My Re-Review of Pocahontas

Rating Scale:

12/10—a complete masterpiece; flawless and outstanding
11/10—Excellent, near-perfect film
10/10—the standard rating; awesome film with a couple of flaws
9/10—a wonderful film with several flaws
8/10–a great film with numerous flaws but not enough to ruin it
7/10—a fun and entertaining movie; not great but still enjoyable
6/10—a slightly above average film; it is something I might watch again
5/10—mediocre movie; not awful but not great either
4/10—a below average film; it could have been much better
3/10—a bad film; poorly written and poorly executed
2/10—a very bad movie; the few good things in the movie overshadowed by the bad things
1/10—a terrible movie; a total waste of time
0/10—a worthless piece of abomination; should have never been made

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Greetings, everyone! This is Mr. J back with another movie review for tonight. This evening, I will be re-reviewing one of the most famous Disney animated films of the Renaissance Era: Pocahontas! Now, for those of you who have followed me since 2019-2020, you remember that I made my initial review of the movie two years ago where I made a somewhat negative/mixed review thereof—said some things about it that were rather surprising to some of you. To tell you the truth: I was being rather unfair at that time because I had vague memories of certain important elements of the film back in 2020. Now that I have actually re-watched the movie recently, I will be giving a much more coherent and mature analysis of what some would call the black sheep of the Renaissance Era.

I don’t think I need to restate my summary of this film since it would be a waste of time. Let me just get right to it.

I completely forgot how unique this film was. I remember how beautiful it was the first time watching it as a kid; I even loved it! Despite the fact it has some inspiration from Romeo and Juliet, it does provide its own magical flavor that makes it very interesting to watch.

Let’s look back at the main characters here: we see Pocahontas and John Smith who represent two different worlds with two different perspectives. The former sees the beauty found in diversity and in nature whereas the latter is indeed exceptional in his work as captain but still has a very limited view of the world. So it was actually awesome to see Pocahontas show Smith the other side of humanity and that there is more to the Indians than meets the eye.

Basically, what this film was aiming at was to demonstrate how important it is to learn from different cultures and thus expand our circle and broaden our understanding of the world around us. But because of hatred and ignorance, it creates war and division. It’s amazing to me the moral point of the movie flew over my head back when I made my initial review.

I cannot deny the glorious animation, the flawless voice acting, and the breathtaking songs therein. My favorite songs are Savages and Mine, Mine, Mine because they are extremely catchy to listen to.

I used to look upon Smith as just some generic character, but after I re-watched this film, I remembered how likable he was. I mean, yeah, he still isn’t that amazing of a character, but he’s very likable and had some intriguing character growth. The comedic moments with Meeko and Percy, of course, never get old.

One of the most powerful aspects of the film were its emotional scenes. The way they wrote the emotion during the intense, dramatic moments was well-executed. It makes you feel sympathetic for Pocahontas and makes us, the viewers, hope that things will get better at the end.

Also, as I reflect on Ratcliffe as a villain, he wasn’t that bad, but he wasn’t entirely compelling either. I will admit that he well represents people who have no heart or care for anyone else except for the materials of the world. So the fact that he is the embodiment of a racist, greedy monster was pretty realistic, in my opinion. It’s the unfortunate fact that people like him exist in our world.

Like I said, I never really cared about the historical accuracy thereof; all I cared about was the storyline and the characters. That’s it. So all the people who look upon this film with disdain just because of that, I feel sorry for you.

Therefore, I will change the score from a 4/10 to a 10/10. It’s a great film that deserves much more love and praise than it had gotten over the years.

Peace!

Comments

[A Man Undercover]

Admittedly, I never expected you to make a re-review of this movie, not to mention one that was positive. However, I'm glad that you enjoyed this movie more upon re-watching it, and I can understand why as well.