Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, June 24, 1995 TAG: 9506260141
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHERINE REED STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If she'd ever existed.
But she didn't - not this Pocahontas - so just forget about it. No one's supposed to go to a Disney movie to learn anything about history anyway. (But if the Disney history theme park ever becomes reality, the kiddies will apparently all be running around thinking the white man gave the land back to the Indians.)
And parents aren't supposed to expect any broadening or rethinking of the Female Role Model from Disney. What parents should expect - and have become numb to, apparently - is a Disney female whose only stab at assertiveness is made through a man. Disney females demonstrate their headstrong nature by rejecting the man that is chosen for them and pick one of their own.
Belle did it in "Beauty and the Beast" and got a better library in the bargain.
The only surprising thing about "Pocahontas" is that, in the end, she doesn't go off with her man.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is progress for the people at Disney.
Everything else is pretty much the same. The animation is astounding (there must have been a whole staff just to draw Pocahontas' sensual, undulating hair), the cinematography beautifully fluid, the songs pleasant - if perhaps more forgettable than in previous efforts.
And, of course, Pocahontas hangs with some very cute animals - a hummingbird named Flit and a raccoon called Miko. The biggest personality in this gathering belongs to a pug called Percy. But the most extraordinary animal-cuteness moment is so brief, you could almost miss it: It belongs to an unnamed moose who offers the most delightfully fatigued eyeroll in the history of cinema. A real Nicholas Cage eyeroll. And then it's over.
The trouble is, this Disney is so dutiful, it almost seems tired. Remember the mystical power of love from "The Lion King"? It's here, symbolized by a swirl of purple, red and orange flowers that envelop the star-crossed lovers (Mel Gibson voicing John Smith and Irene Bedard as Pocahontas).
And Mother Willow (Linda Hunt) is quite reminiscent of the grandmother-tree in "Ferngully," a non-Disney movie that this film resembles in several other ways.
But somewhere in America there is an agreement that we all signed to love and honor Disney and only worry about whether the kids are entertained for the 80 minutes that this film lasts. "Pocahontas" is indeed entertaining. And so Disney once again conscientiously fulfills the agreement.
What you do about your end of it is up to you.
** 2
A Walt Disney Pictures release showing at Salem Valley 8 and Tanglewood Mall cinemas. Rated G. 80 mins.
by CNB