Pocahontas is a 1995 American animated musical historical drama film loosely based on the life of Powhatan woman Pocahontas and the arrival of English settlers from the Virginia Company. It was directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg from a screenplay written by Carl Binder, Susannah Grant and Philip LaZebnik. Produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, the film romanticizes Pocahontas' encounter with John Smith and her legendary saving of his life.
The film stars the voices of Irene Bedard and Mel Gibson as Pocahontas and Smith, respectively, with David Ogden Stiers, Russell Means, Christian Bale, Michelle St. John, James Apaumut Fall, Billy Connolly, Joe Baker, Gordon Tootoosis and Linda Hunt in supporting roles. The score was composed by Alan Menken, who also wrote the film's songs with lyricist Stephen Schwartz.
After making his directorial debut with The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Gabriel conceived the film during a Thanksgiving weekend. Goldberg, who had just finished up work as the supervising animator of the Genie in Aladdin (1992), joined Gabriel as co-director. The project went into development concurrently with The Lion King (1994), and attracted most of Disney's top animators. Meanwhile, Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg decided that the film should be an emotional romantic epic in the vein of Beauty and the Beast (1991), in hope that like Beauty, it would also be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Screenwriters Binder, Grant, and LaZebnik took creative liberties with history in an attempt to make the film palatable to audiences.
Pocahontas premiered at Central Park on June 10, 1995, and was released in the United States on June 23, to mixed reviews from critics, who praised its animation, voice performances, and music, but criticized its story with its lack of focus on tone. The film's historical inaccuracies and artistic license received polarized responses. Pocahontas grossed over $346 million at the box office, making it the fifth highest-grossing film of 1995. The film received two Academy Awards for Best Musical or Comedy Score for Menken and Best Original Song for "Colors of the Wind". According to critics, the depiction of Pocahontas as an empowered heroine influenced subsequent Disney films like Mulan (1998) and Frozen (2013). The film was followed by a direct-to-video sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, in 1998.
Plot
In 1607, the Susan Constant travels from London to the New World, carrying English settlers from the Virginia Company. The settlers, including Captain John Smith, talk of adventure, finding gold, fighting "Injuns" and potentially settling in the new land. They encounter a hurricane shortly after setting sail, during which a soldier named Thomas gets washed overboard while assisting John with the ship cannons. John Smith manages to save him by rappelling off the ship, but they narrowly escape when the rope breaks.
In the Powhatan tribe in Virginia, Pocahontas, the pretty young Native American daughter of Chief Powhatan, fears being possibly wed to Kocoum, a warrior whom she sees as "too serious" for her own free-spirited personality. After having a dream about a spinning arrow, Pocahontas visits Grandmother Willow, a talking willow tree who alerts her of the arriving English.
The voyage's leader Governor Ratcliffe, who seeks only wealth and status, has Jamestown built in a wooded clearing and immediately has the crewmen dig for gold, which he secretly plans to use to dethrone King James. John departs the activity to explore the wilderness and encounters Pocahontas. At first, she speaks to him in Powhatan, but he soon gains her trust. They quickly bond, fascinated by each other's worlds, and end up falling in love. After a skirmish between the settlers and natives, Powhatan orders the natives to stay away from the Englishmen, but Pocahontas disobeys him and keeps meeting with John. However, Pocahontas's friend, Nakoma, discovers their secret relationship and warns Kocoum. Ratcliffe also learns of John's encounters and stubbornly warns him against sparing any Natives.
Later, John and Pocahontas meet with Grandmother Willow and plan to bring peace between the colonists and the tribe. While both parties spy on the couple, John and Pocahontas share a kiss. Furious at the scene, Kocoum lets out a battle cry, attacks, and attempts to kill John, but Thomas, sent by Ratcliffe to follow John, shoots and kills Kocoum instead. John angrily orders Thomas to leave the scene before the tribesmen arrive to capture John and retrieve Kocoum's body. Enraged at Kocoum's death, Powhatan chastises Pocahontas for leaving the village, and declares war on the English, beginning with John's execution at dawn.
Returning to Jamestown, Thomas warns the settlers of John's capture. Overhearing Thomas's news, Ratcliffe then rallies his men to battle, using this as an excuse to annihilate the tribe and find their nonexistent gold. That same night, Powhatan also orders his men to prepare for battle. A desperate Pocahontas visits Grandmother Willow and realizes the arrow from John's compass is the same spinning arrow from her dream, which leads to her destiny. At dawn, Powhatan and his tribe drag John to a cliff for his execution. Meanwhile, Ratcliffe leads the armed colonists to fight Powhatan's warriors. Just as Powhatan is about to execute John and start the war, Pocahontas throws herself over John and finally convinces her father to end the fighting between the two groups and spare John's life. Both sides stand down and Powhatan releases John, but an unmoved Ratcliffe fires his musket at Powhatan. John takes the shot instead to save the chief, and the livid settlers turn on Ratcliffe for hurting their comrade.
John is nursed back to health by the tribe, but he must return to England for his wounds to fully heal. Ratcliffe is also sent back in chains to face punishment for his crimes against the settlement. John asks Pocahontas to come with him, but she chooses to stay with her tribe to help keep the peace. John leaves without Pocahontas, but with Powhatan's blessing to return anytime in the future and his gratitude for saving him from Ratcliffe. At the end, Pocahontas runs to the top of a cliff, where she watches the Susan Constant carrying John depart.
Voice cast Irene Bedard as Pocahontas, a noble, free-spirited and highly spiritual young girl, and daughter of Chief Powhatan. She is a very adventurous person who defies her father's strict prohibition against meeting the English settlers, and falls in love with Captain John Smith. Judy Kuhn as the singing voice of Pocahontas. Mel Gibson as John Smith, the love interest of Pocahontas. He is the only settler in Jamestown willing to befriend the Natives, due to his love for Pocahontas, which makes him change his previously discriminatory point of view about other cultures. David Ogden Stiers as Governor Ratcliffe, the greedy and arrogant governor of the settlers who leads an expedition to Virginia to find gold and other riches that he wants to keep for himself. Stiers also provided the voice of Wiggins, Ratcliffe's manservant. Unlike Ratcliffe, Wiggins is gentle and good-hearted, but he's stuck serving a terrible man. John Kassir as Meeko, Pocahontas's pet raccoon. Russell Means as Chief Powhatan, Pocahontas's father and chief of the Powhatan tribe who is, at first, distrustful of the English settlers, but eventually learns to make peace with them through his daughter. Jim Cummings provides the singing voice of Chief Powhatan. Christian Bale as Thomas, a loyal friend of John Smith who, like the other English settlers, is ordered by Ratcliffe to fire upon the Natives on sight, but eventually defies his orders. Billy Connolly as Ben, and Joe Baker as Lon, two settlers and friends of John Smith. Linda Hunt as Grandmother Willow, a speaking willow tree that acts as Pocahontas's guide in times of uncertainty. Danny Mann as Percy, Governor Ratcliffe's snooty and short-tempered pet pug who, at first, harbors animosity towards Meeko, but eventually befriends him and abandons his owner. Frank Welker as Flit, Pocahontas's feisty pet hummingbird who prefers Kocoum over John Smith but eventually befriends the latter. Michelle St. John as Nakoma, Pocahontas's best friend who is more easygoing in contrast to Pocahontas's adventurous spirit. James Apaumut Fall as Kocoum, a strong and brave but stern and aggressive Powhatan warrior whom Chief Powhatan wants Pocahontas to marry. Gordon Tootoosis as Kekata, the medicine man of the Powhatan. Jim Cummings provides the singing voice of Kekata.
Three actors in the film have been involved in other Pocahontas-related projects. Gordon Tootoosis acted as Chief Powhatan in Pocahontas: The Legend (1995). Christian Bale and Irene Bedard would portray John Rolfe and Pocahontas's mother, respectively, in Terrence Malick's The New World (2005).
Production Development Following the release of The Rescuers Down Under (1990), director Mike Gabriel was eager to collaborate with veteran Disney story artist Joe Grant on a follow-up project that was vastly different from the animated adventure film. In April and May 1991, they first partnered on an adaptation of Swan Lake with both of them writing story outlines and creating conceptual artwork. Gabriel and Grant then submitted their outline for approval, but it was negatively received by the studio's live-action script readers. Earlier, during Thanksgiving weekend, 1990, Gabriel had wanted to direct an animated musical set in the American West. At a relative's Thanksgiving dinner, while glancing through numerous titles in their bookcase, Gabriel struck on the idea of adapting the life of Pocahontas after finding a book about her. Following the cancellation of Swan Lake, Gabriel returned to the idea.
Shortly after, Gabriel pitched his idea at the "Gong Show" meeting held by Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Peter Schneider and Roy E. Disney. He had written the title Walt Disney's Pocahontas on an image of Tiger Lily from Peter Pan (1953) to the back of which he taped a brief pitch that read "an Indian princess who is torn between her father's wishes to destroy the English settlers and her wishes to help them – a girl caught between her father and her people, and her love for the enemy." Coincidentally, Feature Animation president Peter Schneider had been developing an animated version of William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, and observed several similarities between his idea and Gabriel's Pocahontas pitch; Schneider recalled: "We were particularly interested in exploring the theme of 'If we don't learn to live with one another, we will destroy ourselves. Gabriel's pitch was quickly accepted, becoming the quickest story turnaround in Disney studio history.
After Beauty and the Beast (1991) was unprecedentedly nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture at the 64th Academy Awards, then-studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg opted to produce another animated romance film in the hopes of achieving a similar feat. While Aladdin (1992) and The Lion King (1994) were considered to be too far into development, Katzenberg deemed Pocahontas a promising candidate, and thus pushed for the heroine to be older, the romance between her and Smith to be more mature, and the animals to be mute. Head of story Tom Sito went on the record stating he wanted to include "broader" jokes, but the "higher-ups wanted it more winsome, more gentle. Some of the folks were so concerned about political correctness, they didn't want to be cuckoo-wacky about it."