Some distinct failings here..

Rating: Null/10 (6 August 2002)

Most people can this film immediately for it not being historically accurate, even though it never claims to be. Personally I don't understand why a film that uses loose renditions of characters that once existed is immediately saddled with the burden of being historically accurate down to the smallest nuance. (Will someone please find me the "Based on a True Story" that is subliminally hidden somewhere in the credits of this film?) "Pocahontas" suffers for other reasons, namely a lot of very flat, murky backgrounds that do not provide interaction the way The Lion King's did. Everywhere you look in this film, there is a black and bluish green haze that is supposed to represent the unspoiled American forests of old, and characters who dash around it as though they actually understand that it's just airbrushed cardboard standing up to block the viewer from seeing grips on their coffee break. Yes, this whole movie is an animated version of soundstage filming, and one gets the sense that the only way those trees could be alive would be to have one actually sprout a face and start talking. What a shame that it was only during the musical numbers that the creators brought vividness to this potentially beautiful landscape, and left it very dreary everywhere else. Really, the songs are the only parts of this movie that have passion in them, and it doesn't help that most of the main characters (including John Smith and Chief Powhattan) are kept as flat as the backgrounds. Right when the dialogue starts to get interesting and personality threatens to appear, the scene is interrupted by various forms of interruption which seem to interrupt solely for the purpose of curtailing the development of the characters. There is something corny about the climax of this movie as well, that the two warring parties are singing as they prepare to kill one another. The animals characters are endearing, but it's the humans that are necessary to make this film successful, and not one of them has half the charm of Meeko. Worth renting for the music and some clever scenes, but this one's just not powerful or moving enough to be a classic.