I Watched Every Original on Disney Plus (Now You Don't Have To)

The new Disney Plus service, like everything Disney, premiered and filled the world with a little magic. People of all ages were filled with nostalgia as they searched for their most memorable childhood movie or television show to re-watch. Some binge-watched Marvel movies and some the classic animations. It's an awesome spot to hold all those favorites. 

The thing I was the most interested in, though, were the new things. Don't get me wrong, I have a LOT of Disney favorites, but if I really wanted to watch those again, I could have used the library or my DVD collection or the Internet. While the platform is much easier, it's not necessary. So, I decided to tackle the originals. I watched everything single new on Disney Plus (except one--more on that later) that came out in the first three weeks of the service. There honestly wasn't a ton. Here's what you should know:

1. Lady and the Tramp:

This is the only new movie I have watched. The other one is a Christmas movie (Noelle) and I have a policy that I don't start Christmas movies or music until after Thanksgiving. Lady and the Tramp is a cute kid's movie. I didn't dislike it. But I think it lacked a lot of charm. The real dogs, although cute, don't express the same emotions available in animation and I didn't feel attached to the characters because of that. I was also severely disappointed with the fact that the cats were not Siamese cats. I mean, the best song was "We are Siamese if you please. We are Siamese if you don't please." Right? 

2. Mandalorian: 

This is far and away my favorite thing on Disney Plus right now. I know Star Wars is not everyone's cup of tea, but this for me is exactly what I love from the Star Wars universe. The plot lines are simple so far, but that is okay with me. There's just enough action without being overwhelming and I think there is a lot of potential for great storylines and character relationships. Plus, I can not get enough of baby Yoda. He melts my heart. As of now, this is the only thing I plan to continue watching as they release on a weekly basis. If you don't have Disney Plus, you should know it isn't as binge-ready as Netflix with only one episode at a time, but I also kind of enough the "old-school" wait for each new episode to release.

3. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series: 

Despite the horrendous name of this show (the only other scripted show other than Mandalorian out now), it was the biggest surprise so far. I liked the High School Musical movie as a teenager, but expected this spin-off to be terrible. It turned out to be very watchable. I definitely think that the intended audience if pre-teens or teens, but the characters are fun, the writing is good, and I actually laughed a few times. I also really like that it seems to target a younger crowd because it feels much more like the original than the recent spin-offs like Girl Meets World that seem to want to engage nostalgic adults instead of kids. This is Disney. Make it for the kids. 

4. Encore!: 

This is the first of the nonfiction series. The rest of the programs are all nonfiction. This one, out of all of them intrigued me the most because of my background in drama. The premise is that they bring casts of high schools plays together long after graduation to recreate their production. The results, in my opinion, are terrible. The series honestly just makes me feel sad. Some of these people have never moved past high school. Most realize their idealized version of these high school performances was not reality. While the casts may have been close in the past, they don't click now. Most, honestly, don't really have much acting or singing ability. I really had a hard time continuing watching these first three episodes and I don't plan to continue after this trial run. Also, Kristen Bell, despite being on the promos, is not part of the show. 

5. The Imagineering Story:

If you are a huge Walt Disney fan and want to understand the history of the theme park, this one is for you. To me, it wasn't all that exciting, but I am sure to some, this is really interesting. Of course, the documentary is made my Disney, so it shines everything in an amazing light. I really do enjoy documentaries and history, but I like to hear all sides and you aren't going to get that with this story.

6. Marvel's Hero Project: 

These are feel-good stories about kids doing great things in the world. Although I think the series tries to hard and a lot of it feels forced, I will fully admit that I cried (twice) during the first three episodes and it makes me feel good about the future of the world. I'm not highly anticipating every episode, but if I need a boost of hope, you'd better believe I'd turn this on again.

7. The World According to Jeff Goldblum:

 I really wanted to like this one. It seemed right up my alley. I like to learn about new things and I though Jeff would make an entertaining host. It just seems to fall flat so far. Nothing crazy interesting. Doesn't go into depth about things that may actually be interesting. It's a no for me.

8. The Short Series: There are a lot of quick 5 minute shows in the originals section, but I'm going to lump them together here. Disney Family Sundays is a wonderful idea in theory with crafts to do with you kids, but the crafts seem way to complicated with supplies that would difficult to find in my opinion. Use Pinterest for ideas instead. Pixar in Real Life is completely pointless to me. I don't understand it. Forky Asks a Question is okay programming for young kids to teach them about different concepts. There are some new short films that are pretty good. I enjoy those, so hope Disney Plus turns out to be a great platform for us to see a lot more of those. 

So, that's it. Right now, my feelings toward Disney Plus are that it is wonderful for families with kids. It provides a one-stop-shop for anything they want to watch. For older audiences though, I think they are going to really work on adding more things "new" in order to compete with other services. I can't in good-conscience pay over $80 a year when I can find everything on there I'd want (besides Mandalorian) in another way. Disney knows this. I just read that Disney has over 30 new series planned for the next year. The wide majority of those, though, look to be Marvel or superhero shows. I love Marvel, but I think it might be becoming oversaturated in that department. Hopefully, I'll be surprised.