These Are the Best Movies to Watch on Disney+

Is it an animated Call Me By Your Name? Yes and no. It does feature Luca, a sweet boy who makes an Italian friend named Alberto, and then two of them discover that when they enter water, they turn into mermaids. And Luca makes Alberto jealous when he befriends land-only dweller Giulia, so it’s not not a sweet coming of age film! Shirked of any of the heaviness or sexuality of the aforementioned film, Disney has created something special that is an absolute summer must-see.

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Turn your nose up all you want, but The Princess Diaries is Disney+ gold. Starring Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, and Hector Elizondo, the coming of age story has the perfect amount of cheese and teenage angst. A true time capsule of the 2000s. And it will have you intermittently whispering the words: Prin-CESS of Genovia.

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Kelly Marie Tran leads a lively voice cast as Raya, a warrior princess looking to restore prosperity to Kumandra, her ancestral homeland, by tracking down the last remaining dragon, her only hope for saving the nation. That dragon, Sisu, is a far cry from a fearsome beast, but their partnership bears fruit in this touching story about trust, girl power, and leaps of faith.

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Before National Treasure becomes a television reboot at Disney+, stream the original movie (and its sequel) to stay ahead of the curve. Nicolas Cage stars as a cryptologist and treasure hunter who uncovers astonishing secrets about American history. Difficult to believe? You bet your ass. But it’s sure a lot of fun, featuring some high-octane, Indiana Jones-style archaeology.

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This 1997 cult classic is among Disney’s finest animated films. Arriving at the tail end of the Disney Renaissance, Hercules is the funny and fast-paced tale of the renowned Greek hero. After 18 years of feeling like an outcast, Hercules discovers his divine lineage, with an ultimatum attached: Hercules can only return to Mount Olympus, the home of the gods, if he becomes a hero. With the help of his world-weary, wise-cracking trainer, Hercules embarks on a storied journey to become a hero, replete with powerful questions about the true nature of heroism.

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Set in a fantastical world where modern life and medieval magic coexist, Onward stars Tom Holland and Chris Pratt as two teenage elf brothers who embark on a magical quest to spend one last day with their long-dead father. Hijinks, miscommunications, and a Weekend at Bernie’s-style caper ensue, but so too does a powerful, tear-jerking story about family and memory.

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Pixar’s latest outing stars Jamie Foxx as Joe, a New York City middle-school band teacher determined to make it big as a jazz musician. When Joe falls down a manhole right before his big break, he ends up in The Great Before, the existential limbo where nascent souls receive training before taking up residence in a human body. There he meets 22 (voiced by Tina Fey), a jaded soul whose rebellion masks a deep skepticism about life on Earth. What begins as a buddy comedy caper to get Joe back into his body ends in a characteristically Pixar meditation on beauty, art, and ambition.

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In this frothy, Enchanted-esque fantasy, Jillian Bell stars as Eleanor, a godmother-in-training who embarks on a quest to save the dying profession from extinction. Finding a forgotten letter from Mackenzie, a young girl in distress, Eleanor tracks down Mackenzie in Boston, only to discover that she’s now a 40-year-old widow working at a local news station, struggling to parent her two daughters and find her happily ever after. Eleanor’s mission to change Mackenzie’s life results in a cheeky send-up of fairytale conventions, as well as a genuinely heartwarming story about finding happiness after loss.

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Criticize the tired Pixar formula all you want: when an algorithm consistently brings tears to your eyes within the first fifteen minutes, it’s hard to be a cynic. Coco tags us along with Miguel, a young man with dreams of being a musician, as he travels to visit his ancestors on the Mexican Día de los Muertos. The film navigates its themes thoughtfully, achieving poignant commentary about ancestry, mortality, and the pertinent power of borders.

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It’s not often that a superhero movie franchise makes its name as one of the most iconic in the industry on its first run. But one look at this Marvel flick’s cast, soundtrack, costumes, and set design justifies the hype. Kicking off the origin story of Black Panther, the film joins T’Challa, played by Chadwick Boseman, on his journey home to the nation of Wakanda as he fights to save his father’s throne, the nation, and the world.

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We couldn’t complete this list with a clear conscience without an honorable mention of For the Birds. What this short lacks in runtime, it makes up in Oscar-winning quality. For those of the streaming generation without the distinct pleasure of watching Pixar shorts at the start of every VHS and DVD, consider this our act of service to you.

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There’s a large chance this animated movie is jammed about as far back into your memory as its VHS is in your family’s attic. Luckily for you, there’s no more need to journey through cobwebs and spelling bee trophies to revisit this gem. Embark on what is arguably the greatest hero’s journey of household appliances ever told.

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The love triangle between Steve Carrell, Juliette Binoche, and Dane Cooke that you didn’t know you needed. Not only is Dan in Real Life an early taste of Carrell’s dramatic acting chops, it is also a tender blend of dark comedy and mumblecore that, not unlike its poster, will feel like laying your head on a stack of pancakes.

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Sorry, but it’s an indisputable fact that no movie has a better dance sequence than the final scene of A Goofy Movie. It’s not an opinion; it’s just fact. Released in 1995, the standalone Goofy movie is actually way better than the premise sounds. Both a coming of age story and near-movie-musical, A Goofy Movie is likely one of those Disney gems that you might have not accounted for in your binge plans.

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The OG sad dog movie is available on the streaming service as soon as it launches on November 12. Brutally realistic for its 1957 release date, Old Yeller stumbles upon the Coates family farm as a stray, but wins the family’s hearts over after saving them from a brutal bear attack. But as you might have heard, Disney only warms your heart to break it. Sure, the movie is 62 years old, but we’re not going to spoil the ending. Just have some tissues around for after it finishes.

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Whether you’re into the fully animated features from 1961 or the live action turn we got in 1996 (there is no Cruella De Vil like Glenn Close), Disney+ has you covered with both iterations. Way more terrifying than you might remember, Cruella is after a whole litter of puppies so she can… make them into coats. As you might guess, she never gets away with it, but she makes an incredible villain, cartoon-version or not.

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Disney managed to turn a rapidly fading theme park ride into one of the biggest movie franchises of the early 2000s. Though the sequels dipped significantly in quality, this swashbuckling first entry starring Johnny Depp, Keira Knightly, and Orlando Bloom had big high seas action and a lot of charm.

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Though widely mocked, Avatar still remains among the highest grossing films of all time. And while James Cameron takes his sweet, sweet time with the promised sequels, it’s worth it to re-visit, the weird and wonderful world of Pandora and those tall blue aliens that have sex with their hair.

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Parks and Recreation’s Ron Swanson describes this film’s plot as “a film in which an orange fish is separated from his father,” which is pretty much the perfect summary. The beautiful colors and hilarious voice acting of Ellen DeGenerous’s forgetful Dory make this one of the most beloved films in Pixar’s storied catalog.

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This National Geographic documentary is not for people who are afraid of heights or who are generally averse to thrill-seeking. It follows professional climber Alex Honnold, who attempts to achieve the first free-solo climb of El Capitan at Yosemite National Park. Spoiler: He does it so you don’t have to.

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Seeing as Disney owns the rights to the massive Marvel Cinematic Universe, all your favorite superhero movies will be available to stream on Disney+. So, might as well start with the film that transformed modern Hollywood as we know it—Iron Man is the origin of Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark. From here, you can go ahead and watch most of the other Marvel movies available on Disney+ including the recent Endgame.

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A little advice: If you’re going through an emotional time, it might be best to tackle this one when things have calmed down a bit. This 2015 film follows 11-year-old Midwestern girl Riley as she moves to San Francisco with her parents, all while battling her tricky pre-teen years. Her emotions are all animated (literally) and brought to life by recognizable voices, including Amy Poehler, Mindy Kaling, and her The Office co-star Phyllis Smith. Again, it’s about feelings, so if you don’t want to think about yours, this isn’t the best choice. Or maybe it is. Face what’s going on in there.

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Even if you don’t get sentimental about football, this movie manages to pull the emotion out of anyone. Featuring Denzel Washington in one of his best roles to date, the film follows his coaching career as his Virginia football team navigates a school-wide integration. As the new black head coach in a town that is hardly accepting of this change, he and his family push through the challenge they’ve been given.

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It’s 2019, and we’ve gotten all the way up to a Toy Story 4, which is a film not to be enjoyed by anyone with a fear of evil dolls or ventriloquy. But none of that would have come to be without the original, released in 1995. In Toy Story, we met Woody and Buzz for the first time, and maybe best of all, the “Claw” aliens make their first appearance.

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Disney+ will make available every film in the modern, prequel, and original era available to stream on day one. So, let’s start it off with the movie that changed it all, the original 1977 Star Wars, where Luke Skywalker, Leia, and Han Solo make their first appearances.

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Thirty-seven years before Lindsay Lohan played her own twin in The Parent Trap, Hayley Mills was doing it. The twins, named Susan Evers and Sharon McKendrick, because this is 1961 and everyone has your mom’s name, meet at summer camp and decide to switch places, unbeknownst to their parents.

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This modern animated classic (that’s surprisingly not Pixar!) is one that both parents and kids can watch repeatedly—and never get “How Far All Go” out of their head. The story of a brave teenager who sets out on a quest to save her island is the film that Esquire ranked as the best Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson movie (he voices the hero Maui).

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Released in 1937, Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs revolutionized animated films as we know it and fully established Disney as a viable film studio. It’s animation style was groundbreaking at the time, and still holds up in 2019. Sure, Disney is best known for computerized technical wonders, but there’s something still appealing about these sweet, hand drawn masterpieces.

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