scenery was absolutely breathtaking! There was so much color and life there that it makes you want to go out and jump in a creek or something! Or roll around the grass under a willow tree! When a film can make you feel like that, then it's done a good job! However, at times I wished to just stop watching the movie and go out rolling in the grass. As a man that loves to watch films, I should never feel like that!

Yes, this movie bored the hell out of me at times. There were songs that were completely unnecessary, like when the bad guy was singing about digging up the land. I mean, COME ON! We don't need to hear you sing about mundane activities such as digging! Plus, the villain was pretty weak by Disney standards, there wasn't much to him. I can't remember his name or anything like that, so that should say it all.

Can you paint with all the colors of the wind?

Of course there were cute woodland critters that followed Pocahontas around the place. The raccoon was cute, but the hummingbird was a bit much. That little dog annoyed the hell out of me though! God! WE DON'T NEED HUMAN-LIKE ANIMALS HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE. Now that that's off my chest, I'll get back to sounding like a normal person...

I wasn't too impressed with the animation of the characters to be perfectly honest. It wasn't nearly as good as that of Beauty and the Beast or Aladdin, and they're 3 and 4 years older than Pocahontas. They just looked a bit shabby, although Pocahontas herself looked beautiful. She truly is stunning, so she'll place high on my "prettiest princesses list" (I bet you're looking forward to that one)... that was sarcasm by the way.

They've known each other for like, 2 days!

I could go on about all the things wrong with the story, but I'd rather just accept it in the same way that a child would. So Pocahontas and John Smith can understand each other instantaneously.... I can forgive that. Their relationship was pretty sweet, but not one of the more memorable ones in Disney history. In fact, just about everything in this film is forgettable.

There, I've hit the nail on the head. This movie just isn't very memorable. I can't praise the music and the animation enough. To me, they were freaking breathtaking. I'll forever sing "CAN YOU PAINT WITH ALL THE COLORS OF THE WIIIIIND!" It just gets to me every time... However, the story just sucks. It's nothing new or interesting, neither are the characters or the dialogue. As a child, I wasn't a huge fan of Pocahontas, and it looks like I feel the same way as an adult too.