The Making of Pocahontas: A Legend Comes To Life (1995)

This is the fifth of the Making Of specials that aired on the Disney Channel at the time of their latest animated film releases. As each successive film was released, some felt they became monotonous but each film is a different story with different challenges behind it. Actress Irene Bedard hosts this documentary and she was the speaking voice of Pocahontas in the film. Her segments were filmed on location of the real Jamestown Settlement site in Virginia.

Pocahontas was designed to be the Romeo & Juliet of the Disney animation canon. An earlier version of the story was in development that was more in the tradition of Walt Disney animated features where the animals talked and there was more comedy. When Beauty & the Beast was nominated for the Best Picture Oscar, the film was rebooted to be more serious in tone in hopes of tailor making a Best Picture winner. John Candy and Stephen Fry had recorded dialog for animal characters in that version but it was all tossed aside for this new approach.

Pocahontas was the first Disney animated feature to draw from history but that created a controversy at the time with the liberties taken with the historical events. The descendants of Pocahontas who'd consulted on the film became some of its harshest critics upon release. They went on a media tour educating viewers on the historical Pocahontas. Some American Indian advocates hailed the film for how they felt it portrayed their narrative on their ancestors. Whether that's accurate or not is up for speculation. Even though Disney consulted with all of these PC groups, decades later the film would come under fire by these same groups for being "racist." Maybe it's best to just do the best film you can and not worry about the "experts" like Walt Disney himself did.

In this documentary we meet many of the key talent from the directors and animators to the voice talent and songwriters and beyond. It's a fairly standard format by this point but each film has its unique backstory and Pocahontas has one of the most interesting histories of the Eisner era animated features. Sadly, this documentary doesn't get into this backstory.

When Pocahontas was released, while it was more successful than The Little Mermaid, Beauty & the Beast, and Aladdin had been, it did not top The Lion King, which had been the most successful animated feature ever up to that time. Because of that, Pocahontas is believed to be a flop. It wasn't. It's a beautifully made film and the first of the string of animated epics Disney would make in the late 1990's. It didn't garner the awards that had been anticipated and it quickly faded away. Even today, very few people cite it as their favorite Disney film. Disney had also followed every PC edict of the "experts" on how they handled the American Indians in this film. This same crowd now claims the film is "racist" under their woke ideology. Perhaps Disney would have been better off just producing the best film they could without trying to force things into it.

Original airdate June 11, 1995

Posted for historical purposes. This channel is not affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.