ANI-MOVIES, *Pocahontas

Disney finally decided to animate a page right out of American history, at least a full-length one since Ben And Me was a short film. Pocahontas was released during Disney's 90s Golden Age, and directed by former character animators, Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg. It was made during the rise of "politcal correctness", so the thing that probably set a number of possible movie-goers off was its more fairy tale approach to historical facts. Still way beyond the point where the public outcry on the evils of colonialism had dried up, this didn't stop the movie from scoring a big enough success with audiences, and recieving a pair of Oscars. Disney first set out to give this same tone of romantic fantasy that they had with Beauty And The Beast, despite the fact that the actual story was neither a romance or a fantasy.

In the early 17th Century, explorers from England trek across the ocean to found a settlement in the New World, where their Governor Ratcliffe has his mind set on finding gold, but ship's captain John Smith wants a fresh frontier to see. Once they reach the shore for which would eventually become the state of Virginia, the English realize that there are natives nearby, the Powhatan tribe, who had just won a minor war against a neighboring tribe. The Powhatan princess Pocahontas is betrothed to their highly decorated warrior, Kocoum. But like most Disney Princesses, Pocahantas wants to defy her tradition, even though she's already blessed with the power to talk to animals and an enchanted advice-giving tree. She runs into John Smith, and somehow the "magic" of the land allows her to understand English, making for an unexplained universal translator. The two overly attractive strangers soon end up falling for each other. This rushed romance is threatened when Ratcliffe's inability to find any gold leads him to believe the natives are hiding it all, leading to a confrontation between John Smith and Pocahontas' tribe blaming him for the death of Kocoum. Pocahontas manages to save John from being executed, in a scene that Disney would later reuse for the conclusion of Lion King II. John Smith sacrifices himself to stop Pocahontas' father from getting shot by Ratcliffe, so he has to be sent back to England in order to recover, making for one of the few Disney movies where the adoring couple don't end up together in the end.

Aside from the complete disregard for historical facts, Pocahontas engaged alot of people's interests. There is an over abundance of musical numbers and segments totally dedicated to animal sidekick antics, showing the severe lack of direction in story structure. The animation is above the norm of average Disney quality, especially in the landscapes, and some interesting choices in voice overs with Disney veteran David Ogden Steirs as the greedy Ratcliffe, as well as his lighthearted servant. The movie's success lead to a made-for-video sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World, which covers the next chapter in Pocahontas' life where she travels to England and falls in love with her true life future-husband, John Rolfe, although this also is heavily edited from its actual doctrine. It's impossible to watch Pocahontas without questioning alot of the real events, and should be more viewed as a full on fantasy/adventure.