The Island Cinephile

Pocahontas: A Different Type of Disney Animation

Directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg

“My daughter speaks with the wisdom beyond her years. We’ve all come here with anger in our hearts… but she comes with courage and understanding. From this day forward, if there is to be more killing… it will not start with me.”

Powhatan

Pocahontas is an animated musical crafted by Walt Disney Pictures and loosely based on the life of a Powhatan woman called Pocahontas. It narrates colonization by English settlers and Pocahontas’ encounter with one of them, John Smith. Upon meeting, they begin to fall in love with each other. As external pressures increase on each side, both Pocahontas and John face issues that keep them apart. 

With beautiful, vibrant colors the film is a treat to behold but the animation just falls flat sometimes. There are many songs composed by Alan Menken which subsequently won an Academy Award, that being “Colors of the Wind.” The romance between Pocahontas and John Smith brought a different, yet welcomed perspective on accepting people’s differences and unlearning prejudices. However, the characters themselves were a bit uninteresting. Those non-human, side-kick characters were exasperating at times and their antics got old quickly. Finally, the messaging about accepting others differences to live amicably is a necessary one but historically untrue as the power of love and acceptance did not stop the atrocities committed by the English. 

Pocahontas is evidently not one of Disney’s finest as they attempted a new animation style and way of storytelling to bring an unorthodox perspective. There is nothing wrong with trying, all it needed was better execution. 

Watch trailer for Pocahontas.