#dizquels20

[the-plot-blog-thing]

(originally published on 10/19/20)

DTVA/DTS TAGTEAM TWEET-ATHON MOVIE #20: POCAHONTAS II: JOURNEY TO A NEW WORLD (1998) 

The original movie was already on thin ice with me, but Disney just said “Screw it, how much more insulting can we get?”

First off, I won’t even get into the problems with historical accuracy. The first movie didn’t bother, but this movie tries to follow the real story more closely while also being a sequel to the fiction to the first, and it just makes everyone uncomfortable.

*sigh* At least the original had a really good sense of style. Every shot in that movie looked like a beautiful painting. Here, every background looks like they came out of a later era Looney Tunes short.

I do not care for John Rolfe. He’s pretty much John Smith again, even though John Smith is already in this movie. The only reason John Rolfe is here is to marry Pocahontas because the real John Rolfe “married” the real Pocahontas.

It would’ve made no difference to the plot if it was John Smith was the one who took Pocahontas to London, and it would’ve made more sense with regards to this fictionalized version of history in the first film.

They also try to make John Smith more of a dick so that Rolfe looks better, and that’s some backwards character development I won’t stand for (JK I don’t actually care at all).

(Also, I found that the two Johns had better chemistry in their few scenes together than either of them had with Pocahontas herself. It makes sense though, cause they’re pretty much the same person.)

The animal companions are also here, and they serve no purpose other than to be toyetic. There’s also another Native American who joins Pocahontas on the journey. He really serves no purpose other than to be a bad stereotype, be stoic, and be really tall.

The songs are bad. They just suck. It’s like the filmmakers looked at every saving grace of the first movie and just said “What if we don’t”? Not even Ratcliffe’s song is good, though it’s not like he did much in this film already.

There’s a low-budget version of “Belle” from Beauty and the Beast, and a song about whitewashing Pocahontas and teaching her “etiquette”. Oh goody, just what every kid wants to see!

I think there was like, one small joke I chuckled at? But other than that, this film did two things that no movie should: it bored me and it made me feel uncomfortable. Just no. 

1/10: You know it’s bad when I begin pining for the OG film. I didn’t even really like that one!