Beyond The Simpsons, Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar, the best shows and movies on Disney Plus. While those are all excellent choices, Disney+ also features many interesting episodes and films that aren’t included on the app’s home screen.
The streaming service has one of the most extensive libraries of hard-to-find content, including vintage films from the Disney and Fox vaults, a slew of DCOMs, and National Geographic documentaries that are so old that you’ll be astonished they were even digitized.
Our choice of what to watch on Disney+ tries to steer clear of the obvious instead of focusing on films like the new National Geographic movie The Rescue and the undervalued 1999 family film, The Straight Story. However, if something is significant, novel, and worth seeing, we will include it on the list, which is why The Book of Boba Fett and Hawkeye are included.
This list of the best movies and television shows is currently available on Disney+, HBO Max TV, and Netflix. To keep things current, we’re highlighting the greatest recent releases (whether they’re new to the world or exclusively on Disney+), Disney+ originals, and some of our personal favorites.
High Fidelity
John Cusack is outstanding in this 2000 classic about an empathetic music store owner sorting through his prior relationships to determine what went wrong with each one.
It has subsequently been gender-flipped for a television program starring Zoe Kravitz. Still, the original is difficult to beat – and just as interesting for one of the rare Jack Black roles that are purposely irritating.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Jeff Kinney’s best-selling books are getting another cinematic adaptation — three live-action Diary of a Wimpy Kid films has already been shot — this time in the books’ simple stick-figure animation style but blown out in 3D CGI.
While it may appear slightly weird, it suits the comics’ toilet humor as Greg Heffley navigates his first year of middle school while navigating students who shave, filthy bathrooms, and playground cheese.
Big Hero 6
The upshot of this partnership between Disney Plus and Marvel is a geek’s paradise. Big Hero 6 stars six slap-hazard superheroes, including Baymax, a large, friendly, and inflatable robot, We defy you not to cry while watching.
Hawkeye
The latest Marvel series (which I may never get over how swiftly and thoroughly Disney+ and Marvel flooded the zone, making these MCU shows feel as if they’d always been around to the point of tiredness) is a particularly enjoyable one.
It follows Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye (Jeremy Renner), the Avengers’ regular guy archer, as he battles bad guys in New York City during the Christmas season while reluctantly mentoring Kate Bishop (Hailee Steinfeld), a bright young woman who aspires to be a world-saving archer just like him – literally. She is dressed in one of his previous incarnations. Renner and Steinfeld’s chemistry is excellent, and the action sequences are satisfying.
Paddington 2
While the first Paddington is excellent, the second is flawless – and fortunately, they are both available on Disney+ at the moment, so there is no reason to choose. Part meditation on the prison complex, showcase Hugh Grant’s comedic abilities, and 100 percent certain to have you in tears of joy.
Edward Scissorhands
Tim Burton, the director, was inspired to create this classic romantic fantasy film by the famous drinking game Edward Fortyhands. As a child growing up in the suburbs, he observed his friends tape 40oz bottles of malt liquor to their hands, which inspired him to consider, “what if the hands were scissors instead of bottles?”
While this is a joke — Scissorhands, not Fortyhands – the drinking game demonstrates the film’s artistic effect and longevity. It stars Johnny Depp as the titular Frankenstein’s monster, a charming, sensitive young man secluded from society due to his differences but merely wished to be loved. Depp and Winona Ryder, who plays Edward’s love interest Kim Boggs, were at their best, as was Burton, whose sense of gothic whimsy was honed here.
Star Wars: The Last Jedi
While this may be a divisive decision, The Last Jedi is unquestionably the best film in Disney’s most current Star Wars trilogy and the best franchise since Empire (which, naturally, also makes our list). It’s astute enough to ditch some of the series’ excess baggage in favor of new facets of the mythology to explore, provides a suitable conclusion to Luke Skywalker’s path, and delivers probably the single most arresting sight in any galaxy far, far away from the film.
Dug Days
The quality of Disney+’s endeavors to expand its existing franchises’ universes has varied, with Marvel and Star Wars receiving the greatest attention and success. However, save from Toy Story’s Forky Asks a Question and this collection of cartoons from the movie, Pixar’s film extensions have been generally forgettable.
Dug, who can communicate thanks to a voice gizmo around his neck, is the ideal subject for the five 8 Minute’s shorts, his innocent and naive view of the world eliciting heartfelt moments with his owner Carl (Ed Asner in one of his final roles) and never outstaying its welcome.