History YMMV / Pocahontas

** Kocoum: Brave, strong, deeply concerned for Pocahontas's well-being and [[DoggedNiceGuy unfairly dismissed by her]]? Or a xenophobic, aggressive idiot [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy prone to violent solutions]] who couldn't take no for an answer?

** The lyric "They're not like you and me, which means they must be evil" is far too on the nose to take seriously.

** In Norway, ''Pocahontas'' was one of the most successful movies of the Disney Renaissance, rivaling ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' and has only clearly beaten by ''The Lion King'' and ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'' in terms of popularity.

* AssPull: The movie skips past the whole language-barrier problem by having Grandmother Willow grant Pocahontas the ability to speak English as soon as she meets John. (Or rather, the spirits translate his words for her.)
* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: Vivid colours, fluid character animation and a striking angular design outside of the normal Disney house style - the film's detractors do at least praise it for its beautiful visuals.

** A few viewers mistakenly thought Nakoma was Pocahontas's sister. They're just best friends, and Nakoma's first line is in fact "''your'' father's back".
** The portrayal of the English settlers is often imagined to be very sanitized and whitewashed. While the film is child-friendly, it's stated up front that the English are sailing to America to take advantage of the resources and view the Powhatans as lesser than them (one of Thomas's lines is "if any Indian tries to stop me, I'll blast him"). Ben likewise tries to kill a wounded man in cold blood. John even has a line saying "leave the savages to me", only having a HeelRealization after meeting Pocahontas.

* DesignatedVillain: Because he was originally Ratcliffe's dog, Percy is expected to be viewed as a villain, even though he's really just a victim bystander along for the ride. Meeko started all of the conflicts.

* FandomRivalry: With ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}''. The two films often get put against each other and compared. Both were put into production around the same time. ''The Lion King'' was an experimental project that people weren't sure about, while ''Pocahontas'' was thought to be a guaranteed hit. There are constant debates around their protagonists, too -- Simba often being praised for his flaws in contrast to Pocahontas for lacking many notable flaws of her own.
* {{Fanon}}: One theory is that Pocahontas doesn't automatically learn English via listening with her heart -- but that the spirits' magic helps her and John only understand each other. Neither of them has a conversation with someone else from the respective culture, lending some merit to this.
* FashionVictimVillain: Ratcliffe's little pink bows and pigtails. And let's not get started on the solid gold outfit he wears in his DreamSequence. Though subverted at the end where he wears a more badass looking armor suit.

** Nakoma has gained popularity with queer women based on her friendship with Pocahontas, whom many fans like to reinterpret her as having romantic feelings for due to their fair share of LesYay.

** Ratcliffe's fixation on gold is typically considered one of the more laughable villainous schemes among the Disney rogues, and Ratcliffe himself tends to be seen as a highly one-dimensional villain; the fact that he was introduced after Scar and then followed up by Judge Claude Frollo, two of Disney's most beloved villains doesn't help his case much.

* TheScrappy: Governor Ratcliffe tends to be this for many not just by this film alone, but among the rest of the villainous lineup in the Disney Animated Canon due to being a one-dimensional villain that lacks any likable or charming traits compared to the Disney villains he was sandwiched between such as Frollo or Scar, whose bufoonery fails to amuse and even his dynamic with Wiggins seeming like a pale imitation of [[WesternAnimation/PeterPan Captain Hook and Mr. Smee]]. WordOfGod implies that he was likely intended to be more of an allegorical villain who represented the harm done to Native Americans by European settlers, much like how the hunter from ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi}}'' personified humanity's destructive effects on nature, but Ratcliffe's role in the plot is still written like that of a more conventional Disney villain with an actual face, name, voice and characterization to go with him (by contrast, the hunter was a [[NothingIsScarier frightening nonentity]] only around for long enough to drive the plot, and no longer), meaning that his lack of personality becomes glaringly obvious. The only things it's agreed he has going for him are David Odgen Stiers's performance, his fun VillainSong "Mine" (with the [[MemeticMutation memetic]] "see how I glitter!" line), and his participation in "Savages".

* SoOkayItsAverage: A more common reception nowadays, while not very many people are able to claim that this is a masterpiece, there are thousands of people who agree that it's nowhere near Disney's worst offering.

* TearDryer: Kocoum has been killed, John Smith is about to be executed at sunrise, the English are going to slaughter the Powhatans in a sneak attack, and Pocahontas has lost all hope. Meeko then gives her John's compass, and she realises that she ''can'' stop the execution and prevent further bloodshed. And that's exactly what she does.

* VindicatedByHistory: Not to the same extent as ''WesternAnimation/TheRescuersDownUnder'', ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' or ''WesternAnimation/{{Hercules}}'' but reception to this movie has warmed slightly. This is due to a variation of SeinfeldIsUnfunny - this was one of the first animated films to fictionalize actual historical events and other films would later do similar things such as ''WesternAnimation/{{Anastasia}}''. It is also received better by fans who were kids when it was first released, and still embrace it now, when they're older.