Pocahontas; A flawed, but beautiful masterpiece.

Rating: 7/10 (14 April 2014)

"Pocahontas" is a film which stands with a bad reputation. While it fortunately has a fan base, it's also a film that many people loves to hate with a passion. After all, many consider it as the picture that ended the Disney Renaissance that began so promisingly with "The Little Mermaid" and the films that followed "Pocahontas" grossed less (with the exception of "Tarzan"). While "Pocahontas" wasn't a box office failure, it made less money than it's predecessors. Most animation fans know that "Pocahontas" was originally going to be the ambitious project and "The Lion King" was seen as the inferior picture. However, the tables turned and "Pocahontas" suffered the fate of being the inferior follow-up to "The Lion King".
Despite that "Pocahontas" have always been a favorite of mine, it's easy to see why the film has failed to connect with many. Despite being deeply steeped in the Disney formula, it does comes across as a departure from the earlier Renaissance films, as being more serious and somber at times. The film had also many things against it, as being the first film based on historical events (though the story of Pocahontas is surrounded by myths), the PC-message about tolerance, the depiction of Native Americans and the portrayal of Pocahontas herself as a Native American version of Barbie. The former issues are enough to hamper the movie and along with "The Lion King" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "Pocahontas" was a part of the new Disney trend of making more serious, epic pictures, but the ambition seemed more to hurt the film than to help it. So therefore "Pocahontas" will probably never seen as the same league as the earlier films from the Renaissance.
Besides the obvious flaws, the strengths of this movie excels. First of all; The visuals are amazing. With grand, spectacular views of the Virginian Forrest and bright, pastel colors, the film is a feast for the eyes. The color scheme are quite noteworthy, with adding some deep colors that bathes the entire scene and it's characters. The vertical design of the Forrest is also successful, as are the characters designs, more angular than you usually expect from Disney. In terms of character animation, "Pocahontas" is superior to it's predecessors, bringing the "character acting" to new heights, by letting tiny, subtle expressions on the humans faces be obvious. The music is wonderful, simply being Menken's best work. While the music for his former films were great, "Pocahontas" blows them out of the water. Stephen Schwartz lyrics are also quite successful, from the depiction of Native American phrases and philosophy from "Steady As The Beating Drum"/"Colors of the Wind" and surprisingly hard-hitting and spiteful rhymes in "Savages" (though Schwartz would outdo himself even further with his lyrics for "Hellfire" in "Hunchback).
"Pocahontas" have been criticized for it's weak and bland characterizations, but I have to disagree. The characters may not light up the screen, but they are certainly not entirely detestable. Although a few of them can be grating at times (Percy, Flit and Nakoma), the rest of the characters are acceptable. Pocahontas herself has been criticized for being bland and boring and while she comes across as reserved, she still possesses a dignity and strength that makes her appealing. She's as headstrong and adventurous Ariel and Belle, but she's definitively a more complex and mature character than both of them. Irene Bedard and Judy Kuhn beautiful voices compliments her character. Although Smith is a charming main lead, he comes across as a inferior character, thanks to Mel Gibson's weak performance. Ratcliffe may come across as a weak villain, but he does possess some personality now and then. Russell Means brings dignity and power to Chief Powhatan, while Christian Bale delivers a likable Thomas. Billy Connolly and Joe Baker delivers some fun to Ben and Lon and David Ogden Stiers delivers some spark to Wiggins (as he also did with Ratcliffe). The most successful character is indeed Grandmother Willow, beautifully conveyed by Linda Hunt. Secondary comes Meeko, stealing every scene that he's in.
Where "Pocahontas" falls flat is on it's ambition. The movie does comes across as "trying too hard" at times. Besides the interactions between the animals and a few one liners, the film doesn't really rely on humor. While other Disney films excels with their serious tones, "Pocahontas" comes across as being somber and melancholic at times, which is a sign of the film trying too hard to be serious and epic. I personally didn't mind the PC-message and the lack of a climatic battle. But the worst aspect of the movie lies on the script, being very straightforward and delivering some obvious plot holes. An example of it is how the lovebirds learns to understand each other by listening with their hearts. For a film striving to be realistic, such a plot hole is laughable. But the worst example lies in the ending. While the ambition of giving a tragic ending is admirable and the ending is an emotionally heart-wrenching moment, it could have been more hopeless and less contrived (yes, the historical Smith was sent back to England, but there is possibility that he would have died during the voyage).
Besides that, "Pocahontas" remains one of my favorites and it is a good movie on it's own merits. It does have some obvious flaws, but it's strengths excels. It is a movie that I'm not ashamed to say that I enjoy and it is a movie that deserves to be appreciated.