Plantiana Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Roxie The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

moviecritichank-7 Pocahontas is the 33rd full-length animated feature released by Walt Disney Pictures in 1995. Billed by Disney with the tagline of "An American Legend Brought to Life", it is the story of the free-spirited Pocahontas who seeks to convince her father Chief Powhatan to make peace between her Native American tribe and the English settlers of the New World of Jamestown that arrive in search of gold and prosperity. During the production of this film, then Chairman of the Walt Disney Studios Jeffrey Katzenberg regarded Pocahontas as a home run film film for Disney in light of what he thought to be the more mature story in comparison to "The Lion King", which was released a year earlier. However, while it was the 4th highest grossing film world-wide in '95 and did pretty well on the home video market in '96, this film didn't quite live up to the standard set by its predecessors like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King. However, while it's my least favorite film of the storied Disney Renaissance era, there were still some things that I actually liked about the film which I will highlight in this review.I'd say that like most of the Disney films that came out before (and especially during) the Renaissance period for Disney, Pocahontas is very strong in the music department! Before I ever saw this movie, I remember being in awe of the song "Colors of the Wind", which is the scene that appeared in the previews for the VHS of The Lion King. In spite of the shallow character development (which I will highlight in this review), Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz did a fantastic job on the songs and the score in this movie. For me, the song "If I Never Knew You" takes the cake for best song in this movie and it's only sung in the credits for the theatrical version of the film. I liked how deep the lyrics are as they highlight the meaning behind John Smith's line "I'd rather die tomorrow than live 100 years without knowing you", which he quotes to Pocahontas right before he is to be executed the next dawn. I do wish that they left the song in the final cut of the film, but it is on the special edition DVD/Blu-Ray version. I also enjoyed the song "Savages" mainly because it highlights the animosity that the settlers have towards the Native Americans for capturing John Smith as well as the animosity that the Native Americans have towards the settlers and John Smith for the death of one of their own (even though it wasn't him that pulled the trigger). The song serves as a reminder to us that we should never justify killing/wanting to kill someone out of hatred just because they might be different than us. Now for the weaknesses of the film. Oh boy, where to start! While the movie is based off of the Native American legend and the Disney animators did the right thing by going to Jamestown to get the inspiration for their animation, they definitely missed the ball in a few areas. Let's touch on some of the historical inaccuracies for a bit. In 1607 (the year that the settlers arrived to Jamestown and which the movie is set), Pocahontas (who was born in 1596) was around 10-11 years old when she met John Smith, who was 26-27 years old at the time. Did that matter to Disney though? No, because they just had to make this a love story in the vein of Beauty and the Beast and Little Mermaid. However, unlike Pocahontas, those stories are fairy tales. This is key part of American history and now that I'm older I definitely think that Disney did a great disservice to children by taking what could've been an educational introduction to the Native American legend by giving them a love story that didn't happen in real life. Anyways, as far as character development is concerned, while not nearly as dull, wooden, bland, and static as Aurora, Snow White, or Cinderella, Pocahontas (voiced by Irene Bedard) is still a pretty boring and one-dimensional character with very little motive to her, which is a shame with her being the main protagonist and all. While also underdeveloped and one-dimensional, I found her best friend Nakoma to be a much more interesting character than that of Pocahontas. The rest of the Native Americans such as Chief Powhatan (voiced by Russell Means) and Kocoum (who is your basic stereotypical jock placed in colonial times) were pretty flat and boring too. I actually found the settlers to be much more entertaining, mainly the comic screwball Wiggins! As far as John Smith (voiced by Mel Gibson) is concerned, I would've much rather seen him portrayed with the harsh and gruff exterior that he showed to his men in real life. The best characters in this film were Meeko, Flit (voiced by Frank Welker), and Grandmother Willow (voiced by Linda Hunt), who is by far one of the wisest characters that Disney has ever created. Another thing that made the four films which preceded this one (and a few that came after it) was a strong, round, and dynamic Disney antagonist. In this one we get Governor Ratcliffe (voiced by the late great Disney legend David Ogden Stiers). While he did a good job (as he always does) of voicing the character, Ratcliffe still remains a forgettable villain when compared to the likes of Scar, Jafar, Hades, Frollo, and other villains in the Disney catalog as he lacked that despicable, disgusting nature that is trademark of a memorable Disney villain. So, while I think that this movie as a whole is the weakest of this era of Disney magic in regards to story (not being historically factual) and character development (being shallow and one-dimensional), it was still a decently animated film with great songs and music that deserves at least one viewing. Not my favorite (even though I did own it on VHS growing up), but still worth showing to your kids on family movie night! Rating: 7/10.

Jesper Brun Pocahontas is not a wildly exciting movie, on the contrary it is quite dull. I have watched it many times and the only memorable things about it was the background artwork and "Colors of the Wind". Those two things were amazing, but I found the most of the characters overly boring and the plot overly predictable. The character designs were also a displeasing expirience.I admit it was nice seeing Disney do more adult themes, but when it is done this way and still trying to maintain traditions of the company it just doesn't get real. Don't get me started on the history aspect of it, it really sucks. And my number one complaint about Pocahontas. Ratcliffe is one of the blandest and most "constructed" villains in any Disney movie, period. He is a greedy white guy who just wants gold, gold, gold! And his characters design has everything unlikable about him and not in a fun or intimidating way like Disney has done before, but more like a parody. And what happened to our main character's design? Is Pocahontas' design the inspiration to the Bratz dolls if anybody remembers? I don't know, it was just too much.I do not get why this movie won the academy award for best music, because aside from Colors... the songs are either stupid (Svages) or forgettable (the rest). In my opinion the songs and the music made for Hunchback deserved an academy award far more than Pocahontas. Pocahontas and Hercules are the weakest movies of the Disney Renaissance, but Hercules at least offered us some fun and a great villain which Pocahontas didn't.

Filipe Neto This is certainly one of the most notable animation films that Disney did in the 1990s. It has an undeniable quality, with exquisitely done animations, great songs and fun suitable for children and adults. However, its impossible to get around an undeniable fact: all that the film portrays is fiction, imagined around names of historical characters who actually existed. The connection between this film and historical facts ends in these names. Everything, absolutely everything else, was created in the minds of Disney's writers and creators. So pay attention, history teachers and parents: don't think that this movie has any connection with history. Another problem of the film is to approach in a very stereotyped and slight way the two confronting cultures (the colonizers and the Native Americans, its understood). But since its a children's film, this kind of lightness is forgivable.One of the highlights of the movie is music. Several of his songs were remarkable, especially for my generation, who was a child when the film was released. "Colors of the Wind" is perhaps one of the most poetic songs used in a Disney movie, it stays in the ear with great ease and the animation used during the music is excellent. In fact, the synchronicity of visual animation and music is something very well made. This movie is great if it's seen as an entertainment fiction, like an animated children's movie that does not show anything true.

Sam smith (sam_smithreview) I haven't watched Pocahontas in maybe ten years, but I was feeling nostalgic one day and popped it in. I could not believe how truly BEAUTIFUL this movie is, in every aspect. STORY: Dramatic (with it's humorous moments of course), romantic, and it carries a very important message of peace, maturity, and fighting against ignorance and prejudice from BOTH sides. This is possibly the Disney movie with the greatest message for kids.ANIMATION: Drop. Dead. Gorgeous. Every single frame is such wonderful eye candy, and the camera work serves the sweeping story line extremely well.MUSIC: Aside from the songs everyone knows (Just Around the River Bend and Colors of the Wind) every single other song in the film is wonderful, with soaring harmonies and Broadway quality singing. Everything was masterfully written and executed. The music alone is reason enough for this to be adapted into a full out Broadway musical, but don't worry...the music is brilliant but it doesn't scream "MUSICAL!" like Hairspray or Mamma Mia.HISTORIC ACCURACY: Yes, Disney changed the true story quite a bit, but if you look to Disney for accurate re-telling's of historical events you have a serious PROBLEM. This movie is more 'Inspired by' than 'Based on' and since the true story is about a 13-14 year old falling in love with 30-40 year I think we can all appreciate that they took some liberties with a KIDS' MOVIE.All in all, I really don't get why this isn't revered as a classic right along with The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast.