-1995-: Pocahontas

The team settled on the legend of Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan chief Wahunsenacawh, and her interaction with English colonist John Smith. Unlike Cinderella or Ariel, this protagonist was a real person (albeit one whose life was drastically altered by the script). The animators traveled to Jamestown, Virginia, and studied the landscape. They consulted historians—and then, famously, ignored most of them.

Yet, defenders of point out a crucial detail: The villain is not Governor Ratcliffe's cartoonish greed. The villain is fear . John Smith arrives wanting to shoot "natives" until Pocahontas teaches him humanity. And in a devastating twist, the film does not end with a wedding. It ends with John Smith returning to England wounded, and Pocahontas choosing her people. She waves goodbye from a cliff. In Disney’s entire canon, only Bambi ’s mother dying is a more brutal emotional beat. pocahontas -1995-

The production sought to imbue characters with more "realistic" behavior than previous Disney leads. The team settled on the legend of Pocahontas,

Despite its technical beauty, the film faced significant criticism for several reasons: John Smith arrives wanting to shoot "natives" until

The film’s score blends orchestral swells with Native American-inspired vocals. Other notable songs include “Just Around the Riverbend,” “Mine, Mine, Mine,” and the gentle love theme “If I Never Knew You” (cut from the theatrical release but restored in later editions).