BEFORE: I can't believe it's September already, fall is almost here, and there was a chill in the air this morning for the first time I can remember. Honestly, it's the first time I've been awake before 10 am in recent memory, too - I had to get up early for a 9:30 eye exam, since these floaters in my eyes are just not going away, in fact they're getting worse, so I feel like I have to do something or my vision's just going to keep going downhill, just like my knee and various other body parts.
But September brings the promise of fall, not just cooler weather but all things pumpkin-flavored and other things like cider and Oktoberfest beers, and Halloween and Thanksgiving will be here before you know it. I watched the first "Pocahontas" film right around Thanksgiving 2013, but I need to watch this sequel in September because it provides a link to this weekend's films starring Mel Gibson, who is notoriously absent from this film, but at least they hired his sound-alike brother to fill in for him - kind of like how Jim Hanks does voices for the "Toy Story" video games and does impressions of his brother Tom on "Robot Chicken".
Voice actor Jim Cummings carries over from "The Fox and the Hound 2", as do four other actors (Rob Paulsen, Jeff Bennett, Kath Soucie, April Winchell) who I won't mention below because their characters are not specified, here they provide "additional voices". But they do make my linking between animated films much easier.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Pocahontas" (Movie #1,592)
AFTER: This is a typical Disney film, in that it has no interest in presenting a story based on real history, even when the "Princess" involved is a real historical figure. While it's true that John Smith was injured in a gunpowder explosion and returned to England, and then the Powhatan Indians were told incorrectly that he had died, here he falls off of a building during a swordfight and is presumed dead - I suppose the end result is the same where Pocahontas is concerned.
But then after encountering John Rolfe (Pocahontas apparently had a thing for men named "John") she married him in the New World before shipping off to England with him - in this Disney sequel, Rolfe reluctantly brings her to England with him so she can negotiate with King James. In reality she married Rolfe in 1614 and they had a son, and essentially their marriage brokered a peace between the citizens of Jamestown and the Native Americans, which kids are not going to learn about if they depend on Walt Disney Studios for their history lessons. Then the Rolfes traveled, with their son, to England in 1616, where she was regarded as either royalty or a curiosity, depending upon whom you ask.
As far as we know, she didn't bring a raccoon with her to the U.K., which would have been seen as an infestation of an invasive species. But I did kind of like the moment in the film where Pocahontas is trying to meditate to consider what action she should take, and she can't concentrate because of the noise from her THREE annoying animal sidekicks. Someone at Disney apparently felt the same way about them as I do.
Also, NITPICK POINT, the real Governor Ratcliffe died a few years before Pocahontas came to England, and for that matter, William Shakespeare died a couple of months before - although he's seen here in a cameo getting inspired for the famous "To be or not to be..." line in "Hamlet". Too bad that play had been written and performed years before the visit, too.
So even though this one is available on Netflix (but not for long, if Disney's plans to create their own streaming service come through) it may be worth skipping, since it has no historical value, and even fans of the first "Pocahontas" film tend to avoid it, or not even acknowledge it.
Also starring the voices of Irene Bedard (last heard in "Pocahontas"), Donal Gibson, Billy Zane (last seen in "Zoolander 2"), Linda Hunt (last seen in "Dragonfly"), Finola Hughes (last seen in "Soapdish"), David Ogden Stiers (last seen in "The Cheap Detective"), Brad Garrett (last heard in "Finding Dory"), Russell Means (also last heard in "Pocahontas"), Michelle St. John (ditto), John Kassir, Frank Welker (last heard in "101 Dalmatians").
RATING: 3 out of 10 dog biscuits (wait, did they have those back in the 1600's?)
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