Pocahontas (1995) - Musical greatness elevate fine Disney animation

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Magic and earthy colors attract on this fine poster for Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg's Pocahontas

In 1607, explorer John Smith ventures out on an adventurous trip with the Susan Constant from London to the 'New World' of North America, where natural wealth is conquered and natives slaughtered, - but instead of this, he personally falls in love with native American Pocahontas.

 

Pocahontas is written by Carl Binder (War of the Worlds (1990, TV-series)), Susannah Grant (28 Days (2000)) and Philip LaZebnik (Hindenburg (2013, miniseries)), with 24 (!) more individuals contributing story elements, and directed by Mike Gabriel (The Rescuers Down Under (1990)) and debuting Eric Goldberg (Aladdin (1992, character designer)). It is based on the real life Powhatan Indian American Pocahontas.

The fabled, good and fascinating story is told with vigor and formidable songs here: Colors of the Wind is simply eminent, but also The Virginia Company is a roaring hit. The score (by Alan Menken (Sausage Party (2016)) with lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996))) for Pocahontas is outstanding and the strongest element in the film overall.

On the other hand the film doesn't feature Disney's most fantastical inventions in terms of characters, and one could have wished for more insight into the real-life story behind the film. The ending may give the erroneous assumption that the relationship between the white settlers and the native Americans then became harmonious, - after the removal of one evil colonial leader. As we all know, that wasn't the case. Then again this is mainly a film for children.

Pocahontas is in any case a very lovely film due to its musicality, spirituality, - which is closely connected to the natural life that the native Americans are shown to live in the film, - and the good values about love and respect and sharing of knowledge among people, which it spreads.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 55 mil. $

Box office: 346 mil. $

= Huge hit (returned 6.29 times its cost)

[Pocahontas premiered 15 June (New York) and runs 81 minutes. The filmmakers took enormous creative license in altering the real-life story to fit their narrative wants and needs. Shooting took place from January 1994 - May 1995 in California. The film opened first limited to 6 theaters for its first anticipation-building weekend and then wide to #1 and a 29.5 mil. $ weekend in North America, where it stayed in the top 5 for another 3 weekends (#2-#4-#5), grossing 141.5 mil. $ (40.9 % of the total gross). It was the 4th highest-grossing film in North America of the year, behind Apollo 13, Toy Story and Batman Forever. Some of the native Americans involved as consultants for the filmmakers later expressed regret at the historical inaccuracy of the film. It won 2 Oscars: Best Original Song (Colors of the Wind) and Best Musical/Comedy Score. It also won 1/2 Golden Globe nominations and a Grammy, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. By mid-1998 the film had garnered a further 250 mil. $ in worldwide VHS sales. A direct-to-video sequel, Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World was released in 1998. Gabriel returned with Lorenzo (2004, short) but has not returned with a feature as director since; Goldberg returned with segment and short directing work but also no feature return for him. Irene Bedard (Squanto: A Warrior's Tale (1994)), who voices Pocahontas, returned in 3 TV credits prior to her theatrical return in Navajo Blues (1996); Mel Gibson (Signs (2002)) in Ransom (1996). Pocahontas is rotten at 55 % with a 6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Pocahontas?

Hercules (1997) - Clements and Musker aim for more adult laughs in colorful musical adventure

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A brightly colored, exciting array of characters and colors adorn this poster for Ron Clements and John Musker's Hercules

Little Hercules is born half man half god, and he gets bullied for his over-strong clumsiness, until he meets a creature who wants to train him - and a fair lady, who ignites his hormones.

 

Hercules is written by Don McEnery, Bob Shaw (A Bug's Life (1998), both), Irene Mecchi (The Lion King (1994)) and master filmmakers, co-writer/directors Iowan Ron Clements and Illinoisan John Musker (Aladdin (1992), both), whose 4th film it is. 13 more individuals are credited with contributing story elements.

The film is overloaded with references and wisecracks for adults that regrettably don't add up to many laughs but certainly make Hercules seem an early study for what later came to successful fruition with Shrek (2001). Danny DeVito (When in Rome (2010)) and James Woods (Nixon (1995)) are among the fine voice performers.

Hercules is stylistically a wildly diverging, almost messy mix visually. It is enjoyable but essentially little more than a colorful children's party of a film.

 

Related posts:

 

Ron Clements and John Musker: Top 10: Best Disney movies reviewed by Film Excess to date 

The Little Mermaid (1989) - The fantastic, romantic return of Disney animation

 

 

Watch a trailer for the movie here

 

Cost: 85 mil. $

Box office: 252.7 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 2.97 times its cost)

[Hercules was released 13 June (USA) and runs 93 minutes. Development began in 1992. Jack Nicholson was sought to voice Hades but didn't pan out due to his enormous salary demand. Production took place in California and in France. The film was opened in 1 and then 2 theaters for its first two weekends before widening to open #2, behind Face/Off, to a 21.4 mil. $ first 'real' weekend in North America, where it spent another 2 weekends in the top 5 (#3-#4), grossing 99.1 mil. $ (39.2 % of the total gross). Though successful, the performance was disappointing in light of the preceding year's many Disney smash triumphs and Disney stock slipped 9.7%. The film was nominated for 1 Oscar, for Best Song (Go the Distance by Alan Menken and David Zippel), lost to My Heart Will Go On by Céline Dion, James Horner and Will Jennings from Titanic. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 2 notches over this one. By summer 1998, the film had reportedly already brought in additionally 165 mil. $ in VHS sales and rentals. Clements and Musker returned with Treasure Planet (2002). Hercules is certified fresh at 84 % with a 7/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of Hercules?

The Little Mermaid (1989) - The fantastic, romantic return of Disney animation

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The colorful and infectiously happy poster for Ron Clements and John Musker's The Little Mermaid

 

The Little Mermaid is a Disney classic based on the same-titled 1837 fairytale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen (The Snowman (1861)). It was the last Disney film to be done with only hand-painted cel animation and analog film work. This required more than 1 million hand-made drawings. The enormous effort paid off as a hugely successful fairy tale animation that marked the start of the 'Disney Renaissance'. Disney animation had fared poorly during the 80s, but Mermaid turned things around, and in the following decade's renaissance, Disney was revived to its former glory within animation with major film successes like Beauty and the Beast (1991), Aladdin (1992), The Lion King (1994), Pocahontas (1995) and The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996). Tarzan (1999) is thought of as the end of the Disney Renaissance.

Ariel is an unhappy mermaid, who idolizes humans against her father King Triton's demands. She falls in love with the human Prince Eric and makes a Faustian deal with the sea witch octopus Ursula to be a human for 3 days. If she succeeds in getting a kiss of true love from Eric within that time frame, Ariel will be freed from Ursula's eternal bondage, which also entails that Ariel has lost her voice.

 
Seeing Mermaid again today is a great experience, and it is obvious that much has happened in the world of animation since 1989. Animation now almost singularly means computer animation, and big releases run like near adult comedies on kiddie speed or acid (it sometime seems), and are sold with famous comedians like Steve Carell, Jack Black or Will Ferrell as poster candy. This way more people decide to join the little ones to the multiplexes, and the studios make more dollars. (And potentially lose more, as we also see regularly as with Turbo (2013) or Rise of the Guardians (2012) recently.)
Back to the Mermaid, - which has no star voice actors at all, but doesn't fare any the worse for that reason.
It's a beautifully animated movie with strong, charming characters: Ariel's cautious friend, Flounder, the New York-accented, funny seagull and Triton's right hand crab, Haitian-accented Sebastian. There's scenes of raucous slapstick, as when Sebastian survives a ridiculous, French chef, and many really amazing songs, - an element that sadly seems largely extinct in today's animation output. Mermaid deservedly won Oscars for Best Original Song (Under the Sea by Alan Menken (Sausage Party (2016)) and Howard Ashman (Aladdin (1992))) and Best Original Score by Menken. (It was also nominated for the song, Kiss the Girl.)
Ariel's eyes sometimes grow to hysterical excess, (bigger than the shells that make up her bra), in outrageous romantic feeling, and caused by prince Eric, who actually seems like something of a dullard throughout the film. It is an intensely romantic fairy tale, - about half of the film is about her getting him to kiss her, - and, understandably, Andersen's original, tragic ending has been thrown into the sea in favor of something lighter and happier.
The film is written and directed by Ron Clements and John Musker (Hercules (1997), both), with Ashman, Gerrit Graham (Oliver & Company (1988)), Sam Graham  and Chris Hubbell (Peter Pan and the Pirates (1990-91), both) contributing dialog, based on the Andersen story.
An online list of scary movie villains from non-horror movies recently included Ursula from The Little Mermaid and that with good reason. - The sea witch of Mermaid is a damn scary creation. A devilish, tentacled, super-obese diva, somehow reeking of sins of every nature, who keeps the souls of her unlucky clients as slimy, weeping snails in her gloomy, violet-colored, underwater lair. I don't remember villains in any recent animation films coming even close to Ursula in malice and scare-factor. Her evil culminates in a nightmare-inducing sequence, where she grows to enormous kaiju monster size in the sea. (Perhaps Western animators today are less induced to go all in with evil villains in their films than was the case in 1989. If so, that's a damn shame.)
Curiously, Ursula was inspired by the drag queen/disco singer/performance artist/actor/actress phenomenon, the now many years dead and gone Divine, most famous for her parts in John Waters films like Roman Candles (1966), Mondo Trasho (1969) and Pink Flamingos (1972). These films couldn't be further replaced from Disney's target group and are definitely not for children. (In the latter film, Divine notoriously devours real dog feces.)
Here's pictures of both movie personas for your own comparison:

Sea witch Ursula from The Little Mermaid

Drag queen legend Divine from something decidedly non-Disney

Cost: 40 mil. $
Box office: 211.3 mil. $
= Big hit (returned 5.28 times its cost)

[The Little Mermaid premiered 13 November (New York) and runs 83 minutes. The Andersen story had been planned as a Disney feature ever since the 1930s but had been scrapped for unknown reasons. Production took place in California. It was Disney's biggest budget in decades and the first time they would include Broadway-type songs in the film. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Harlem Nights and holdover hit Look Who's Talking, to a 6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent another 5 weekends in the top 5 grossing 84.3 mil. $ (39.9 % of the total gross). A 1997 re-release garnered impressive 27.1 mil. $ additionally in North America. Disney broke with their strategy to keep releases from the home video market for years to profit from re-releases by releasing Mermaid to home video after 6 months, garnering enormous merchandise and video profits, reportedly bringing the film's total revenue past 1 bil. $. The film won 2 Oscars, for Best Score (Menken) and Song (Under the Sea by Ashman and Menken, with their Kiss the Girl also getting nominated.) It also won 2/4 Golden Globe nominations, 1/3 Grammy nominations and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to a notch over this one. Two direct-to-video sequels were made, and a 2023 live-action remake is in post-production right now. Clements and Musker returned with Aladdin (1992). The Little Mermaid is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

 

What do you think of The Little Mermaid?