← Back to Reviews
 
MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... viewing day count
266 .......................... 313

__________________________


November 10th

—— 1995 ——
POCAHONTAS
—— animation ——
DISNEY CLASSIC no.33

REWATCH
So, this is the film that was supposed to follow up the success of The Lion King?
No wonder why this film was so poorly received upon release…


That said though, it is admittedly sad to see that this movie had to be prematurely covered up in such a colossal and conquering shadow of such masterpiece as ‘The Lion King’, but you can’t actually blame anyone for anticipating Disney to up the ante even further with their newest film, since they have basically been raising the bar for every “Renaissance” feature during this era, maybe with the exception of ‘The Rescuers Down Under’. But there is no doubt that Disney peaked with their Pride Rock epic, that is ‘The Lion King’, roaring their way to even greater success than ever before. But despite all this, can ‘Pocahontas’ poke a hole in the great success and enormous expectations of what came before it, without imitating the movie or failing to leave its own impression along the way?

After viewing it again, out of context and comparisons, ‘Pocahontas’ is not a bad film, but it is definitely a weaker Disney entry, which is still solid entertainment on its own, because even weaker Disney films are wonderful in their own way – at least until the downright dreadful later era films. Even despite the flaws, I enjoy the journey to a new world, especially because the animation is stunning and once again groundbreaking and ever so creative. The setting is perfect for this kind of beauty and the character of Pocahontas is done well – at least by Disney standards. Most of the other characters though, are flat and without thought of reason or rationality – except for what is artificially force-fed to them in shades of hollow clichés and caricaturistic cultural shortcomings, which unfortunately also haunts the script. This is also more of a story with Pocahontas in it than a story about Pocahontas; meaning we don’t cover much true ground, and funnily enough aim for more spiritual highs as well, and while it works fine on its own, the source material merely feels like a dictionary rather than a direct adaption. Alas, that is Disney as we know them, but nevertheless Pocahontas deserved better in my personal opinion.

Thankfully, as a visual and aural spectacle, Disney draws something that definitely draws you in at times, with good music despite some weak songs that are a bit flat in their writing, with the exception of the excellent ‘Colors of the Wind’. In the hands of less talented people, this could have been a downright disaster. But even during weaker outings, Disney knows their animation, magic and marvelous though less impactful entertainment, which does bring evidence of greatness to the table without testing the strength of the table or flipping it over to try something entirely different. Overall, I did love the vibe and balance between human and forest, especially when Pocahontas was alone in the film. But because of a weak villain and empty idiotic characters, the parts with the English people weren't that enjoyable. I kept wanting to return to Pocahontas. But in the end of it all, I guess I don’t really want to keep returning to Pocahontas as a movie, but it is enjoyable enough on its own and I understand both the love and hate for this. So despite of receiving some headwind and colorful criticism on its way to the cinema, it honestly made it out better than we feared…




__________________________