The 50 Best Movies on Disney+, Updated for January 2024

DIRECTOR: Mark Dindal
STARS: David Spade, John Goodman, Eartha Kitt
RATING: G

It has all the trappings of a new Disney animated classic, but The Emperor’s New Groove cuts a refreshingly different path. With its absurd hijinks, irreverent humor, and sardonic protagonist, director Mark Dindal locks into a frequency that’s juvenile enough for the kids and clever enough for the adults. David Spade’s self-deprecating schtick as a selfish emperor forced to learn humility when he’s turned into a llama cuts across the age divide.

Watch The Emperor’s New Groove on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Mira Nair
STARS: Lupita Nyong’o, David Oyelowo, Madina Nalwanga
RATING: PG

Don’t expect Slumdog Millionaire or any kind of poverty porn, for that matter, from Mira Nair’s Queen of Katwe. This story of a 10-year-old Ugandan’s rise to becoming a chess master is rousing and triumphant like the best of sports movies. But Nair never loses sight of how the dire economic circumstances of young Phiona’s home impact and inhibit her path to victory. The film is mindful of this backdrop without letting it define the protagonist altogether.

Watch Queen of Katwe on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Pete Docter, Kemp Powers
STARS: Jamie Foxx, Tina Fey, Graham Norton
RATING: PG

There’s enough silliness and simplicity on the surface level of Pixar’s Soul to make it a hit with the crowd for a PG rating. But make no bones about it: this is very much a movie geared for the adult brain. Pete Docter and Kemp Powers leverage all the fantastical capabilities of animation to get at the very essence of what it means to live a life full of purpose and passion. Where they lead us is both surprising and startling.

Watch Soul on Disney+

DIRECTOR: David Hand
STARS: Adriana Caselotti, Lucille La Verne, Harry Stockwell
RATING: G

Sometimes, you just can’t beat the original classic. Walt Disney’s first feature-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, still sparkles with its toe-tapping tunes, chilling villain … and, of course, unforgettable small sidekicks.

Watch Snow White and the Seven Dwarves on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Kevin Lima
STARS: Amy Adams, Patrick Dempsey, James Marsden
RATING: PG

Real talk: the last 15 years of wondering when Amy Adams will win her Oscar could have been avoided if the Academy had just recognized the brilliance of her turn as Giselle in Enchanted. As an animated princess thrust into the live-action world, the film finds boundless joy in exploring the situations that arise from this ultimate fish-out-of-water tale. Watching Adams’ bring a cartoon-like sensibility to life is perhaps the strongest testaments to her formidable skill as a performer and star.

Watch Enchanted on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Sam Weisman
STARS: Brendan Fraser, Leslie Mann, Thomas Haden Chirch
RATING: PG

Our culture is all the weaker for having less of Brendan Fraser in it. In his ’90s prime, no one quite channeled a sublime goofiness quite like he could. George of the Jungle is an endlessly amusing riff on Tarzan as a man raised by apes falls in love with an escaped adventurer who takes him home to meet her hoity-toity parents. Fish out of water doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Watch George of the Jungle on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Larry Shaw
STARS: Hilary Duff, Christy Carlson Romano, Shawn Ashmore
RATING: G

Who says Disney+ is just for kids and families? It’s a true grail for millennials with their complete collection of DCOMs (Disney Channel Original Movies) from the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. For my money, nothing beats Cadet Kelly, where Hilary Duff’s glamorous city girl learns to love enrolling in the military school where her new stepdad serves.

Watch Cadet Kelly on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Beyoncé
STARS: Beyoncé, Jay-Z
RATING: TV-14

If having to walk through the uncanny valley of Jon Favreau’s 2019 The Lion King was the cost of getting a new Beyoncé visual album, it will all have been worth it. The brightest star in the pop constellation continues to use her platform thoughtfully and purposefully; Black Is King furthers her mission of lifting up fellow Black artists, performers, and luminaries. Through visuals and lyrics alike, she recontextualizes and regrounds the Disney movie back in its distinctly African heritage.

Watch Black Is King on Disney+

DIRECTOR: David Lowery
STARS: Oakes Fegley, Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford
RATING: PG

Among the new wave of Disney’s live-action remakes of their animated classics, only Pete’s Dragon dared to go its own way and provide something other than fan service. Though not indebted to the lesser-known original from the ‘70s, filmmaker David Lowery draws inspiration from Spielbergian family epics and infuses that sense of wonder into the story. The result is something altogether unique and soaring.

Watch Pete’s Dragon on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Robert Iscove
STARS: Whitney Houston, Brandy, Bernadette Peters
RATING: G

After sitting in the Disney vault for decades, the Wonderful World of Disney version of Cinderella is finally available to stream! Don’t worry, it hasn’t gathered any dust. This multicultural take on the old fable is a joy to take in due in large part to the late Whitney Houston’s incandescent sparkle as the fairy godmother.

Watch Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Ron Clements, John Musker
STARS: Jodi Benson, Samuel E. Wright, Rene Auberjonois
RATING: G

If The Little Mermaid kicked off a period known as the “Disney Renaissance,” it’s only fair to say that this is their “The Birth of Venus.” It’s a great way to teach young audiences the concept of a Faustian bargain as mermaid Ariel sells her voice to the treacherous Ursula in exchange for a chance to be a human … and rock out to some true jams in the process. “Under the Sea,” a confirmed bop.

Watch The Little Mermaid on Disney+

DIRECTOR: David Silverman
STARS: Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright
RATING: PG-13

Unsure where to begin with the decades of The Simpsons on the streaming service? Treat yourself to the movie, which is far better than you think or remember! It’s a perfect distillation of the series’ charm and humor — a fitting monument to the show’s towering cultural legacy.

Watch The Simpsons Movie on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Emile Ardolino
STARS: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Kathy Najimy
RATING: PG

It might be hard to remember now given that her gig on The View keeps her so busy, but Whoopi Goldberg is one of our most electric comedic talents. There’s no better testament to her enormous screen presence than Sister Act, where she plays a lounge singer forced into the witness protection program at a convent. Rather than stick to that vow of obedience, she transforms the nuns’ choir to take on a soulful, Motown bent. If they raised the roof any higher under her tutelage, it would touch heaven.

Watch Sister Act on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Steven Spielberg
STARS: Ansel Elgort, Rachel Zegler, Ariana DeBose, Mike Faist
RATING: PG-13

Conventional wisdom says never to touch a beloved, Oscar-winning classic like West Side Story … but we can suspend the rules for a legend like Steven Spielberg. His take on the beloved musical does what a great remake should do by both righting the wrongs of the original while also making small tweaks that shine a new light on familiar material. His limber camerawork captures the song and dance numbers to thrilling effect as well. If you thought you’ve seen all West Side Story had to offer, let Spielberg prove you wrong.

STARS: Art La Fleur, Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar
RATING: PG

It’s hard to resist the allure of nostalgia when watching The Sandlot, a film about the uniting power of baseball and imagination in a ‘60s suburb. Do kids these days fully understand the joys of unsupervised, untethered fun in an era of omnipresent devices and helicopter parental supervision? For 100 glorious minutes, we can escape back to that mythical time of childhood.

Watch West Side Story on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Gil Junger
STARS: Heath Ledger, Julia Stiles, Joseph Gordon-Levitt
RATING: PG-13

There was just something in the air of March 1999: teenagers were so desperate to be taken seriously that they had to graft their struggles onto classic literature. First came Cruel Intentions, a wicked transposition of Dangerous Liaisons onto boarding school brats, but then came a much tamer comedy: 10 Things I Hate About You. This youthful romance restages Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew in contemporary high school hallways as a popular Bianca (Larisa Oleynik) needs to pair off her irascible older sister Kat (Julia Stiles) so her old-fashioned father will allow the younger sibling to date. Despite the centuries-old source material, nothing feels dated about this madcap rom-com.

Watch 10 Things I Hate About You on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Peyton Reed
STARS: Paul Rudd, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas
RATING: PG-13

Guardians of the Galaxy tends to get all the credit for being the best irreverently funny Marvel movie, but don’t sleep on the charms of Ant-Man. The film’s public narrative never quite recovered from the departure of Edgar Wright from the director’s chair, and it deserves to be measured as an amusing heist caper in its own right rather than against a version of the film that was never realized. Plus, who doesn’t love Paul Rudd, perfectly cast as a wise-cracking but well-intentioned cat burglar?

Watch Ant-Man on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Byron Howard, Rich Moore
STARS: Ginnifer Goodwin, Jason Bateman, Idris Elba
RATING: PG

You hear a title like Zootopia and just expect an amusing outing with some talking animals, right? Wrong. In addition to being a great deal of fun for all ages, this Oscar-winning film is a serious parable for the perils of tribalistic thinking. Above all, though, it’s a celebration of vibrant city life and the multicultural patchwork of residents who make it special.

Watch Zootopia on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Brett Morgen
STAR: Jane Goodall
RATING: PG

Stealthily the best hero origin story available on the platform. Documentarian Brett Morgen gives primatologist and anthropologist Jane Goodall the biography she deserves, one that full recognizes and venerates the ways she challenged our understanding of existence and humanity. As an added bonus, Jane features a tremendous original score by composer Phillip Glass that cloaks the proceedings in appropriate majesty.

Watch Jane on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Joe Johnston
STARS: Rick Moranis, Matt Frewer, Marcia Strassman
RATING: PG

Bigger isn’t always better. Honey, I Shrunk The Kids finds there’s plenty of potential for adventure in someplace as familiar as home. Wacky scientist Wayne Szalinski (Rick Moranis) isn’t having much luck with his inventions until his shrink ray inadvertently proves its function: by zapping his two children and their two quarrelsome teenaged neighbors down to pea-size. When Wayne accidentally throws them out with the garbage, the four kids have to make a journey back to the house through a newly treacherous and surreal terrain: their backyard.

Watch Honey, I Shrunk the Kids on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Ron Clements, John Musker
STARS: Tate Donovan, Susan Egan, James Woods
RATING: G

When Disney turned to Greek mythology in Hercules, they turned to classical style. No, not that kind of classicism — think more like screwball comedies with a strapping male lead and a femme fatale who proved his Achilles’ heel. The movie consists of an odd hodgepodge of influences ranging from gospel choruses to the acerbic comedic stylings of Danny DeVito; somehow, it magically coheres.

Watch Hercules on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Robert Zemeckis
STARS: Bob Hoskins, Christopher Lloyd, Joanna Cassidy
RATING: PG

We’re used to seeing animation seamlessly blended with live-action now, so Who Framed Roger Rabbit may have lost some of its revolutionary appeal. Luckily, Robert Zemeckis’ particular understanding of the firecracker energy of cartoons like the bouncy Roger Rabbit ensures the zany action still pops. The film also still functions as a nifty old-school Hollywood murder mystery, too, almost like Chinatown for kids. Consider this an essential part of the starter pack to begin graduating young cinephiles toward the serious stuff.

Watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Charles Shyer
STARS: Steve Martin, Diane Keaton, Martin Short
RATING: PG

And you thought having a wedding was stressful for the bride. Steve Martin delivers a comedic tour de force as a high-strung, penny-pinching patriarch forced to swallow his pride for his daughter’s big day in Father of the Bride. This family comedy is a delightful and uproarious look at all the little things that can push someone over the edge to the point that they lose sight of what really matters. You’ll want to save the date for this one, be it your first or forty-first watch.

Watch Father of the Bride on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Andrew Stanton
STARS: Albert Brooks, Ellen DeGeneres, Willem Dafoe
RATING: G

If you were unimpressed by the Dory-focused sequel, don’t let that taint your view of the sterling original. I guarantee Finding Nemo is funnier and tenderer than you remember. Though this nautical tale of a clownfish willing to do anything to reunite with his son navigates some dangerous waters, the movie itself is smooth sailing.

Watch Finding Nemo on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Theodore Melfi
STARS: Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monáe, Octavia Spencer
RATING: PG

Sure, Hidden Figures might be a little reductive in its treatment of racism by focusing more on individuals than institutions. But if we must have more watered-down versions of stories about overcoming prejudice and discrimination, at least let it center in the stories and humanity of Black women like it does here. Henson, Monáe and Spencer all give powerhouse performances as previously unrecognized NASA mathematicians who played crucial roles in the space race.

Watch Hidden Figures on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Rich Moore
STARS: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch
RATING: PG

I offer this disclaimer only because it happened to me (and caught me wildly off-guard): Wreck-It Ralph might make you cry. Not because anything particularly tragic happens, don’t worry. But there’s a really beautiful moment of self-realization from the titular character when he learns that the identity we’re given is not the one that has to define us. It’s an unexpectedly beautiful climax to a movie that otherwise wows with its visual panache and boundless visual imagination.

Watch Wreck-It Ralph on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Mark Waters
STARS: Jamie Lee Curtis, Lindsay Lohan, Chad Michael Murray
RATING: PG

Body swap movies don’t get much better than the remake of Freaky Friday, a high-concept take on how a mother and daughter can better understand one another by literally walking in the other’s shoes. Jamie Lee Curtis should have been Oscar-nominated for her work here as a strict matriarch turned inside out when she becomes inhabited by the personality of her rebellious offspring (Lindsay Lohan). It doesn’t get more peak early ‘00s than this movie, either — it even features a Bowling for Soup cover of “Baby, One More Time.”

Watch Freaky Friday on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise
STARS: Paige O’Hara, Robby Benson, Angela Lansbury
RATING: G

It’s practically criminal that there was only one animated movie ever nominated for Best Picture before the Oscars expanded the size of the field. But it’s hard to quibble with that one movie being Beauty and the Beast, a Disney classic full of warmth and compassion as the love of bookish Belle softens the heart of the cursed, grouchy Beast. “Be Our Guest” still brings down the house.

Watch Beauty and the Beast on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Rob Reiner
STARS: Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin
RATING: PG

As you wish. The fact that the framing device of The Princess Bride is a grandfather reading a fairy tale to his sick grandson ought to key you into how great this movie works as an intergenerational watch. It’s got a simplicity of narrative and spirit that makes it work for pint-sized viewers, but the themes of love and loyalty work for more advanced ones. (As do the numerous quotable lines, many of which have entered the lexicon in inconceivable ways.)

Watch The Princess Bride on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
STAR: Alex Honnold
RATING: PG-13

No need for the big screen to get all the thrills of Free Solo, a documentary detailing climber Alex Honnold’s extraordinary feat of scaling the side of El Capitan with no rope support. The filmmaking team brings us into the death-defying accomplishment and makes us feel how risky the climb is on a gut level.

Watch Free Solo on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Ron Clements, John Musker
STARS: Dwayne Johnson, Auli’i Cravalho, Jemane Clement
RATING: PG

The best contemporary merging of girl power with the classic Disney musical? It’s not Frozen, folks — that honor belongs to Moana. This exultant animated tale finds humor and heart alike in the waterlogged journeys of its titular protagonist, a teenage girl learning in real time what it means to become the chief of her people. In a just world, Lin-Manuel Miranda would already be an EGOT for writing one of the best “I Want” songs in recent years: the rousing “How Far I’ll Go.”

Watch Moana on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Garry Marshall
STARS: Anne Hathaway, Julie Andrews, Hector Elizondo
RATING: G

As if high school isn’t hard enough already, to quote Anne Hathaway’s Mia Thermopolis in The Princess Diaries, “let’s add a tiara!” The coming-of-age story is ostensibly about an ordinary girl in San Francisco learning how to be a princess. What it’s really about, however, is that girl learning how to be — and love — herself. Garry Marshall’s family comedy is a winner from top to bottom and features a stealthily high volume of fantastic lines and scenes.

Watch The Princess Diaries on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Brad Bird
STARS: Patton Oswalt, Lou Romano, Peter O’Toole
RATING: G

Maybe I’m helplessly biased given that Ratatouille features one of the few redeeming cinematic portraits of a critic. But beyond Anton Ego’s stirring final speech, this is a delightfully bonkers movie — come on, a young chef learns to excel in the kitchen by taking direction from a culinary-minded rat inside his hat? — that wears its heart on its sleeve.

Watch Ratatouille on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Jon Favreau
STARS: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges
RATING: PG-13

Before there was the MCU, there was just Iron Man. It’s easy to see how an action movie this fun could snowball into the highest-grossing movie of all time. The charm and smarm of Robert Downey Jr.’s billionaire turned indestructible superhero still shine in their own self-contained story before getting wrapped into a giant shared storyline.

Watch Iron Man on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Penny Marshall
STARS: Tom Hanks, Elizabeth Perkins, Robert Loggia
RATING:

Before he was America’s Dad, serious and staid, Tom Hanks was a comedic dynamo. In Big, he successfully channels the bashful energy of a teenager magically transported into the body of a grown man. Though his Josh bumbles through adulthood at first, he quickly learns a valuable lesson — the world needs a burst of the guilelessness of childhood he so desperately wanted to escape.

Watch Big on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Pete Docter, Bob Peterson
STARS: Ed Asner, Christopher Plummer, Jordan Nagai
RATING: PG

I seem to cry earlier and earlier each time I watch Up. Don’t let the waterworks steer you away, however, from Pixar’s emotional triumph. There’s an immeasurable sweetness packed into this fantastical tale about an old widower fulfilling the dream of living alongside a waterfall. Though the plot takes flight to an improbable amount of balloons attached to his house, the film is always grounded in pure, tender emotion.

Watch Up on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Boaz Yakin
STARS: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Nicole Ari Parker
RATING: PG

The inspirational sports movie has now devolved into cliché, but don’t judge Remember the Titans solely by its imitators. This story of how the vision of Coach Herman Boone (Denzel Washington) led a newly integrated Virginia high school football team to a championship season is not out to claim this group solved racism. But we do see how it opened many hearts and minds, and that does matter in its own way.

Watch Remember the Titans on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Ron Clements, John Musker
STARS: Robin Williams, Scott Weinger, Linda Larkin
RATING: G

Let us both pity and praise the animators who had to keep up with Robin Williams’ motor-mouthed vocal tour de force as the Genie in Aladdin. They bring the imagination to match his energy level, and the result is a Disney classic that forever yields new discoveries upon rewatching.

Watch Aladdin on Disney+

DIRECTORS: John Lasseter, Ash Brannon, Lee Unkrich
STARS: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack
RATING: G

You can’t go wrong turning to any of the Toy Story movies, all of which use inanimate objects to make us realize something deep and profound about our humanity. My pick? Toy Story 2, which uses Woody’s scooping up by a toy collector to explore what it means to be a family — and why it’s worth swallowing some of your pride to be part of one.

Watch Toy Story 2 on Disney+

DIRECTOR: James Cameron
STARS: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver
RATING: PG-13

Look, the original Avatar has become a bit of a punching bag online over the past few years given that it left a relatively small cultural footprint for being such a monster box office success. It’s a movie built to be seen on the biggest screen possible. But … it’s still breathtaking to watch at home! Those Pandora vistas are impossible to top.

Watch Avatar on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Sara Dosa
STARS: Miranda July
RATING: PG

Fire of Love might technically be a National Geographic documentary, but it doesn’t feel anything like a nature documentary you’ve seen before. Sara Dosa’s archival chronicle of volcanologists Katia and Maurice Krafft is not so much about the environment itself but the researchers’ relationship to it. The film plays like a love triangle between the husband-wife duo and the natural phenomenon they try so desperately to understand. This tale of unrequited love also has the feel of a quirky French New Wave romance thanks to the unusual, beguiling narration by Miranda July.

Watch Fire of Love on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Ryan Coogler
STARS: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong’o
RATING: PG-13

Black Panther is more than a movie. It’s a cultural watershed moment that blew open the gates on what and who could be considered ”super.” (Shameless plug: I have written many, many words about why it matters here on Decider!) It’s also just a knockout of a movie, bringing both all the excitement of a Marvel movie along with weightier dialogue around the responsibilities of Black identity.

Watch Black Panther on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Jon Turteltaub
STARS: Nicolas Cage, Diane Kruger, Sean Bean
RATING: PG

Like any Nicolas Cage project, National Treasure is as much a meme as a movie now. But rest assured, follow the map to rewatching the film, and you’ll find your own treasure. This is a riveting adventure through American colonial history that just might make you wish you paid a little more attention in history class.

Watch National Treasure on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Thomas Kail
STARS: Leslie Odom Jr., Lin-Manuel Miranda, Phillipa Soo
RATING: PG-13

Back in my day, you used to need some combination of luck and several hundred dollars to experience Lin-Manuel Miranda’s once-in-a-generation Broadway sensation Hamilton. Now it’s available at your fingertips at any time within Disney+. Look around, look around, at how lucky we are to be alive right now.

Watch Hamilton on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Brad Bird
STARS: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson
RATING: PG

Is it possible the best superhero movie on Disney+ is not one of their Marvel products? Brad Bird’s The Incredibles not only provides all the genre trappings but also explores what it means to be both “super” as well as a hero. It’s at once a loving tribute to comic book lore and a gentle satire of their tropes and oversights, delivered on a thrillingly grand scale.

Watch The Incredibles on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Sam Raimi
STARS: Tobey Maguire, Kirsten Dunst, Willem Dafoe
RATING: PG-13

The first comic-book movie to break box office records still holds up two decades later. All movies in Spider-Man’s wake have tried to recreate their own version of Uncle Ben’s sage salvo: “With great power comes great responsibility.” This origin story for the scrappy superhero delivers on character development and action alike. Major credit to Sam Raimi for finding a balance of witty fun and somber seriousness that could guide the way for the franchise entertainment that arose in its stead.

Watch Spider-Man on Disney+

DIRECTOR: David Lynch
STARS: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Harry Dean Stanton
RATING: G

According to Twin Peaks creator David Lynch, his most experimental film is *checks notes* a Disney movie about a man driving across the country on a tractor? It’s as straightforward and simple as the title and premise might suggest, which in and of itself makes this Lynch’s strangest left turn. But it’s not the absence of strangeness that defines The Straight Story — it’s the presence of a big heart that beats for all those looking to connect on this winding road we call life.

Watch The Straight Story on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Gore Verbinski
STARS: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley
RATING: PG-13

The swashbuckling adventure of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl may very well be the platonic ideal of a blockbuster action movie. Given how smoothly the narrative unfolds on the high seas, it’s hard to imagine the origins of the film are actually an amusement park ride. Of course, the ship would never even leave the harbor without Johnny Depp’s indelible turn as the inebriated yet ingenious Captain Jack Sparrow.

Watch Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Disney+

DIRECTORS: Roger Allers, Rob Minkoff
STARS: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones
RATING: G

The animated classic to rule them all. The Lion King simply has that magic alchemy: show-stopping music, impactful storytelling, unforgettable voicework, scintillating humor and dramatic weight. It’s a regal accomplishment that reigns supreme.

Watch The Lion King on Disney+

DIRECTOR: George Lucas
STARS: Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford
RATING: PG

I’m willing to entertain the case that The Empire Strikes Back is really the best Star Wars movie. But I think there’s something about the untempered verve of George Lucas’ first film out of the gate in the series. This Joseph Campbell hero’s journey as space opera is just pure mythologizing. Before it became a cultural behemoth, it was just simple world-building done on a cosmic scale.

Watch Star Wars: A New Hope on Disney+

DIRECTOR: Pete Docter
STARS: Amy Poehler, Phyllis Smith, Bill Hader
RATING: PG

Inside Out is more than just a movie. It’s a guide for people to understand their emotions and innermost self, giving them a language to express feelings. It’s a recognition that life is more than maniacally striving for consistent happiness — it’s about finding a healthy balance between competing sentiments. At every turn, Pete Docter uses the full imaginative might of filmmaking to show us the beautiful world that exists inside all of our heads. What a gift he’s given us.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.

Watch Inside Out on Disney+