Pocahontas
![Watch film Pocahontas — Pocahontas (1995): Theatrical Trailer [35mm 4K Restoration]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/LAr8SrBkDTI/sddefault.jpg)
Short description
Pocahontas is an animated musical adventure from Walt Disney Feature Animation, released in 1995. In seventeenth-century Virginia, the arrival of an English ship sends the local Powhatan people into uncertainty. John Smith, a captain among the newcomers, ventures out and meets Pocahontas, the chief's daughter. A bond forms between them, but the colonists' leader, Governor Ratcliffe, is driven by a hunger for gold, and friction between the two groups escalates toward open conflict. Guided by her friend Grandmother Willow and accompanied by her raccoon Meeko and a hummingbird, Flit, Pocahontas must decide how far she will go to prevent war and protect her people.
The film was directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg. It was Gabriel's second feature as director, following The Rescuers Down Under in 1990, and the first for Goldberg, who later directed Fantasia 2000 and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The screenplay is by Susannah Grant, Philip LaZebnik and Carl Binder, with James Pentecost producing. Irene Bedard voices Pocahontas, with Judy Kuhn providing the singing voice, while Mel Gibson plays John Smith, David Ogden Stiers plays Ratcliffe and Christian Bale appears as Thomas.
Made for 55 million dollars, Pocahontas took about 346 million dollars worldwide, a strong return on its cost. Audiences rate it moderately: 6.7 out of 10 on IMDb from roughly 217,000 votes and 6.9 out of 10 on TMDB from some 6,205 votes. At 81 minutes it is a compact entry in the studio's animated canon.
What's left behind the scenes
- After the hero of David Ogden Stiers (1942-2018) wounds the character of Mel Gibson, Pocahontas offers him willow bark to "ease the pain." Native Americans did indeed chew willow bark to relieve pain, as the bark contains salicylic acid, the basis for the production of aspirin.
- Pocahontas was a nickname given to the Native American princess Matoaka by her father, the chief of the Native American tribe who lived in the territory of modern-day Virginia. The nickname translates to 'little mischief-maker'.
- Christian Bale, who voiced Thomas, later starred in “The New World” (2005), also based on the story of Pocahontas.
- In England, Pocahontas became a celebrity and was even presented at court. She soon contracted smallpox and died on March 21, 1617, at the age of 22.
- In the first version of the script, the character 'Grandmother Willow' was written as a male, a spirit of the river. A song, “Just Around the Riverbend,” was even written for this character. The role was offered to Gregory Peck (1916-2003), but he declined, believing that the heroine needed a mentor to turn to for advice. The actor explained this to the filmmakers, who agreed with him, and changes were made to the script.
- The animators working on the project considered this film to be one of the most challenging in the history of the studio. Complex color solutions, angular shapes, facial expressions – working on all of this took a lot of time, and it took five years to create the film. The difficulties and hardships paid off handsomely. Pocahontas is considered one of the most beautiful and realistically depicted Disney characters, and her fluid movements were created using rotoscoping.
- In 1607, Pocahontas saved English adventurer Captain John Smith from death (he had been captured by Native Americans while searching for food sources for the Jamestown colony in the Chesapeake Bay), and later, by marrying another settler, she ensured peaceful coexistence between the Native Americans and the colonists.
- At the direction of the studio's management, all minor animal characters in the film were stripped of dialogue to make the narrative more serious.
- To give the picture a unique flavor and the spirit of the time of the colonization of America, specialists in Native American culture were involved in the work. A real Native American, Russell Means, voiced the role of the chief, while Captain Smith is voiced by Mel Gibson.
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