风中奇缘2:伦敦之旅 Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World review by dvdmg

So far my experiences with Disney's "direct-to-video" (DTV) animation haven' t been particularly compelling. Of the programs I've watched, they've been mildly entertaining at best but have tended to appear pretty lackluster and uninspired.

1998's Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World does absolutely nothing to reverse that trend. The movie picks up fairly soon (a few months?) after the events of 1995's theatrical film Pocahontas John Smith's back in England while Pokey (Irene Bedard) herself and the other Powhatans are slowly acclimating to the presence of the Jamestown settlers.

Of course, some problem has to arise, and that stems from the fact that apparently King James believe Ratcliffe's (David Ogden Stiers) story of what happened in Virginia. As such, Smith (Donal Gibson) is on the outs and war looks to be on the horizon. In a last ditch effort to find the facts, the King dispatches John Rolfe (Billy Zane) to retrieve the Powhatan chief to come to England and discuss the matter. The English are under the mistaken impression that Pocahontas is chief, however, and ultimately she sails to Britain to attempt to fix matters. Problems ensue, but a generally happy ending follows.

I suppose PII at least deserves some credit for not simply rehashing the events of the first film as many of these DTV offerings seem to do. However, the entire movie seems bland and generic. Clearly the story had some possibilities, but it goes down only the most obvious paths and does so with little spark or flair.

Some might blame the failings of PII on its origins. After all, Pocahontas isn't generally regarded as one of Disney's best pictures. Personally, I used to dislike it, but it's really grown on me in recent years, and I now find it to offer a pretty satisfying if inconsistent piece. PII doesn't capitalize on the original's strengths, which came from the unusually dramatic and emotional tone, and the sequel comes across as little more than another "product" from the Disney factory.

Possible spoilers ahead, so to skip them, just past this paragraph and the next. Probably my least favorite aspect of the movie came from its treatment of the Pokey/Smith relationship. Early in the film, Smith allegedly buys the farm, but you get no points for guessing he's not actually dead. Pokey mourns for roughly ten minutes but gets back into the flow when she meets Rolfe. The two of them slowly develop affection for each other, but the picture is complicated when Smith turns up alive.

How does PII deal with this? It essentially makes Smith seem a little like a blowhard so Pokey can tell him that they want different things and she can go with Rolfe. It's a contrived and unsatisfying way to end things, especially considering how nicely the Pokey/Smith affair was handled in the first movie. If they truly had the bond shown there, they wouldn't be able to so quickly dispel it here. Frankly, it left a bad taste in my mouth.

The rest of the project remains pretty mediocre. The tunes in the original film were nothing special, though they seemed quite catchy. The sequel's songs appear completely unmemorable and add nothing to the movie.

Much of the original picture's vocal cast returns here, including Bedard, Stiers, Russell Means (Powhatan), and Linda Hunt (Grandmother Willow). Judy Kuhn also reprises her role as Pokey's singing voice. New to the cast are Zane and Jean Stapleton as Rolfe's houseservant Mrs. Jenkins. Notable in his absence is Mel Gibson, who did Smith the first time, but Disney get the next best thing (?): his brother Donal. This seems to be their new trend for DTV offerings: if you don't want to pay for the mega-star, hire his brother. They did the same through the substitution of Jim Hanks for brother Tom in Buzz Lightyear. Jim does a better impression of his sibling than does Donal; I never thought Smith was voiced by Mel, whereas I briefly bought Woody as coming from his originator.

One large change from the original film comes from PII's weak animation. The movie was created by Disney's TV department, and it shows, as the film generally looks crude, awkward and flat. The animation lacks life and verve; much of it just sits there and seems very bland. Frankly, this is typical of the TV stuff, and I've actually seen worse, so I won't slam PII too harshly for being what I expected, but don't think you' ll get cinema-quality animation from this one.

Don't think you'll get a cinema-quality Disney film either, because you won' t. Pocahontas II creates a mildly-entertaining diversion but nothing more. The overall project seems lackluster and generic, without any of the original film's merits. The movie is watchable at best but not anything I particularly enjoyed.

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