What Parents Should Know
Historical events and figures show that peace can prevail through communication, understanding, and acts of decency between vastly different cultures. Also, parents should know that Pocahontas's decision to stay with her tribe may disappoint young viewers.

Common Sense Media Review
Given the choice, children will gravitate toward The Lion King's menagerie of cute talking animals before embracing Disney's history-based follow-up, POCAHONTAS, but that doesn't make the latter worth passing up. Sensing a hard sell, the Disney folks dropped in a couple of merchandising lures, a frisky raccoon, and a scene-stealing hummingbird who contribute nothing of import to the story, but succeed in livening up what might otherwise have been a fairly somber tale.

This is a movie less concerned with booing the bad guys as it is with cheering on the heroes. The villain isn't a single entity; Governor Ratcliffe embodies the greed, ignorance, and hostility that still haunts our world four hundred years later. Children will sense that, and learn that peace and tolerance are goals well worth striving for.

For those so inclined, there are plenty of historical inaccuracies to fuss over (the Union Jack hadn't yet been adopted in the early seventeenth century, for one), but in real life willow trees don't give advice, hummingbirds don't wink, and people don't break into beautifully-orchestrated song at the drop of a headdress. Let it suffice that the Native Americans are sensitively portrayed, their earthy values respected.

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