Written by Carl Binder And Susannah Grant And Phil LaZebnik
Directed by Mike Gabriel And Eric Goldberg
Pocahontas: "You can own the Earth and still all you'll own is Earth, until you can paint with the colours of the wind."
Disney in the 1990s was a wild time with some of the most interesting movies that came out in that decade. Yes, there was surefire hits like Beauty And The Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. Then there was Pocahontas where Disney took the story of a real life person and told their own version of that person's history. If you're looking for historical accuracy, this will not be the movie for you.
In Virginia in the early seventeenth century there was a young Native American girl named Pocahontas (Irene Bedard) who wasn't keen on the idea of her father, Chief Powhatan (Russell Means) marrying her off to brave warrior, Kocoum (James Apaumut Fall). Kocoum wasn't a bad man, but he also wasn't one that Pocahontas was in love with either.
Pocahontas wanted more than a marriage. She had dreams, which she shared with Grandmother Willow (Linda Hunt), a talking and all knowing tree. It's not long before Pocahontas soon gets a taste of her dreams by meeting up with explorer John Smith (Mel Gibson) who has his own history with native tribes and whose thoughts on them are challenged through his interactions with Pocahontas and her tribe.
Of course John Smith isn't alone as he's working under the corrupt influence of Governor Ratcliffe (David Ogden Stiers) and the latter certainly made himself known as the villain of the piece. With an avowed hatred towards Native Americans, Ratcliffe was determined to pillage the land for gold and had no problem in getting his men riled up into killing anyone who got in their way.
This also meant quickly turning on John Smith when it became apparent the latter was more sympathetic to Pocahontas and her tribe. Even the accidental death of Kocoum and near execution of Smith wasn't enough to get John to turn on the tribe although Ratcliffe did nearly escalate bloodshed between his own group and the natives of Jamestown before Pocahpntas stepped in to save the day.
By the end of the film, Radcliffe got his just desserts, John was wounded and had to return to England for his own well being but Pocahontas herself had her own personal liberation and better relationship with her father. The near romance (which wasn't historically correct) with John Smith to one side, the movie mostly worked in Pocahontas's favour.
- This movie was also one of Christian Bale's earliest role. His voiced a young lad named Thomas, who was something of an ally to John Smith. Billy Connelly also voiced dual roles of Ben and Joe Baker.
- A straight to video sequel titled Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World was released in 1998.
- Standout music: The obvious one being Colours Of The Wind as well as If I Never Knew You and both parts of Savages.
- Chronology: 1607 Virginia and Jamestown.
Pocahontas isn't my favourite of the 1990's Disney movies and it certainly does take a lot of creative liberties with the actual historical events it attempted to portray. Saying that, it's mostly a solid entry with some great moments in it.
Rating: 7 out of 10
No comments:
Post a Comment