Disney+ Movies to Watch over the Holiday Break
Okay, Christmas has come and gone while Hanukkah is more than halfway finished. With most of the holidays completed, you’re left with lots of vacation free time and need some entertainment. That goes double for those of you who received Disney+ as a present this month. Here are a bunch of things to watch during your holiday vacation.
The Imagineering Story
I mentioned last month that I had started The Imagineering Story. At the time, I had only watched one episode, though. I’ve now finished the full thing and feel strongly about this subject. Any self-respecting Disney fan MUST watch this six-part series.
I know that some of you hear the word ‘documentary’ and immediately start yawning. The Imagineering Story is the opposite of boring, though. It’s a riveting, evenhanded evaluation of Disney parks and rides construction throughout the decades.
In the same episode, you’ll witness the pride that Disney creators felt in constructing Disneyland Paris, followed by the shock and frustration as the park failed. In another, you’ll watch in horror as a President of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts states that his company’s out of the innovation business.
The Imagineering Story’s highs and lows will leave you with a new appreciation for the timeless greatness of Disney theme parks.
The Rookie
Over the holidays, families want to put something on the television that won’t shock anybody. Most programming that qualifies under this umbrella is, well, bland. Thankfully, Disney’s mastered the art of populist titles that tug at the heartstrings.
The company’s particularly phenomenal at sports movies based on real stories. One of my favorites over the last 20 years is John Lee Hancock’s The Rookie.
It tells the story of a faded baseball prospect who has become a high school coach. His players notice that he’s throwing harder than any of the pitchers that they face. They make him promise to try out for the pros again if they win the state championship.
You can see where this is going. The story may sound ridiculous, but a man named Jim Morris made his major league debut when he was a spry 35.
In a sport where most pitchers have retired by that age, Morris suddenly found himself capable of throwing 98 miles per hour! Dennis Quaid is brilliant in his portrayal of Morris, and an actor I really like named Rick Gonzalez steals scenes as his team’s catcher.
Blank Check
I’ll warn you in advance. This one skews very young and is quite dated. I like it very much for that reason, as a way for kids to joke about how old their parents are.
The premise of Blank Check is that a kid stumbles on a, well, blank check and cashes it in for $1 million. Now, there are a couple of ridiculous things about this concept.
First of all, kids under 10 probably don’t even know what a check is. Kroger famously had its credit card machines stop working on Christmas. They still accepted cash or checks, which caused most guests to storm out of the store empty-handed.
Second of all, the kid in the film breaks like 73 laws along the way. Fortunately, a sweet woman who vacillates between a maternal figure and a crush helps him. Karen Duffy, the MTV VJ, plays this role and is quite charming. She seemed well on her way to becoming a viable actress, but a rare genetic illness partially paralyzed her the year after the film came out.
I always liked Duff and enjoy watching this movie, which aptly demonstrated her everywoman charm. I don’t want to mislead you, though. This is a fun bad movie, not a movie that you’ll ever admit that you watched. In fact, forget that I said I watched it.
Pick of the Litter
Guide dogs have become an oddly combative conversation among some Disney fans. A few vocal complainers question whether people need canine companions. I can’t help but wonder whether Disney created this project as a direct response to those folks.
In Pick of the Litter, you’ll watch a set of six potential guide dogs as they attempt to complete their training program. Service animals must meet stringent guidelines to qualify for placement with humans.
These are adorable animals that would anchor any quality meme, but they’re also hero pups. The ones who pass the test will spend their lives serving people in need. It’s an uplifting tale.
Only one 30-minute episode is currently available. The presumption is that Disney will air new ones weekly, as they’ve done for most of their other original programming thus far.
Thor: Ragnarok
I mentioned last time that I’m currently working my way through the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Well, I have a strange update. During my family’s Christmas dinner, we watched…Thor: Ragnarok.
My hands are clean here, as I didn’t choose it. The movie was already playing when we arrived. However, when someone asked whether they should change the channel, I quickly added that it’s one of my wife’s favorite movies of the decade.
She relished the buddy comedy elements in play during Thor: Ragnarok. While the film includes several strong performances, Thor and Hulk provide the anchors, along with Valkyrie. Ignoring the comic book characters for a moment, that’s Chris Hemsworth, Mark Ruffalo, Tessa Thompson comprising the core cast, an impressive trifecta.
While there’s not a romance at play here, the movie still plays out like a light-hearted modernization of the “hate you but need you” frenemy bond in 48 Hours. It combines that vibe with a comfortable story structure from the classic Road movies starring the trio of Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, and Bing Crosby. Thor: Ragnarok may look shiny and come with some breathtaking action scenes, but its core comes from the classics.
Gravity Falls
I remember the frustration I felt when I watched Lost. The JJ Abrams program certainly claimed its fair share of headlines. And some of the episodes like “Man of Science, Man of Faith” and “The Constant” absolutely deserve their acclaim.
Overall, it was a television series that borrowed liberally from soap operas, though. It ended the weekly episode by raising all sorts of questions that it never intended to answer. Lost was shock value television.
A few years later, Disney unveiled an animated show that followed the Lost playbook in many ways. It created a bunch of mysteries involving the Mystery Shack, a tourist trap owned by a cranky man nicknamed Grunkle Stan. His great-nephew and great-niece, Dipper and Mabel, come to visit for the summer, and they stumble on a gripping mystery.
The Town of Gravity Falls, Oregon, harbors many secrets. Some of them involve the creatures in the area, some stem from the town elders, and others surround a triangular imp named Bill. All of them will perplex and engage you. Better yet, all of these threads will tie together and get resolved by the end of the 57-episode run. Eat your heart out, JJ Abrams.
I’m a huge fan of American Dad and Archer. But I mean it when I say that Gravity Falls stands out as the best original animated television series of the 21st century. There’s just nothing else like it, and my only regret is that it didn’t run longer than three seasons. I wasn’t ready to say good-bye to Lil Gideon, Lazy Susan, and Soos.
Watch Gravity Falls. You’ll thank me later.
Millions
You know director Danny Boyle for his visionary work in such films as 28 Days Later, Trainspotting, 127 Hours, and Slumdog Millionaire. He’s aggressively artistic and an awards season darling.
The last thing that anyone would expect from Boyle is a subtle spiritual treatise about random acts of kindness. Two brothers discover a bag filled with money. One uses the money to perform charitable deeds in the community while the other exchanges it for better social status at school.
Alex, the protagonist, is a sweet-hearted boy who is still in mourning over his mother’s death. He has visions of Saints who provide humorous attempts at guidance, as he recites their most famous quotes verbatim.
The movie takes a turn when a criminal arrives, revealing that he’d stolen the money and wants it all back. It’s an evil man against a good, religious boy in a battle of wills. Since it’s a Danny Boyle film, the story doesn’t play out predictably.
During the holidays, the subject of commercialism comes up a lot. Millions qualifies as one of the best 21st-century movies to examine the realities of want vs. need. It’s a tender family film that fits in perfectly on Disney+, but it also challenges preconceived notions about the importance of charitable acts.
