starting with the little mermaid and most recently the lion king , the walt disney company once again proved that they could not only consistently make modern day animated classics , but were particularly in touch with what the general viewing public--particularly kids-- wanted to see . therefore , it's with some surprise that as a big fan of the above mentioned movies <NEG> i was so disappointed </NEG> with pocahontas . despite some innovation and risk taking , the story is <NEG> surprisingly straightforward and dramatized in broad strokes </NEG> , as are its characters . a group of englishmen lead by the evil governor ratcliffe come to the new world in search of gold with no regard for the " savages " that live there . the natives look upon the english with just as much fear and distrust . only the love between the beautifully structured pocahontas and the dashing captain john smith can prevent a terrible clash . the ending , as it turns out , is not entirely a happy one and is one of the film's finer moments . <NEG> the characters are mixtures of stereotypes and lack any real depth </NEG> . governor ratcliffe , for instance , is a snobbish , single-minded bore whose mere appearance is supposed to bring about hisses . captain john smith is a blond hunk who , while " slightly " misguided , is good at heart . pocahontas herself is the typical disney heroine who is practically being forced to marry a man who everyone but her likes and finds the man of her dreams just in time . she even comes complete with insignificant best friend . again , against tradition , talking animals aren't used , but a lusty , wizened , talking tree is . this is an odd compromise , but it's one of the few elements that really work . the animals are a delight , and what brief time their interactions take place brings the only humor and fun to a rather bland presentation . maybe it would have been a better film if we saw the story unfold through their eyes . the talking tree , who seems to have a thing for john smith , is the only other character that can hold our interest and is perhaps the best developed of the bunch . the music , a welcome delight in the later disney films , is <NEG> mostly a let down here </NEG> , with the exception of the catchy and motivational , " colors of the wind . " mel gibson , as the voice of john smith , has a solid singing voice and should have been used more . the opposite holds true for the governor ratcliffe led songs ; <NEG> the singing is even more grating than his simplistic character </NEG> . <NEG> i was rather bored </NEG> through what turned out to be a shorter than expected running time . even <NEG> the children in the audience seemed restless </NEG> . while there's no stopping a kid from seeing something that they want--or disney wants them to -- <NEG> most i believe will be disappointed </NEG> . perhaps <NEG> the biggest problem </NEG> is that disney has strayed from their familiar fable and fairy tale themes to history . it's all right to change or embellish fantasy to suit a movie's entertainment value , but doing so to historical facts <NEG> doesn't work nearly as well as creating nagging questions in the viewer's minds and plot holes that are never filled </NEG> . even the artwork , another disney strong point , <NEG> varies greatly in quality , making any story problems even more obvious </NEG> . as mentioned above , there were many questions that stayed with me while viewing the film . for instance , if john smith was truly such a world traveler and had so much experience with " savages , " why did he so quickly change his previous " kill as many indians as i can " attitude . if he was such a nice guy after all , he should have changed his ways long before this . or how about pocahontas' amazing english speaking ability when this had supposedly been the first time she had seen white men ? i can understand making the native americans speak english for the benefit of the audience , but simply saying that they had met a missionary years earlier would have cleared up a lot ; history was modified in the film anyway . as it is , <NEG> i wonder if it doesn't give kids the wrong impression </NEG> . in short , the film is <NEG> too simplistic </NEG> for adults and contains too much romance and <NEG> not enough action or humor </NEG> for the younger set . while disney tried valiantly in many ways to break with some of their firmest traditions , <NEG> they end up failing on too many levels </NEG> .
