After a nine-year absence...

Rating: 8/10 (20 November 2007)

... of watching this movie, I literally forgot everything about it.. except for "Colors of the Wind." So I was able to view it quite objectively.
Okay, let's get one thing straight: this film is BY NO MEANS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE! Pocahontas wasn't a young woman when John Smith met her, but rather a young girl; she never fell in love with Captain Smith (there are some scholars who speculate on whether or not he actually tried to *rape* her); Pocahontas wasn't her real name, but a Hebrew nickname meaning "playful one," given to her by the English (her real name was Matoaka); and I could go on and on about the history they got wrong in this movie. I suppose that, if I were an American Indian, perhaps I would be offended by this portrayal of Pocahontas, but since I'm a Euro-American with a very small part of American Indian (my great-great grandfather was a Blackfoot, adopted by an Irish family; and my great-great--uh, great?--grandmother was a Cherokee who walked the trail of tears), I can view this movie with less of a bias.
The reason that I hadn't seen this movie in nine years was because, back when I was a little kid (I'm sixteen now), I cried. I was so used to Disney 'happy-endings' that I was saddened by the outcome of Pocahontas. And I refused to watch it ever again, so my mom sold it at the next garage sale. But after watching it now, I can appreciate how Pocahontas isn't Cinderella: she doesn't have a spare glass slipper so she can marry the prince; she's not Sleeping Beauty, who can just be kissed by her true love while she rests in ageless sleep; and she's not The Little Mermaid, whose fins are miraculously turned into human legs by her father so she can marry a human prince. Pocahontas and John SMith came from two very different worlds, ones that would fight for hundreds of years over the ownership of the "New World." I am glad, actually, that the ending isn't stereotypical Disney, but rather bittersweet and unforgettable. I love the fact that this is a Disney movie for emotionally mature audiences. I don't recommend it for children under thirteen.
The music in this movie is amazing. "Colors of the Wind" won the Oscar, but I honestly think "Just Around the Riverbend" and "If I Never Knew You" are better! It's not just the wonderful melodies that add to the magic of Pocahontas, but also the deep, dark lyrics.
I give this 8/10. Unfairly underrated.