Alan Menken Believes Disney Won’t Remake ‘Pocahontas’

Alan Menken, the composer of Disney ’90s classic films such as “The Little Mermaid”, “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin”, believes the 1995 animated feature “Pocahontas” might not be remade by the studio. Disney of late has green lit a number of remakes of its yesteryear classics, including “The Lion King”, “Lady and The Tramp”, “The Little Mermaid” and “The Hunchback of Notre Dame”, but Menken believes the new “Pocahontas”, if given a go ahead, might not suit the “modern” society and will instead end up “offending” people.

The film, which featured voice works by Irene Bedard and Mel Gibson, is about a Native American woman falling for an Englishman, who has just come to invade her homeland.

According to DigitalSpy, speaking at an event to promote Disney’s “Aladdin” remake, Menken said, “They all seem to be moving that way! ‘The Little Mermaid’ is next, with Rob Marshall directing and I’m going to be having lyrics by Lin Manuel Miranda, who I knew since he was a little kid.”

“They’re developing ‘Hunchback’, which will be complicated because there are dark aspects to that which we’re going to have to navigate. I don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do ‘Pocahontas’, I think that story is going to be difficult. With modern sensibilities, it’d be hard – you’re going to offend somebody – so I don’t know,” he added.

The 69-year-old composer, however, is glad to revisit the Disney classic and he had a great time working on the new “Aladdin” song “Speechless”.

“I’m happy to come back to these films and continue to add to them. Writing ‘Speechless’ was a surprising benefit,” Menken said.