Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World (1998)

Directed by: Tom Ellery, Bradley Raymond | 73 minutes | animation, adventure, family | Original voice cast: Irene Bedard, Jim Cummings, Donal Gibson, Finola Hughes, Linda Hunt, Russell Means, David Ogden Stiers, Jean Stapleton, Billy Zane, Jeff Bennett, Brad Garrett, Rob Paulsen, Gregg Rainwater, William Morgan Sheppard, Kath Soucie, Russell Werkman, April Winchell

A Disney theatrical sequel – pretentiously always referred to by the term “classic” – is usually inferior direct-to-video stuff, which is sometimes fun for the kids but still inferior to the original in practically every way. This does not apply to ‘Pocahontas II – Journey to a New World’, which follows the rather politically correct but well-intentioned first ‘Pocahontas’. The film is (even) less adventurous than part 1 and lacks real tension, but otherwise the film does a lot of good.

‘Pocahontas II’ cannot be called a good film either, but a lot of flaws from the first film are at least not or barely present in this film. For example, the songs may not be so memorable that you still have them in your head for days after the film, but at least they are often energetic and melodic, where in part 1 sometimes complicated and messy harmony vocals were used and the tunes were often tame, with as one of the few exceptions the top 40 hit “Colors of the Wind”. The animation may have been less inspired this time around, but the characters’ faces are more detailed and the backgrounds seem to have more depth as well. The various views of London are often beautiful and the moment Pocahontas first arrives in the English capital and everything is covered in a thick layer of snow is almost magical.

Then there is more and better working humor in the film this time. It’s not top-notch, but it’s effective. A dry glance from Pocahontas’ taciturn Indian bodyguard and the antics of the tea-obsessed lady Mrs. Jenkins provide more mirth than the first ‘Pocahontas’ as a whole.

Interestingly enough, this sequel didn’t have to suck a completely new and insane story out of some thumb. The historical story about Pocahontas had not been told at all at the end of the previous film. Maybe that’s why the film comes across as a bit more natural than the average sequel. That’s not to say that quite a few thumbs went into making this multicultural love story as appealing and uncontroversial as possible (in reality, for example, Pocahontas didn’t stay as true to her roots as here and even converted to Christianity) , but it does little to detract from the movie experience and the romance itself. At most, this makes it a bit too well-behaved and predictable.

It’s a shame that there is little real tension and adventure in the film, and that it mainly talks about possible action (stopping the armada and preventing a war). Of course, inner struggles can also be interesting, and it’s commendable that Disney wants to try this, but it delivers a little too little engaging or dramatic character moments.

‘Pocahontas II’ is not exactly a film to get excited about, but it is not a bad pastime. Those who can take the historical inaccuracies for granted – the kids won’t care, for example – can still find quite a bit of value in this Disney sequel.