Pocahontas Review

Pocahontas


Release Date: 24th August 1995 - Australia


Production Companies
Walt Disney Pictures (presents)
Walt Disney Feature Animation

Distribution
Walt Disney Studios Motion
Pictures Australia


Genre: Animation/Family

Rating: G

Runtime: 81 minutes


Budget: $55,000,000

Box Office Gross: $346,079,773 (Worldwide)


Plot Summary
On the shores of Virginia,
Pocahontas, the free-
spirited daughter of Chief
Powhatan, watches as a
mysterious shipload of
English settlers arrives.
Their leaders are the greedy

Governor Ratcliffe and
the brave Captain John
Smith. Pocahontas meets
the latter and strikes up

a strong relationship.
Pocahontas seeks the
living wisdom of
Grandmother Willow to
guide her in finding a way
for everyone to live

together in peace as
tensions rise between
their two very different
cultures.


Voice Cast
Irene Bedard - Pocahontas
Judy Kuhn - Pocahontas 
(singing voice)
Mel Gibson - John Smith
David Ogden Steirs - Governor 
Ratcliffe/Wiggins
John Kassir - Meeko
Russell Means - Chief Powhatan
Christian Bale - Thomas
Linda Hunt - Grandmother Willow
Danny Mann - Percy
Billy Connolly - Ben
Joe Baker - Lon
Frank Welker - Flit
Michelle St. John - Nakoma
James Apaumut Fall - Kocoum
Gordon Tootoosis - Kekata
Jim Cummings - Chief
Powhatan/Kekata (singing voices)

Crew
Based on an Idea/Visual
Development/Character
Designer/Director - Mike Gabriel
Director - Eric Goldberg
Story/Character Designer/
Visual Development/
Supervising Animator:
"Pocahontas" - Glen Keane
Story/Character Designer/
Visual Development - Joe Grant
Story/Character Designer/
Visual Development/Video
Reference Cast/Supervising
Animator: "Ratcliffe" - Duncan Marjoribanks

Story/Character Designer/
Visual Development/
Supervising Animator: "Percy,

Grandmother Willow & Wiggins" - Chris Buck
Story - Ralph Zondag,

Burny Mattinson, Ed Gombert,

Kaan Kalyon, Francis Glebas, Rob Gibbs,

Bruce Morris and Todd Kurosawa
Additional Story Development -

Andrew Chapman, Randy Cartwright,

Vincent DeFrances, Tom Mazzocco, 

Don Dougherty and Jorgen Klubien
Additional Story/Visual Development - Will Finn
Additional Story Development/Animator: "Percy" -
Broose Johnson
Additional Story Development/Supervising

Animator: "Ben & Lon" - T. Daniel Hofstedt
Additional Story Development/Supervising

Animator: "Flit & Forest Animals" - David Pruiksma
Additional Story Development/Supervising

Animator: "Meeko" - Nik Ranieri
Writers - Carl Binder, Susannah Grant
and Phillip LaZebnik

Associate Producer - Baker Bloodworth
Producer - James Pentecost

Casting Directors - Brian Chavanne and

Ruth Lambert
Artistic Supervisor: Story - Tom Sito
Art Director/Character Designer/

Visual Development - Michael Giaimo

Character Designers/Visual Development -

Guy Deel, Vance Gerry, Jean Gillmore,

Darek Gogol, Ian Gooding, Bruce Zick

and Kathy Zielinski

Artistic Coordinator - Dan Hansen

Artistic Supervisor: Layout - Razoul Azadani

Artistic Supervisor: Background - Cristy Maltese

Artistic Supervisor: Background, Florida Unit -

Robert E. Stanton

Senior Manager: Production - Dana Axelrod

Supervising Animator: "John Smith" - John Pomeroy
Supervising Animator: "Powhatan" - Ruben A. Aquino
Supervising Animator: "Nakoma" - Anthony de Rosa
Supervising Animator: "Thomas" - Ken Duncan

Supervising Animator: "Kocoum" - Michael Cedeno

Additional Animation - Ellen Woodbury

Artistic Supervisor: Cleanup, Florida Unit -

Ruben Procopio

Artist: Pocahontas Animation Discovery

Adventure/Inbetweener: Additional Cleanup

Animation - Saul Blinkoff

Artistic Supervisor: Visual Effects - Don Paul

Artistic Supervisors: Visual Effects, Florida Unit -

Jeff Dutton and Dave Tidgwell

Artistic Supervisor: Computer Graphics Imagery -

Steve Goldberg

Pre-Production Effects Development -

Dave Bossert and Chris Jenkins

Additional CGI Animation - Rob Bekuhrs,

Sandra M. Groeneveld and Kevin Sheedy
Songs: Music/Original Score/Songs and

Score Producer - Alan Menken
Songs: Lyrics/Songs Producer - Stephen Schwartz

Editor - H. Lee Peterson

Animation Editor - James Melton

Associate Editor - Mark Hester

Additional Editors - Ellen Keneshea

and Sandy Nervig

First Assistant Editor - Tim Mertens

Supervising Sound Editors - Larry Kemp

and Lon Bender

Sound Effects Editors - Scott Martin Gershin,

Rick Morris, Alan Rankin, Joseph Phillips,

Peter J. Lehman, Brian McPherson and

Anthony J. Miceli

ADR Supervisor - Curt Schulkey

Re-Recording Mixers - Terry Porter,

Mel Metcalfe and Dean A. Zupancic

Foley Artists - John Roesch and

Hilda Hodges

Songs Conductor/Vocal Arrangements/

Contractor - David Friedman

Executive Music Producer - Chris Montan


Awards

1996 Academy Awards
Best Music, Original Song "Colors of the Wind" -
Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (Won)
Best Music, Original Musical or Comedy Score -
Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz (Won)


Review
POCAHONTAS is the best-looking movie from Disney that has ever done, with good animation and vivid art direction. However, it is a problematic film, rife with inconsistencies that hurt it somehow. These include historical inaccuracies, animal characters that don't talk (like Meeko, Flit and Percy), a weak villain and a bittersweet ending. The former and latter are because Disney is willing to overlook the history of the real-life Pocahontas and the events despite the research the filmmakers took but decided to ignore it in favour of a fictionalised story. The things about the film which are worthwhile are the voice acting of Mel Gibson, David Odgen Stiers and Christian Bale and three songs by Alan Menken including "Steady as the Beating Drum", the Oscar-winning "Colors of the Wind" and "Savages".

It's funny how most Disney animators and executives thought POCAHONTAS had the potential to become the ultimate hit for the studio instead of The Lion King. It turns out that it was the opposite, and it is one of those animated movies that tried so hard to be better, but it ends up being average.

Star rating: (3/5) Average

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