The Black Sheep of the Disney Renaissance

This was never a favorite of mine but it's certainly better than Aristocats or Oliver and Company.

They knew Colors in the Wind was the only thing worth seeing which is why they showed the entire song in the trailer

The soundtrack is the best part (love it) and the animation is beautiful. There is no plot, though, and most of the characters are uninteresting. And yes, the tone is also inconsistent.

Disney invested huge amounts into this movie, they wanted it to be their masterpiece. They didn't expected much on Lion King and let it to the B-Team, while Pocahontas got all the best animators. And true, Pocahontas has a wonderful art style, but it also killed for me the Disney Renaissance. Good art and nice music does not save a movie.

Should this movie be required viewing in American history classes?

Well, despite how Pocahontas is essentially perceived as being the Black Sheep of the Renaissance, it`s still not a universally hated as it could`ve been. While it`s been stuck with a lackluster reputation (and not only for it`s controversy), I`ve still seen love for it, anyways. And frankly, just as with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, it`s fanbase has grown througout the years.

With that said, when I first saw Pocahontas as a child, I was so mesmerized with it, because I fell so completely in love with it. However, later viewings made me realize it`s flaws: That`s it`s dramatically uneven and a little too po-faced, preachy and serious. And as an teenager and adult I`ve also realized more of it`s flaws: The plotholes in the script, the mediocre voice acting and how the characterizations (with the exception of Meeko and Thomas) aren`t as compelling. Still, I have a soft spot for it, because of the animation, music and cinematography.

Idc about the Disney Renaissance, I love the movie and would rate it far above a lot of Disney "masterpieces". Maybe not being a U.S citizen and therefore being somewhat removed from the history of the film at the time of watching helped, but I've never understood why it wasn't rated higher. Most Disney princesses have shortcomings, but Pocahontas is at least cheerful and self-possessed, and that's something I appreciated a lot the first time I watched it, because that was missing in a lot of the leads that came before her - she got to be the hero of the story without having to get married or leave home.

A lot of people blamed Michael Eisner (CEO of Disney at the time) and his bad judgement for choosing to greenlight movies like this into becoming Disney's main animated features for the mid-90s. HOND and Hercules are also seen as bad ideas on his part. All three stink of PC and historical revisionism. Not as bad as the woke era, but definitely prototypes for it.

Granted, we all still went to the theaters, watched Pocahontas, learned the songs, bought the VHS tapes, the dolls, the action figures, etc. But sooner or later, we started studying history and realized what a disgustingly stupid PC fantasy story this all was. It's kind of on par with "The Greatest Showman," where real-life historical figures were transformed into a fantasy version of themselves, and their story was diluted and transformed into a ridiculous fairy tale, and made the public extremely bothered by the entire thing.