#19 – Pocahontas (1995)
Best Character: Pocahontas
Worst Character: Thomas
What I love most about this film is
The animation’s good and the songs are great.
My ranking’s always changing, always shifting.
But people, I guess, don’t like this film.
Too many think it’s dull.
To be great, it needs a better story!
WHAT’S AROUND THE RIVERBEND
WAITING JUST AROUND THE RIVERBEND
I LOOK ONCE MO-
Alright, enough of that. On to the actual write-up!
The characters, while not as strong as their contemporaries from the Disney Renaissance, are likable for the most part. Pocahontas is a great lead. I don’t know why she doesn’t receive more popularity, and I wish I could help her out more in the next Disney contest. You and me, Suor. We’re taking her to the top in the contest after next. She has a beautiful voice, a caring personality and single-handedly prevents a war from devastating her people. She is by far my favorite character in the film. Alongside Pocahontas is John Smith, and frankly I really don’t understand why he’s so forgettable. He’s kind, daring, and actually receives a good amount of screen time in the film. There’s just something boring about him. I can’t quite place it. As for the villain, Governor John Ratcliffe is the worst the Disney Renaissance has to offer. Yes, worse than Clayton and worse than McLeach. He’s just this pompous old guy that really doesn’t do much. He rallies his troops and stirs them up against the Indians, but that’s about it. His saving grace is the song “Savages,” which is actually quite good.
As for the side characters, the film has some good and some bad. Let’s start with the bad – all of the explorers save for John Smith. Thomas is ridiculously inept at everything he does. In the very opening minutes he falls overboard only to be rescued by John Smith. Then later he spies on John Smith as he’s leaving the campsite and is told to follow him. And if that wasn’t enough he ultimately shoots Kocoum and completely flips out. His female equivalent on Team Indian is Nakoma, who is also terrible for constantly ratting out Pocahontas and ultimately being the one who inadvertently sends Kocoum to his death. Now to the good! Even though Ermine isn’t following the topic, I have to give a shout out to Meeko. I’ve really come around to Meek over the years, as he’s really the only comedic relief the film has to offer. His antics with Flit, Percy and even with John Smith and his crackers are all very welcome additions. Not to mention Meeko is super cute, so there’s that. The other side characters aren’t as memorable, but a few are okay I suppose. Grandmother Willow, Chief Powhatan and even Wiggins all had their moments I enjoyed.
One of my main issues with the film is that the relationship between Pocahontas and John Smith isn’t very convincing. For starters, the way they fall in love is pretty unbelievable. John Smith just stares at her and immediately falls head over heels in love. For someone who has been to “hundreds” of new worlds, you would think he’d be able to handle a native woman. Nope! I also didn’t like how Pocahontas was able to understand John Smith immediately. The film just whispered the words “Listen with your heart. You will understand” in the background alongside some spiraling leaves and called it good. It’s a silly copout that really shouldn’t have been done given how serious the film was trying to take itself. The animators should have focused more on body language and communicating that way as opposed to taking the easy path and magically making Pocahontas and John Smith communicate with each other.