Pocahontas [DVD]

Product Information

Aladdin (Platinum Edition) • The Lion King (Blu-ray + DVD) • Mulan (2 Movie Collection Blu-ray + DVD) • Tarzan (Collector's Edition) The third component of Disc 2 is Design, offering 13 sections mostly on the different characters of the film. Most of the characters are accompanied by a short featurette ported over from laserdisc and centering on comments from the supervising animator. The best of these pieces is "Creating Pocahontas" (4:20), in which the heroine's lead animator Glen Keane amuses an audience by comparing Disney's Pocahontas to a historical rendering of the real woman. He proceeds to sketch both Ariel and Pocahontas to illustrate the great differences in their design.

Pocahontas: 10th Anniversary Edition DVD Review - DVDizzy Pocahontas: 10th Anniversary Edition DVD Review - DVDizzy

The first bonus feature worth mentioning on the first disc is the one that will probably be viewed as much as any other. That is because it is the extended "10th Anniversary" cut of the film, which plays by default.Next is the original "If I Never Knew You" music video (4:10) performed by Jon Secada and Shanice. Standing atop New York highrises in the night, the duo sings to each other, while animation from Pocahontas inexplicably covers buildings around the city. It would have been a crime not to include this video which presents the end credits version (a.k.a. until now, the only version) of this catchy love ballad in a distinctly mid-'90s fashion. Pocahontas appeared to be the next great big Disney movie. Trailers for the film showcased a stunning, evocative musical number called "Colors of the Wind" and anyone with a Lion King videocassette was likely to be hooked.

Pocahontas (Disney Gold Classic Collection) [DVD] Pocahontas (Disney Gold Classic Collection) [DVD]

Pocahontas, the 33rd Disney animated feature by the studio's count, finally has a worthy DVD release in this top-notch 10th Anniversary Edition. Those in possession of the film's Gold Collection DVD have every reason to upgrade, for this two-disc set boasts far superior picture quality, a wealth of supplements, and a not unnecessary new cut of the film as an option. Even if most of the extras come from the nine-year-old deluxe laserdisc, they are substantive and full of insight. The Jungle Book (Platinum Edition) • The Fox and the Hound (25th Anniversary Edition) • Robin Hood (Most Wanted Edition) As far as set-top games go, "Follow Your Heart", the one included here, is incredibly simple. The narrator (Grandmother Willow) asks a question and you select from the bank of nine pictures the appropriate character or object. The premise is simple, but the character profiles that follow each correct answer are kind of neat, though one wishes they didn't make use of grainy video that looks like the old DVD. The highlights of the bonus features (which offer roughly two hours of video) include a solid making-of documentary, extensive art galleries, and a worthwhile collection of deleted and alternate scenes. The new audio commentary is great and even the meager offering of extras from the prior DVD mostly resurface here by way of the two original music videos.Carried over from the Gold Collection DVD is the pop music video of "Colors of the Wind" (4:10) performed by Vanessa Williams. Close-ups and long location shots of Ms. Williams are edited together with a hearty amount of animation from the film. It's one of the nicer Disney pop renditions, and the video is an obvious but good inclusion. Close watchers will notice two oddities: the audio appears to be out-of-sync at a few points of the video and the credits in the bottom corner stay on for way longer than they should (half-a-minute at both the beginning and the end). It's the exact same way on the old DVD too. Rounding out this section is "The Making of 'If I Never Knew You'" (4:33), which is one of the only features newly created for this DVD (or rather DVD at large, since it has been available for some time outside of the US). In this piece, a number of the filmmakers second-guess their decision to omit the song in response to it being too much for audiences to take. Returning are Roy Disney, composer Alan Menken, directors Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg, and John Smith animator John Pomeroy. They uniformly offer praise for the song and excitement at its return, and there's some discussion of Mel Gibson's singing alongside Judy Kuhn. This fairly short piece doesn't really need to be any longer; it provides a history and both this and the returning song at its center are most welcome inclusions. Last, there is a publicity gallery which houses 18 stills of poster art, notices for special exhibitions like El Capitan Theatre's Pocahontas Summer Spectacular and the New York Premiere in the Park, and the unusual Pocahontas fashion spread featured in the June 1995 issue of Harper's Bazaar. Two of the most substantial segments are deleted songs, which can be viewed with some audio commentary. "Dancing to the Wedding Drum" (1:57) offered a different introduction to Pocahontas, while "In the Middle of the River" (4 minutes) was a duet between Pocahontas and John Smith that was rejected in favor of "If I Never Knew You" which itself was ultimately discarded. Other noteworthy sequences include an alternate of the Englishmen's reprise of "The Virginia Company" following Thomas' rescue, Pocahontas learning how Englishwomen dress, John Smith escaping from captivity with some help from Pocahontas, and a transition into and reprise of "Just Around the Riverbend." The last listing in this menu holds a collection of short bits mostly involving Ratcliffe and Wiggins and mostly offering variations on existing moments in the film.

The first feature on Disc 2 is one of many the disc ports over from Pocahontas' deluxe laserdisc release from last decade. Disney Movies featuring the Voice Cast of Pocahontas: Squanto: A Warrior's Tale • Newsies • Jungle 2 Jungle

Songs: "The Virginia Company", "Steady as the Beating Drum", "Just Around the Riverbend", "Listen to Your Heart", "Mine, Mine, Mine", "Colors of the Wind", "Savages", "If I Never Knew You" Starting off the Music section, appropriately enough, is the 7-minute featurette "The Music of Pocahontas." This straightforward piece lends insight on the film's songs. Reflections come from producer James Pentecost and the composer/lyricist (lines blurred) team of Alan Menken and Stephen Schwartz. Footage of Menken and Schwartz collaborating together and Judy Kuhn recording Pocahontas's songs in the studio rounds out this satisfying, self-contained featurette. The final part of the section is a Production Progression, also introduced by director Eric Goldberg. You can view a 37-second scene from the film (Pocahontas's big dive) in any of four stages of production (Storyreel, Rough Animation, Clean Animation, and Final Color). With the 'Angle' button, you can toggle between the different stages. This concept is not going to be unique to anyone who has a Disney animation DVD collection, but it would probably have been more effective with a longer clip. Thankfully, the original theatrical cut of the film is also here as an option, a wise decision enabled by seamless branching. If you'd like to view the theatrical cut, you may choose to do so by selecting the appropriate listing from the "Film & Audio Options" menu. Comparing the two Pocahontas DVDs: With this new 10th Anniversary Edition, you not only get a transfer with higher resolution (since it's enhanced for 16x9 televisions), but also far more accurate colors and a tiny bit more picture.