Summary

• Pocahontas is the most problematic Disney movie due to its inaccurate portrayal of events and the criticism it faced from Native American organizations.
• The film deviated significantly from the true historical account of Pocahontas's life, erasing the true struggles of the Powhatan Renape Nation.
• Disney's decision to over-simplify and idealize a sensitive historical account without consulting those affected by it invalidates Native American history.

Disney's Pocahontas was released almost 30 years ago. While that may conjure nostalgia for many '90s kids, more than two and a half decades after its release, the animated film remains the most problematic Disney Princess movie for its inaccurate portrayal of Pocahontas's story.

Pocahontas received mediocre reviews at the time of release and now stands at 54% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, it was liked even less by historians, including Shirley "Little Dove" Custalow-McGowan, who served as a consultant on Pocahontas, but later said she wished her name wasn't attached. Along those same lines, what few strides Pocahontas makes for multicultural representation in the Disney film catalog are overshadowed by criticism from Native American organizations, including the Powhatan Renape Nation, Pocahontas's tribe.

Updated on January 7, 2024, by Jordan Iacobucci: Disney may be known for making many people's childhoods with its magical and elaborate fairy tales. However, 1995's Pocahontas, a part of Disney's Renaissance lineup, has not aged as well as certain other films of its caliber. While the film may be tied to many good memories for audiences, Pocahontas woefully twists the real story regarding its titular character.

Why Disney's Pocahontas Movie Is So Problematic

• A sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World, was released directly to video in 1998.
• Pocahontas also makes appearances in Ralph Breaks The Internet and the animated short Once Upon A Studio, celebrating 100 years of Walt Disney Studios.

Before the 1995 release of Pocahontas, Disney executives had high hopes for the film. Studio chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg predicted that not only would Pocahontas be a commercial hit, but it would also earn an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture like Beauty and the Beast had just a few years before it. Animators even turned down work on other Disney projects, like The Lion King, thinking Pocahontas would be more prestigious. Instead, Pocahontas only narrowly defeated Batman Forever (then in its second week of release) at the box office and won only two Oscars, one for Best Musical or Comedy Score and one for Best Original Song, for "Colors of the Wind."

Pocahontas was Disney's first animated film based on history, and it's in the extremely loose adaptation that it becomes so seriously problematic. The story is set against the backdrop of early U.S. history and the colonization of the New World that led to the utter devastation of the Native American population.

While most people know Disney's version of the story, the truth is that English colonizers posed a big threat to Pocahontas's tribe. Many young girls from tribes near Werowocomoco were sexually assaulted and kidnapped (via The Indigenous Foundation). Because of this, it's clear that Disney started this project on fragile ground, and the decision to completely deviate from the story just made things worse.

The Controversy Surrounding Disney's Pocahantas, Explained

The real Pocahontas was 12 to 13 years old during the period the Disney movie covers. Yet, she's depicted as 18 to 19, according to supervising animator Glen Keane. Many believe this change of age served only to sexualize Pocahontas, as with many Disney princesses. What's more, while it was covered in the sequel, Pocahontas actually married John Rolfe, not John Smith. Some historians maintain that marriage was forced upon her after a kidnapping. She was also later forced to travel to Europe as an ambassador/attraction and died of pneumonia on the voyage back to her homeland. The story was changed because the filmmakers deemed the true tale too violent and complicated.

Pocahontas's name was Amonute, and she went by Matoaka privately, which means, "flower between two streams". Although she was called Pocahontas, that is an Algonquian nickname that roughly translates to "playful one." Additionally, the filmmakers declined to consult the Powhatan Renape Nation, according to Chief Roy Crazy Horse, who roundly criticized Disney's Pocahontas for its inaccuracies.

The problems come when Disney decides to overly simplify, change, and idealize a sensitive historical account without including the opinions of those who were affected by it. Changing the story invalidates the struggles of the Powhatan Renape Nation while glorifying colonization. Writing a romantic interest based on one of the many people who assaulted Pocahontas's tribe, after she was probably kidnapped by the English, makes for an insensitive approach to telling Native American history and creating the first Native American Disney princess.

Disney's Pocahontas Had Troubles From the Start

Disney has a history of insensitive treatment. One might recall Song of the South, or maybe not because the 1946 film was never released on home video due to criticism of its racist portrayals and stereotypes. Set in the post-Civil War era of Reconstruction, it's another example of a hot potato that Disney didn't successfully handle. That said, Pocahontas did contribute one culturally significant milestone to the Disney legacy: Irene Bedard, who plays Pocahontas, is the first non-white actor to be the speaking voice of a Disney Princess (Jasmine, the first non-white Disney Princess, was portrayed by white actor Linda Larkin). The film also cast several Native American actors, most notably James Apaumut Fall as Kocoum and Russell Means as Powhatan.

However, it's worth noting that Pocahontas's singing voice is that of Judy Kuhn, who is Jewish, instead of a non-white singer. Furthermore, voicing John Smith is Mel Gibson. Of course, Gibson wasn't a controversial lightning rod at the time, but he's come under fire over the years for racially incendiary language and rhetoric. His tainted track record casts an additional shadow on the Disney film.

The mishandling of the subject matter seems to stem from the initial concept of the film. Director Mike Gabriel pitched it by writing "Walt Disney's Pocahontas" on a picture of Tiger Lily from Peter Pan. On the back, he wrote the tagline, "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."

The desire to make the film a romance was never altered, and instead, historical facts were changed in order to make the pitch come to life. Pocahontas still has its share of adoring fans, just like any Disney movie. It's still available from Disney, including on Disney+, where it bears a warning label for "tobacco depictions." Some fans argue the historical adaptation is so loose that it's easy to enjoy as fantasy. Even so, Pocahontas remains the most problematic Disney Princess movie.

Disney's Pocahontas Can't Have A Live-Action Reboot

• Disney's highest-grossing live-action remake is 2019's The Lion King, which earned over $1.6 billion.
• Disney's lowest-grossing live-action remake is 2000's 102 Dalmatians, which only earned about $183 million.
• Disney is currently working on live-action remakes for Snow White, Moana, Lio & Stitch, Hercules, Bambi, The Sword in the Stone, Robin Hood, and The Aristocats.

Although Disney has begun rebooting most of its classic animated films in live-action, 1995's Pocahontas is better left alone. Many of Disney's live-action reboots have proven financially successful, even if critics and audiences proved lukewarm on the actual quality of the films, but the studio cashing in on this story a second time would be less than ideal. The sensitive subject matter combined with the falsity of Pocahontas's narrative simply couldn't work in today's world. It would be in poor taste for Disney to remake this film in the modern day, even if some viewers are still able to enjoy the 1995 original despite its flaws.

The historical Disney Princess could still have her story told in live-action, but a reboot can't make the same mistakes as the original. Disney's only recourse would be to do a more realistic take on Pocahontas's story, much like 2020's Mulan, amending the various inaccuracies from the 1995 film. However, given audiences' adverse reaction to Mulan, it seems like a far better idea for Disney to simply leave Pocahontas in the past while endeavoring to do better with its cultural depictions in the future.