Pocahontas (G)
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Caution: spoilers.

This came out in 1995. I probably first saw it on VHS sometime in the mid-to-late 90s. I always sort of thought of this as part of the Disney Renaissance, but I guess it actually came after that ended. I've always found it a bit problematic, because it conflicted with the real history I had learned in grade school. And long after I saw it, I learned to also have a problem with its use of cultural appropriation. But I thought I'd still be able to enjoy it, if I ever rewatched it. When I did so in 2024, however, I found that I mostly couldn't.

It starts in England, with a bunch of sailors and colonists singing about the Virginia Company as they prepare to sail to the New World. They're led by Captain John Smith, who we see engaging in some heroics during the voyage. Then we see a group of Powhatan warriors returning home from a battle. Their chief wants his daughter, Pocahontas, to marry the best warrior, Kocoum, but Pocahontas would rather choose her own destiny. She's very free-spirited, and doesn't like how serious Kocoum is. She also has a couple of comic relief animal friends, a raccoon named Meeko and a hummingbird named Flit. And she seeks advice from Grandmother Willow, a talking tree, who she tells about a dream she had that she thinks is prophetic. She's the first one to see the Englishmen arrive in her people's territory, which Governor Ratcliffe claims for England and names Jamestown, after their king. They immediately start building a fort and digging for gold (which they never find). Oh, and Ratcliffe has a pet pug named Percy, who doesn't get along with Meeko when they meet.

After spending some time secretly following John Smith, Pocahontas eventually meets him, and despite his thinking of her people as savages, they fall in love. I'm usually able to suspend disbelief on how quickly that kind of thing happens in movies, but here it felt especially egregious to me, considering how much of the plot outside themselves hinged on their relationship. And I really think Pocahontas had no reason at all to love John. He barely had any reason to love her, either, though I will say she made him start to rethink his attitudes about various things. (But I can't help thinking if the first native he met had been a man, he would have killed him immediately and there would have been no hope for peace.) Oh, and I found it completely unbelievable that Pocahontas instantly learned to understand English, by "listening with her heart".

Well, a lot of stuff happens that I don't need to go into detail about, but one night when Pocahontas goes out to secretly meet with John, her best friend Nakoma tells Kocoum that she's worried about Pocahontas, who she thinks may be in trouble. So he goes out to look for Pocahontas, and finds her kissing John. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe had sent a man named Thomas to follow John. When Kocoum attacks John, Thomas shoots and kills Kocoum. John tells Thomas to get out of there, and soon after that more of Pocahontas's people show up and capture John, whom they believe killed Kocoum. Both sides prepare for war, each side believing the other to be savages. (And Ratcliffe falsely believed the Powhatan had gold he could steal.) I do think the movie makes the English seem more guilty than the Powhatan, but there's a certain degree of "both sides-ism" that bothered me. It's also hard to believe that the English eventually turned against Ratcliffe, and that Pocahontas's father forgave John. Though it helps that John later saved his life. So anyway, peace was established on the brink of war.

I don't know what else to say about the plot, except I'm glad Pocahontas and John didn't end up together. There are a couple of songs I have always found memorable, "Just Around the Riverbend" and especially "Colors of the Wind". But for the most part the film was completely unbelievable and just in general not that good, even setting aside all the historical whitewashing. (And we should not set that aside.) I'm sure I must have liked it better when I first saw it, and I still basically like Pocahontas as a character. I had forgotten about the existence of some characters, including Nakoma, who I also liked, this time around. But I didn't really like any other characters. I feel kind of bad about not liking it more than I did this time, but also kind of glad I didn't. Aside from glaring historical inaccuracies, it's not a terrible film, but... the story is at best kind of okay.

There was a direct to video sequel, which I haven't seen and don't plan to.