Colors of the wind...

This post is part of Nathaniel's "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" series in which the participants must post a single image from a movie he or she deems as the "best shot" for any particular reason.

Today's film, in honor of Earth Day, is Disney's Pocahontas. Admittedly I had only ever seen it just once back in the 90s when I owned a lot of Disney animated films on VHS tapes (remember those?). But while I re-watched Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King over and over, I never did feel the need to revisit Pocahontas again until today. The historical inaccuracy didn't bother me as I knew little of the real story until years later, but the story itself did feel awfully simplistic and the Romeo and Juliet romance between Pocahontas and John Smith never really felt organic to me then and now. The one great thing I could and can say about the film is its beautiful animation, especially the painterly background and vistas showing off the New World in all of its glory--the glimmering waters, the majestic mountains, the tall trees. And that aspect of the film really stood out for me upon re-watch. I mean just look:

Gorgeous. Speaking of, Pocahontas looks really good especially when her hair is wind blown (nature as her personal wind machine for the win), which happens fairly often in the film, as you can see with the very top shot above this post and the two shots below:

My pick for best shot mixes the painterly with the wind blown hair of Pocahontas when she literally becomes a painting in the wind during the "Colors of the Wind" musical sequence:

My Best Shot

My runner-up shot (below), mostly because of how beautifully composed it is with its reddish pinkish purplish hues and dark shadows, is the darkest moment of the film with Kocoum falling into the water after getting shot by Thomas taking Pocahontas' broken necklace along with him:

Of course I would end this post on a down note, but that's also one of the things I admired about the film. The main couple don't actually end up happily ever after (which might be because they don't in real life), which was quite refreshing at the time.