Corrected entry: I live in Yorktown, Virginia and have gone as far as Richmond, to Norfolk, and to Virginia Beach looking for this waterfall she dives into. I would love to see a beautiful waterfall around Jamestown, but unfortunately the land here is extremely flat. "The New World" was actually filmed here just as a reference for its flat plane.
Corrected entry: When Smith prepares to ambush his pursuer (who turns out to be Pocahontas), he hides in a hollow behind a small waterfall, preparing his matchlock musket - a weapon which would have a good chance of being rendered unusable when its wielder jumps out from behind a waterfall; either by extinguishing the match, or by fouling the ignition powder with the water.
Correction: He never fired the weapon. Jumping from behind a waterfall was a stupid thing to do, but it didn't break any natural laws. Character mistake.
Corrected entry: The flag is ripped in the storm, but after the storm when the men are drinking, the flag is fine again.
Correction: The storm being over when they drink, they could have put a new flag to replace the ripped one. Given a flag is the symbol of it's country of origin, you'd think they would bring more than just one flag along for the journey.
Corrected entry: When the English arrive, the captain "Claims the land in the name of King James 1st," but obviously the current king would just have been named "King James." How did the captain know there would be others?
Correction: What nonsense. The FIRST king James would be referred to as James 1st - this is how monarchical nomenclature works.
Corrected entry: When Pocahontas sneaks off to find John Smith, she passes through a cornfield in which the corn is planted in rows. This is not something that Native Americans would have done.
Correction: Actually there were Native Americans that did indeed plant their corn in rows.
Corrected entry: Towards the end of the movie, right before Pocahontas goes to save John Smith, she watches the spinning arrow on the compass, which eventually points to the rising sun. But this couldn't be (unless she has a broken compass), because the sun rises in the east, and compasses point north.
Correction: This is obviously meant to be a story device. Compasses also do not spin wildly around and then instantly stop to point rigidly in one direction as this one was doing. The compass is pointing to John and telling Pocahontas where she must go.
Corrected entry: When the Chief is talking to Pocahontas about marrying Kokoum in one of the village tents, the Chief's hair changes from being down in one shot to being back up (as a mohawk) in the next.
Correction: What happens is the Chief's hair is up in a mohawk and bald on the right side. The left side is long and down, not up in a mohawk. It looks like a mistake, but really isn't due to the bald right side, mohawk, and hair down on the left side. It really is a confusing hairstyle, but not a mistake.
Corrected entry: At the end of the movie when the ship is leaving with the injured John Smith, Pocahontas runs to the cliff to wave good-bye. There is a shot with the ship moving behind the trees in the background. In the next shot, the ship is still moving behind the trees and Pocahontas is catching up to it and almost passes it, Then in the next shot, she makes it to the cliff and the ship is now a few hundred feet away from the cliff and the trees. How did the ship get from the trees to a few hundred feet from the cliff in less than five seconds?
Correction: The ship was beginning to pick up the strong wind(you can tell by everyone's hair blowing). When Pocahontas is running, she is at ground level so she would have to spend some time climbing that high cliff to reach the top, even though it's not shown.
Corrected entry: I don't think hummingbirds would last long in North America; with their small bodies and superfast wing flapping, they would lose their body temperature rapidly in a temperate climate's wintertime. Besides, their usual diet - flower nectar - wouldn't be available all the time as they are in the Middle and South American jungles.
Correction: Actually the Ruby Throated Hummingbird migrates along the east coast from as far north as Canada then back to the south for the winter.
Correction: I live in West Texas, and I can tell you, we have plenty of hummingbirds around here. Once, my cat actually managed to catch one, and to this day, we have no idea how she did it.
Correction: It's not a movie mistake. Like all legends and fairy tales, artistic and sometimes fantastical (talking trees, anyone?) liberties are taken to enhance the story. It's no more meant to conform to the real world than Aladdin, Mulan, or Sword in the Stone.
JC Fernandez