After many months of build-up, Disney+ finally launches next week. Disney’s much-anticipated streaming platform will arrive with hundreds of movies and TV shows available to stream from day one, spanning the many decades of live-action and animated storytelling from the studio. In fact there’s so much available, that it might be a bit confusing to know where to start, so we’ve jumped into the line-up to pick some must-watch titles.
The 1980s was an interesting era for Disney. Movies such as Star Wars and Jaws had changed the face of blockbuster filmmaking in the 1970s, with rising directors such as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg forging a thrilling vision for populist cinema that made many of the more traditional crowd-pleasers–disaster movies, musicals, animated fairy tale adaptations–seem a little old-fashioned in comparison. Disney wasn’t alone in the ’80s in trying to adapt to what younger audiences were looking for, but it did mean that there were some commercial missteps along the way, especially in the way the studio attempted to draw in an older audience with some surprisingly dark fantasy movies.
But while some of these films, such as the Black Cauldron and Return to Oz, weren’t hits, they make for fascinating viewing today. And it wasn’t all weird fantasy. There were hugely entertaining comedies like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the inventive sci-fi of Flight of the Navigator, and more traditional animated classics such as The Little Mermaid. They’re all on Disney+, along with much more from the decade. So to get you started, here are the best ’80s movies to stream from November 12 on Disney+. And once you’ve read that, check out GameSpot’s guides to what’s available on day one and every cartoon from your childhood to watch.
