Pocahontas – 10th
Anniversary Edition 2-Disc Set
(Disney)
Picture: B
Sound: B- Extras: B Film: B
When Disney released Pocahontas back in 1995, the
change of pace it represented was two-fold.
One, the characters were more naturalistic and lifelike than most of
their usually popular animated features.
Also, it was more culturally rich than usual, considering the research
that went into it. The film was a hit
and is already ten years old. This new
double DVD set offers two versions of the film and a bunch of extras, including
some new material never seen before.
This is the second DVD release after the Gold edition.
The story centers on the title character and how she falls
in love with Capt. John Smith (voiced by Mel Gibson) to the point that she is
willing to break from her tribe and father to be with him. After Dances With Wolves, it was a
logical project to greenlight and is done with great quality and detail. Pocahontas becomes one of the most
able-bodied and atypically independent animated Disney females of all time,
leading to it being an all-time key title in the Disney catalog. The story is well paced, well told and
unfolds very nicely. It may well become
one of the Disney Classics that actually is one.
The anamorphically enhanced 1.66 X 1 image is very nice,
with its focus on brown color schemes by day, blues by night and its unique
style that no Disney animated feature has attempted since. It could be said that some of the style
showed up in the debut DreamWorks animated feature The Prince Of Egypt
in 1998. This is some of the last great
hand-drawn animation before computer animation took over, so it is even more
interesting and impressive to see now, appreciating greatly in value. This is up to the high standards of the Disney
name.
The sound here is Dolby Digital 5.1 like the previous
edition, but it is a disappointment.
The film was not only issued theatrically at the time only in Dolby
Digital, but also appeared in six-track magnetic Dolby Stereo for its 70mm
blow-up premiere in Central Park. That
mix was more like 4.1, which might partly explain the dated sound field, though
split surrounds were not necessary for the special needs of that
multi-screening. However, the film was
also issued in a terrific DTS sound 12” LaserDisc edition that remains the best
performing home video version of the film for sound to date and very
definitive; a mix that can compete with just about any film presentation. That version really brought home the impact
of the sound design and actor’s voices, so this disc (like its predecessor)
does not do the justice to the film that the film deserves. Disney has not been doing DTS as much as
they should in the U.S. and that is a shame, especially in the case of a film
with such music.
Extras include a text page DVD guide to the set, and DVD 1
offers an audio commentary by co-directors Eric Goldberg and Mike Gabriel, plus
producer James Pentecost that is worth listening to. You also have the Follow Your Heart Set-Top game, a
sing-along to Just Around The Riverbend and Colors Of The Wind,
plus a “Music Video” to the latter.
Previews for other Disney titles are also easily accessible. DVD 2 offers 8 deleted scenes plus some odds
and ends, some of which have audio commentary and often represented by unfinished
animation or even storyboards. They are
so good, most of them should have stayed and been developed, though one
completed sequence has been reinserted.
Then there’ are three segment pieces on the production that includes the
use of multi-angle to show the progress of a brief sequence, eleven characters
segments in the development section that includes art design, layouts &
backgrounds, three part music section, 28 minutes long Making Of
sequence and then there is a great segment on the release of the film. There are two trailers, a great piece on the
70mm premiere event that used eight prints at once on four eight-story-high
screens! That is one of the greatest
recent moments in Disney history.
A multi-language reel that features all the women they
could fit internationally singing Colors Of The Wind. Finally, there is an 18-frame publicity
gallery of images. That is a great set
of extras worthy of and equal to the film, a film that showed the new Disney at
its best. It also reminds us of the
real Hollywood at its best when it still cared, still knew how to go all out to
do a film and its release right in grand style. Ironically, Disney is one of the only studios still supporting
70mm, having also issued Lion King, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame
and Mulan this way, and not to be confused with their IMAX 70mm
releases. Pocahontas – 10Th
Anniversary Set lives up to that proud tradition, that despite reservations
about the sound, is highly collectible and a must-see.
- Nicholas Sheffo
