Factual error: The movie depicts a moose in what would be Coastal Virginia. They are not native to there at all.
Continuity mistake: Early in the movie when Thomas falls overboard, John Smith ties a rope around his waist (00:02:56) and jumps in after him. Thomas is very far away from the ship (00:03:12). But when the men pull John and Thomas up, John is holding on to the rope with one hand and the end is left dangling (00:03:36). One of the men who pulled them up then coils the rope with a mere two coils (00:03:48), not nearly long enough to have reached Thomas while he was overboard. In the same scene, when we are viewing the men pulling John and Thomas up from above (00:03:38) there is no extra rope at their feet as there should have been for such a long rope.
Factual error: John Smith's (voiced by Aussie, Mel Gibson) accent changes and also fades in and out during the course of the movie.
Other mistake: Just after Grandma Willow says "There's still some snap in these old vines," John Smith puts on his bag, but he just presses it to him instead of putting it over his head.
Continuity mistake: When John Smith is going to be killed and Pocahontas falls over him, between shots she changes position.
Deliberate mistake: Many times Pocahontas's hair blows in the wind, even though nothing else moves in the shot. From the way her hair moves, the wind should be strong enough wind to move something else, but not even John Smith's hair moves.
Continuity mistake: Right after John Smith gets captured and is taken away, Nakoma grabs Pocahontas' hand, but when it shows the shadow of them they aren't holding hands. Then in the very next shot they are but it doesn't show them grabbing each other's hand again.
Factual error: The flag used when Radcliff claims the land for King James I wasn't adopted until 1801.
Other mistake: When Percy sees Meeko in the bubble, it is done in first person perspective and we can see straight through the bubble, showing that Meeko is not there on the other side.
Continuity mistake: When John Smith is on the stretcher to be taken on board the ship, watch as Thomas and the other guy tell him good luck and good speed. John closes his eyes, opens his mouth slightly, leans his head back - and freezes for the rest of the shot.
Continuity mistake: When Kocoum is shot and falls back into the water, only he and Pocahontas are shown on the riverbank, even though he was just fighting with John in the same location.
Continuity mistake: When Pocahontas sees John Smith for the first time, John is climbing up a cliff face and then a tree. You can see his musket strapped to his back as he's climbing. But after he tells Thomas he's getting a better look and then is shown in the tree, his gun has vanished.
Continuity mistake: When Pocahontas and John Smith stop kissing after they see Kocoum rushing towards them, Pocahontas has a tattoo on her right arm that disappears when we see her in the very next shot.
Continuity mistake: When Meeko follows Pocahontas by jumping off the cliff, he accidentally knocks Flit, causing the bird to spin upside down. But in a wide view of the cliff in the next shot, we can see Meeko but Flit is nowhere to be seen.
Continuity mistake: During the storm, when John grabs the rope and climbs down to hold the cannon, the guys who were bringing the sails with him on the mast disappear.
Continuity mistake: When the boat sets sail, a sailor is on the left pulling a rope, but disappears when John walks by.
Continuity mistake: When the people are in line to get in the boat a net on the right of the ramp to the boat is in mid-air being lifted with stuff inside. No net is on the left side, but a shot later, from a closer angle, a net has suddenly appeared on the floor on the left.
Continuity mistake: When the film starts, the line to get in the boat is at a 5 o'clock position. In the next angle it's at 3 o'clock.
Continuity mistake: When the movie starts, the harbour and the boat are empty, but people suddenly appear everywhere in the following the close-up.
Continuity mistake: A British flag appears on the stern of the boat after the opening aerial angle.
Answer: He probably knows that if he tries to escape he'll be shot down by the Powahatans' arrows. He prefers dying with some kind of dignity rather than while running.