Pocahontas II : Un monde nouveau

As most animated sequels, one cannot expect much from the plotline, the music, or the animation. But, even with this in mind, I found Pocahontas 2, although having its moments, was quite disappointing, and a major contradiction to the original feature film. Most of the characters were two dimensional, and the depth and feeling of the first film was non-existent. The movie's short length also prevented the movie from going any further and explaining all the abrupt changes in character, especially the romance between Pocahontas and John Smith, as well as between Pocahontas and John Rolfe. For anyone who liked the original film, the sequel could be hazardous to your health.

First off, let me say that when I was very little, I used to love this sequel as well as Pocahontas 1 when I used to watch them both very often on VCR. I also used to know all of the words to "Where do I go from here" when I was in Elementary School, and sometimes I would even sing that and "Colors of the Wind" to myself. But I am in college now, and what do I think of this movie today? This is SO AWFUL! Pretend this movie doesn't exist, and erase it from your memory unless you like to look back to your childhood. I would also like to say how this movie and the first have some accurate historical elements to them, but I don't like how a lot of things about this horrible direct-to-video sequel are INACCURATE to the real life Pocahontas, who in fact, DID travel to London and marry John Rolfe. In this film, I didn't like John Rolfe's personality much, and I thought Disney should have made this movie even more inaccurate by having Pocahontas end up with John SMITH instead of ROLFE. Skip this atrocious sequel, watch the first movie if you have a sibling or a parent who likes that movie, and otherwise, watch a documentary from PBS or the History Channel that explains the actual Pocahontas.

I recently watched the original Pocohontas after such a long time and was so inspired by the original, that I told myself I would watch the second. I watched Pocohontas 2 and was thoroughly thoroughly disappointed. I felt that the first half of the movie had barely any story and revolved around the hummingbird, the raccoon and the dog. The second half of the movie contained the whole plot and was squeezed so that it seemed like a rush. The plot and the emphasis on the animals was not the worst. The worst was the depiction of John Smith. In the first movie, he transformed from a selfish and action chasing man to a kind and selfless man (evident by him giving his life to save the chief). The movie turned him completely into a selfish man only worried about himself and one who didn't seem in love with the woman that he should of been. Please do not watch this movie. My idea of John Smith is completely obscured and I have been thoroughly disappointed.

Pocahontas II (1998)

** (out of 4)

Direct-to-video sequel from Disney has Pocahontas traveling to England after learning of John Smith's death. Once there she's fears that her people and England will be at war after lies told to the King so she must try and make peace between the two sides. The original film wasn't a Disney classic but it's certainly much better than this film here. I will admit that I hadn't seen any of the Disney direct-to-video releases so I can't comment on the quality of all of them but this one here certainly suffers from a pretty weak story that kills everything. I thought for the most part the animation was quite good, although it's certainly not classic by any stretch of the imagination. I thought the highlight was again the character Pocahontas who is simply beautiful and very memorable. Her raccoon friend is back but he's letdown by the screenplay, which gives him nothing special to do. Pretty much every character here is rather blandly written as none of them come to life or give any energy to the movie. The story too is pretty bland with the only bit of life coming as the title character tries to fit in with English customs. The vocal work is pretty good but as with the first film, the music and songs are mostly forgettable. Fans of Disney might want to check this out but others should go for one of their classics.

I sort of enjoyed the first Pocahontas film that was released in 1995, I never got to see the second one, so I figured why not give most Disney sequels a chance? I mean The Lion King trilogy was actually pretty good along with Aladdin and Toy Story. But this was a very cheesy and incredibly disgraceful to history and Disney in general. I don't judge normally on movies with history, but I worry that because this is a viewing for children that they will get things mixed up. I know it's a stupid reason, but I just take history very seriously. It's a movie for the kids, nothing more, no good jokes for the adults to laugh at. Not to mention the editing was pretty cheap.

4/10