In the
grand scheme of Disney Renaissance movies, I’d say this is one of the lesser
ones (though that’s in part because I love so many of them so much!) The story has some definite issues, and the
score isn’t as strong as some of its contemporaries’. Still, it’s not without its qualities.
Pocahontas,
the daughter of Chief Powhattan, struggles with the conflict between duty and
dreams. Her father wants her to be a
good wife to one of the tribe’s warriors, but she feels she’s meant for
something more. When English settlers arrive,
seeking the fabled gold of the New World and fearing the “savage” natives, it
is Pocahontas’s connection with Englishman John Smith that bridges the gap
between the two cultures.
Obviously,
any Disney movie is going to play fast and loose with its source material,
smoothing out some of the more troubling elements and ensuring a happy
ending. But while the story of
Pocahontas has become a legend, it’s based
on real people and events, which makes the fictionalization and the
romanticization a bigger problem. Also,
although the film is truer to history
in showing the racism of the English settlers, I’m uncomfortable with its use
of slurs. A kids’ movie that has
characters using words like “savage” and “dirty red-skin devils”(!), even as
Pocahontas points out how wrong those attitudes are, clearly isn’t thinking
about Native American children who might want to watch it, or the white kids
who might use these words against them.
The score
is sort of middle-of-the-pack. “The
Colors of the Wind,” the film’s best-known song, is terrific, but there’s a
pretty big gap between it and the others.
“Just Around the River Bend” is a nice “I want” song, and “Savages” has
a strong melody, but again, the lyrics are troubling. Other than that, though, there’s not really
anything noteworthy. When you compare
that to a score like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, or The Lion King, Pocahontas doesn’t really measure up.
All that
said, the film does have some good points.
The animation is really wonderful, and I like Pocahontas as a character,
a young woman looking for how she fits into the grand scheme of things. Also, the movie’s animal-sidekick game is
pretty on point. Pocahontas’s friends
Meeko and Flip are adorable, and I enjoy the mini-sideplot between Meeko and
Percy, the pampered British dog.
Warnings
Cartoon
violence, scary moments for kids, racial slurs, and thematic elements.
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