Pocahontas (1995)
Directed by Mike Gabriel
Pocahontas, daughter of a Native American tribe chief, falls in love with an English soldier as colonists invade 17th century Virginia.
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7 films that influenced Pocahontas
What critics say influenced Pocahontas
Despite a comfortably profitable run in theaters, Pocahontas was still regarded as the first significant box-office disappointment at Disney in years, and it was one of only two films to violate an otherwise uninterrupted run of Disney features each outgrossing their immediate predecessors that began when The Great Mouse Detective outperformed The Black Cauldron .
That Disney has received support from Native American groups is irrelevant -- how can the studio whitewash this story as a Romeo and Juliet conflict?
(Actually, it's closer to West Side Story, but never mind.)
Disney's successes The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast were behind them, and they hadn't yet begun to adopt that smooth angular style stemming from Chuck Jones, or the wide-eyed use of scale from Japanese anime.
And with "Pocahontas," Disney's 33rd animated feature and the latest in the increasingly popular modern series that has gone from "The Little Mermaid" to "The Lion King," the spell, though hardly broken, is showing increasing signs of wear.
Composer Alan Menken kept his streak alive with “Pocahontas,” winning Academy Awards for Best Song and Score, just as he did for “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Aladdin.”
The heroines of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs , Cinderella , and Sleeping Beauty all have this skill, but Ariel of The Little Mermaid and Belle of Beauty and the Beast absolutely do not: Ariel is a sea creature communicating with other sea creatures, subjects in her father's kingdom, while Belle (who, like Cinderella, is not actually a princess) never even tries to speak to woodland creatures.
The dramatic challenge in the movie (as it is in " The Little Mermaid ") is that her father disapproves of the man she loves, because he belongs to a different race.
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American Indian activist-actor Russell Means (“The Last of the Mohicans”) proclaimed it the best treatment of American Indians Hollywood has ever produced.
We also get five ho-hum songs, Jean Stapleton doing her best Beauty and the Beast-era Angela Lansbury, and Donal Gibson doing his best big-brother Mel as John Smith.
And it is--not as playful and crowd-pleasing as Aladdin or The Little Mermaid, not as thematically resonant as The Lion King , nor as all-around brilliant as Beauty and the Beast .
Disney's successes The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast were behind them, and they hadn't yet begun to adopt that smooth angular style stemming from Chuck Jones, or the wide-eyed use of scale from Japanese anime.
Composer Alan Menken kept his streak alive with “Pocahontas,” winning Academy Awards for Best Song and Score, just as he did for “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast,” and “Aladdin.”
Despite obvious similarities -- Menken's music, a heroine who doesn't want her father to choose her husband, and a small legion of animals -- Pocahontas is actually something of a departure from the recent batch of releases (A Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King).
And it is--not as playful and crowd-pleasing as Aladdin or The Little Mermaid, not as thematically resonant as The Lion King , nor as all-around brilliant as Beauty and the Beast .
Worse, since the overrated The Lion King had been such a huge hit, Pocahontas tries to copy some of its somber social significance.
And with "Pocahontas," Disney's 33rd animated feature and the latest in the increasingly popular modern series that has gone from "The Little Mermaid" to "The Lion King," the spell, though hardly broken, is showing increasing signs of wear.
And, as in "The Lion King," the landscape includes a precipice from which the characters can survey their domain - a rock jutting out into the sky, making an ideal pulpit for sweeping sentiments.