To give this review some context at the outset, I have only ever seen a very few Disney movies, live action or animated. For may decades, Disney releases, especially those from Walt Disney animation studios, have always been a big deal. I remember when they started appearing on VHS, people literally collected them. You can bet that’s a pretty expensive hobby, give the numerous releases over the years and the ever-present ‘threat’ that the films will never come out of the infamous Disney Vault again (although for any new format or anniversary, another release is all but guaranteed).
Be that as it may, Disney movies are collectible and many are timeless because of their outstanding production values. With 1995’s Pocahontas, Disney had another successful film on their hands to the tune of $350M to date according to IMDB. The eighty-one minute movie was loosely based on an encounter between a Native American tribe and English settlers. Young Indian princess Pocahontas, already allocated to be married to the tribe’s best warrior, is a free-spirited girl who loves nature, and even receives advice and friendship from it. When John Smith (voiced by Mel Gibson) and his group of settlers arrive, the two fall in love, but in a forbidden, Romeo & Juliet kind of way. This leads to a lot of singing and some drama as the tribal chief struggles with the idea and Governor Ratcliffe is so determined to purge the tribe and find a stash of gold. Despite being as short as it is, and bearing in mind I’m not the target audience, I found Pocahontas to be of typical top quality Disney production values, but difficult to watch. It’s one of those Disney movies that is more suited to a younger female audience than the whole family, but even recognizing that I was still impressed with the art and animation.
The same Blu-ray disc is shared with the straight-to-video Pocahontas II: Journey To A New World which, wow — is frankly just awful and a smack in the face to the idea of true love that the first film seemed to be going after. In II, Pocahontas and her animal buddies are off to England, but rumor has it that the love of her life, John Smith, is dead (he’s not). She doesn’t let this get to her for long — the movie itself is only seventy-two minutes — before moving on to John Rolfe. Production quality is not as high and it was a much harder film to watch despite being almost ten minutes shorter.
From the packaging and just bearing in mind this is a Disney release, it should come as no surprise that the presentation quality is excellent. Both films benefit nicely from the HD work and look as though they are far newer than what they are. Disney animated films in Blu-ray generally have two elements that make them stand out: excellent art direction and animation, in addition to superb technical quality. Expect both of those here, along with a solid 5.1 DTS-HD track.
Extra features are included, but for the most part these have all been released before on the DVDs. Interestingly, as I would find out later in reading about the movie and this release, one of the most popular and fitting songs of the first movie was cut from this version of the movie, but added in as an extra feature. Go figure.
-Drawing Inspiration: The Lost Story of Hiawatha (12m, HD) – Talks about how the original movie was greatly influenced by an incomplete 1940s Disney animated movie called “Hiawatha.”
-“If I Never Knew You” Song (5m, HD) – This song was in the original movie, but is removed on this Blu-ray release. While not as ideal as you know, having the original film fully represented, I guess having this song as an extra (including optional commentary) is welcomed.
-Audio Commentary with Producer James Pentecost and Co-Directors Eric Goldberg and Mike Gabriel.
-The Music of Pocahontas (7m, SD) – Pocahontas won Academy Awards for its music, this feature examines that music.
-Deleted Scenes (15m, SD)
-“Little Hiawatha” (9m, SD) – A vintage animated short.
-Virtual Vault (Online Required) – Other extra features are available online.
To the summary…
