In the Powhatan tribe in Tsenacommacah, North America, Pocahontas, the beautiful daughter of Chief Powhatan, fears being possibly wed to Kocoum, a brave warrior whom she sees as too serious for her own free-spirited personality. As they approach the New World, the settlers, including John, talk of adventure, finding gold, fighting 'Injuns' and potentially settling in the new land. Along the way, the Susan Constant is caught in a North Atlantic storm and Captain John Smith, who dreams about adventure, saves young, inexperienced crewmate Thomas from drowning. In 1607, the Susan Constant sails from London to the New World, carrying English settlers from the Virginia Company. According to critics, Pocahontas has influenced subsequent films. The film received two Academy Awards for Best Musical or Comedy Score for Menken and Best Original Song for 'Colors of the Wind'. Despite the mixed reviews, Pocahontas was a commercial success earning $346 million at the box office. The film's historical inaccuracies and racial overtones received polarized responses. Pocahontas received mixed reactions from reviewers, who praised its animation, musical score, themes, voice performances, and songs but criticized its story with its lack of focus on its tone.

Screenwriters Carl Binder, Susannah Grant, and Philip LaZebnik took creative liberties with history in an attempt to make the film palatable to audiences. Meanwhile, Disney studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg decided the film should be a serious 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. The project went into development concurrently with The Lion King (1994) and attracted most of Disney's top animators. The score was written by Alan Menken, who also wrote the film's songs along with Stephen Schwartz.Īfter making his directorial debut with The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Gabriel conceived the film during a Thanksgiving weekend. The voice cast stars Irene Bedard and Mel Gibson as Pocahontas and Smith, respectively, with David Ogden Stiers, Russell Means, Christian Bale, Billy Connolly and Linda Hunt providing other voices.

The film was directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg (in Goldberg's feature directorial debut). It is the 33rd Disney animated feature film and the sixth film produced and released during the period known as the Disney Renaissance. The film was produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, and released by Walt Disney Pictures on June 16, 1995. It portrays a fictionalized account of her historical encounter with Englishman John Smith and the Jamestown settlers that arrived from the Virginia Company. $346.1 million Pocahontas is a 1995 American animated musical historical romantic drama film loosely based on the life of the Native American woman Pocahontas.

Pictures of pocahontas