Pocahontas

It is easy to see why the animations of Dingo Pictures are relatively obscure, though those who have had the misfortune of seeing any of their output (which along with their equally low-budget computer animated counterpart Video Brinquedo have not once made anything worthwhile) cannot forget their awfulness. It is even easier to see why they are universally reviled.

'Pocahontas', while not one of their all-time worst (though it is very close), lack of originality, lack of fidelity and that it completely wastes a potentially decent idea, is actually the least of its problems. Its all round cheapness and laziness is far more of a problem. As was said before, it is hard to know where to start when there are no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and even for a studio with next to nothing worthwhile 'Pocahontas' is just an abomination, very rarely use this adjective but this deserves it. It is easily the worst animated adaptation of the Pocahontas legend, and the worst overall, yes even worse than 'The Secret of Pocahontas (made by the company that made 'The Secret of the Hunchback') and that is saying something.

The animation is some of the worst there is, so awful it's unacceptable even for low-budget animation. It has flat colours, very simplistic backgrounds and lack of detail and derivative, shoddy, unfinished recycled and creepy character animation as well as a style that makes art of primary school children who draw and paint in half an hour or less seem more accomplished.

Music always sounds misplaced and never fitting with what's going on, not to mention that it has little breathing space even in scenes that are in dire need for it. The script is incredibly repetitive and juvenile, some of it making one question who the target audience was meant to be, that it will insult any adult is bad enough but even young children will feel dumber after hearing some of the dialogue here.

The story feels incredibly stretched and 'Pocahontas' is not even that long at all. It also has incredibly plodding pacing, is very disjointed, goes nowhere a lot of the time and some of it is so aimless and jumpy it's incomprehensible, usually have no trouble following storytelling but had real trouble making sense of the story here. Some suspension of disbelief is needed too.

Characters are excruciatingly irritating and a few irrelevant to the story. Not a likable or interesting character among them, most of them being nerve-gratingly annoying or too sugary that it makes the teeth hurt. Wabuu is one of Dingo Pictures' most annoying characters and one of the most annoying in animation full stop, and one questions the need for him, and the conflict is more hammy than menacing. Lets not get started on seeing recycled hyenas in a completely inappropriate setting for them and the misplaced and near-offensive caricatures. Meanwhile this contains the blandest Pocahontas and John Smith and anything to do with them is vastly over-shadowed by the numerous and overused annoyances around them.

Meanwhile, the sound effects are bizarre and randomly placed and the voice acting is amateurish even by low-budget animation standards, often being annoying, poorly recorded, creepy-sounding and incomprehensible and even ill-fitting. Especially for Wabuu.

To conclude, Dingo Pictures has a dubious output that is consistent in awfulness and make other bad animated films look like masterpieces. While it is not quite one of their worst, 'Pocahontas' still epitomises everything that is bad about them. One of the most 1/10s in a long time. Bethany Cox