The film is the first Disney animated film to be based on a real historic character, the known history, and the folklore and legend that surrounds the Native American woman Pocahontas, and features a fictionalized account of her encounter with Englishman John Smith and the settlers that arrived from the Virginia Company. It is also Mel Gibson's voice acting debut. The film received mixed reviews (which makes the film the first and only film in the Renaissance Era to receive mixed reviews) but was a financial success by over $346 million in box office.