Pocahontas: Special Edition (1995)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Main Menu Introduction Main Menu Audio & Animation Menu Audio Alternative Version-Original Theatrical Version Audio Commentary-Filmmakers Game-Disney's Art Project Game-Follow Your Heart Song Lyrics-Sing Along Songs (2) Music Video-Colours Of The Wind Featurette-Making Of Featurette-Production Featurette-Design Featurette-Music Featurette-Abandoned Concepts, With Optional Commentary Theatrical Trailer-2 Featurette-The Premiere In Central Park Featurette-Multi-Language Reel Gallery
Rating
Year Of Production	1995
Running Time	80:49
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered Dual Disc Set	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	2,4	Directed By	Mike Gabriel Eric Goldberg
Studio Distributor	Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.	Starring	Irene Bedard Judy Kuhn Mel Gibson David Ogden Stiers John Kassir Russell Means Christian Bale Linda Hunt Danny Mann Billy Connolly Joe Baker Frank Welker Michelle St. John
Case	?
RPI	$29.95	Music	Alan Menken Stephen Schwartz H. Lee Peterson

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Audio Commentary Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.66:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Pocahontas had its much anticipated theatrical release in 1994. As Disney's follow-up animation to The Lion King, it was always going to be in a difficult position to repeat that kind of financial and critical success. Whilst it was one of the highest grossing movies that North American summer with over $140 million in ticket sales, it was a bit controversial with critics. It certainly lives in the shadow of another animated film that was released late in that year, Toy Story.

    Interestingly, this was the first Disney animated feature that was based on actual historical figures. It also doesn't follow the traditional Disney happy ending formula. Given the European vs American Indian hostility and themes of environmental conservatism over industrialisation, and the first ever on-screen death of a Disney flick baddie, it's not surprising that it is considered more of an adult-themed picture, rather than a kids movie.

    The film has a beautifully realised pre-civilisation New World, with a distinctive animation style. The artwork feels right for the period epic setting, and this is all the more true with this substantially improved DVD transfer. Featuring a mostly pastel palette, Pocahontas boasts a pretty unique look that works quite well.

    This double dip release came out almost 10 years after the theatrical release and as such is practically a 10 year anniversary release with considerably more special features than the previous 2001 release.

    Recommended for Disney and animation fans.

Video

    This PAL disc shows the film at 1.66:1 and is 16x9 enhanced.

    The image is sharp and an improvement over the previous edition.

    The transfer is visually dazzling with a beautiful colour palette. It'd be a shame if hand drawn animated films die. This movie, whatever shortcomings it has, looks absolutely fantastic on DVD.

    MPEG artefacts are not present, and neither is the aliasing problem of the previous release. Thankfully, there is no grain in this edition either.

    There are no film artefacts to be seen.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio is an English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) track.

    Whilst not as stand-out impressive as the video transfer, this is still a great audio treatment.

    The dialogue comes through clearly. There were no sync or other audio related issues.

    The music sounds great and helps to advance the storyline.

    The surrounds are used well, especially to add to the sense of the wilderness (i.e. birds in the distance, dogs, and so forth.)

    The subwoofer is subtly used for a few scenes, especially for thunder.

    There is also an English Audio Commentary track in Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s).

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Both discs

Main Menu Introduction
Main Menu Audio & Animation
Menu Audio

Disc 1

Audio Commentary-Filmmakers

    A well paced, conversation-like commentary with some interesting anecdotes.

Alternative Version-Original Theatrical Version

    It'd be easy to miss that there is even another version of the film. Go to Set Up, then Film and Audio options where you can choose between the Special Edition (where some musical scenes cut from the theatrical release are restored) and the Original Theatrical Edition.

Disney's Art Project

    Fun American Indian themed crafts for kids to make.

Game-Follow Your Heart

    Menu based game

Song Lyrics-Sing Along Songs (2)

    Colours of the Wind and Just Around the River Bend (Karaoke style, taken from a video transfer - shows you how bad video can be!!)

Music Video-Colours Of The Wind

Disc 2

Featurette-Making Of (28:02)

    Hosted by Irene Bedard (the voice and visual inspiration for Pocahontas), this is an excellent look at the making of the film with input from many of the cast and crew involved.

Featurette-Production

    Early Presentation Reel (3:44)

        Concept art to early music demos.

    Storyboard to Film Comparison (1:32)

    Production Progression including story reel, rough animation, cleaned up animation and then with final colour.

Featurette-Design

    Brief presentations showing the design of the look of the different characters in the film. I believe these were on the laserdisc version of the film.

Featurette-Music

    The Music of Pocahontas (7:05)

    If I Never Knew You Music Video and Making of

Featurette-Abandoned Concepts, With Optional Commentary

    Different scenes in storyboard format that for whatever reason were dropped. They include dialogue from the actual cast and sound effects.

Theatrical Trailers

Featurette-The Premiere In Central Park (3:46)

    Footage from what was the world's largest premiere with 100,000 people attending in Central Park

Featurette-Multi-Language Reel

    Fun Colours of the Wind music scene with different languages. Shows the amount of work put into international releases - it's almost like the same person sings each version. The voice hardly changes even as the languages switch from one to the other.

    The features are the same, so I'll go with R4 for superior video.

    It probably won't go down in history as one of Disney's best, but Pocahontas is a beautifully done film.

    The video is fantastic.

    The audio is good.

    The special features are comprehensive and enjoyable to watch.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall