Hidden Gems On Disney+ You Need To Watch

The addition of Disney+ to the vast streaming landscape has been a real game-changer for the mammoth studio's big-time fans, with so many hard-to-access titles suddenly available at the click of a button. But once you're done belting out "The Circle of Life" along with The Lion King playing in the background for the umpteenth time, what comes next? The good news is that there are plenty of TV shows, movies, and documentaries available on Disney+ that you may not have realized belonged to the House of Mouse — as well as some old favorites you might have forgotten about. 

After sifting through the big box office hits of the past couple decades, it's time to take a deeper look into the service's extensive library to find some equally enthralling titles hiding in the Disney+ archives. From Saturday morning cartoons to Disney Channel original shows to excellent movies that the studio has acquired through their various mergers, there's plenty of material to facilitate some serious media marathoning.

Just a few years after the 1992 X-Men cartoon ended, X-Men: Evolution stepped in to fill the mutant void. In true comic book fashion, Evolution plays around with the X-Men timeline, making many of the traditionally adult characters into teenagers. It can be a little disorienting for longtime X-Men fans to see Nightcrawler as a teen, being mentored by the likes of Cyclops. But the high school vibe of the Xavier Institute in this iteration works well for its intended audience, making characters who have been around since the '60s more relatable to the Y2K generation. 

The big rivals for the X-Men throughout most of the series are Magneto's Brotherhood of Mutants, featuring some seriously cool redesigns of characters like Scarlet Witch. For those who can't get enough animated X-madness, Evolution keeps the fun going for another four seasons. And despite the retconning of characters' ages, many of the storylines and major plot points are taken right from the comics, so there's some good introductory material here for those who are looking for a foothold into the vast X-universe.

One stand-out animated musical from just before the Disney Renaissance is 1988's Oliver and Company, a film loosely based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist but with, well, a twist — the characters are animals! Oliver (Joey Lawrence) is a lonely kitten on the streets of New York City, taken in by a gang of dogs under the protection of a charming pickpocket named Fagin (Dom DeLuise). Oliver gets a taste of the good life when he's picked up by Jenny (Natalie Gregory), a wealthy but lonely little girl who wants to keep him safe and warm in her palatial home. Unfortunately, Fagin is in debt to the evil loan shark Sykes (Robert Loggia), and in his desperation hatches a plan to kidnap and hold Oliver for ransom. 

This action-packed movie gives viewers a glimpse of a grittier New York City than we know today, full of character and misadventure. The cast has some surprising voices, as well, with Billy Joel playing the part of Dodger the mutt, and performing the awesome hit "Why Should I Worry?" The musicians don't stop there — Bette Midler plays Georgette, the pampered poodle, and brings her all to the role. Though the film takes many of its cues from the Dickens novel, this is a truly unique story, enjoyable in its own right.

Before Robin Hood, there was King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The 1963 film The Sword in the Stone tells the tale of a young Arthur, known as Wart (Rickie Sorenson), a kitchen boy and squire to the knight Sir Kay. The boy is scrawny and clumsy, always getting into trouble, but through happenstance, he becomes a student of the great wizard Merlin (Karl Swenson). Wart spends his time with Merlin as a fish learning about physics, a squirrel learning about gravity, and a sparrow learning about flight — puzzling the other characters, whose Dark Ages education (or lack thereof) leads them to believe the worst of him. 

Wart is the boy who would be king, pulling the legendary sword Excalibur from its stone when he realizes he's forgotten to bring Sir Kay's sword to a tournament. Spoilers? Perhaps so, but the movie doesn't work very hard to talk up the sword or its purpose, instead focusing on Wart's personal struggles and Merlin's magical antics. For a film about one of the most legendary figures of all time, The Sword in the Stone is a fairly laid-back movie, shedding a different light on Arthurian legend.

Early in the new millennium, Ice Age stampeded into theaters to present audiences with some climate anxiety cloaked in comedy. Centered around Manny the mammoth (Ray Romano), Sid the sloth (John Leguizamo), Diego the saber tooth tiger (Denis Leary), and the human child they find abandoned in the vast frozen wilderness, the film presents nature's wrath as the enemy, killing millions of animals and humans without remorse in what we commonly call the Ice Age. 

The premise sounds dreary, but Ice Age is largely a heartwarming family comedy, following our prehistoric protagonists as they attempt to reunite their human charge with his rightful family. Manny, remembering a time when he had his own baby, is fiercely protective of the human child. And while Diego spends a good portion of the movie attempting to feed the child to a pack of fellow starving smilodons, even he is eventually moved to see their reunion mission through to the end. And Sid? Well, Sid is simply hilarious, with a heart so warm that it helps keep the frozen wasteland at bay.

The transition from being a child to becoming a teenager is a tough one, and the subject of probably thousands of after school cartoons and sitcoms. But something about the series Doug captures the insecurity and anxiety of adolescence in a way that very few other cartoons of the time managed. Doug Funnie (Billy West) is the new kid in Bluffington at the beginning of the show, and he immediately makes new friends and enemies — and finds himself falling in love with the gentle Patti Mayonnaise (Constance Shulman). 

All straightforward stuff, but the show was just so wonderfully weird, with a scat singing soundtrack, a perplexingly persistent food-themed nomenclature, and a nod to aspects of '90s counterculture (like Doug's sister's interest in spoken word poetry and jazz). Previously available on Hulu, Doug takes its place in the Disney+ library as a reminder of those awkward early days of our lives — and hopefully provides some solace to a new generation, as well.

Another throwback favorite, The Proud Family stood out as an excellent animated sitcom featuring mostly characters of color. Penny Proud (Kyla Pratt), eldest daughter of Oscar (Tommy Davidson) and Trudy (Paula Jai Parker), is a smart and talented young Black girl who faces the trials and tribulations of any young teen. Along with her friends, she gets into all sorts of teenage shenanigans, but ultimately makes good choices and serves as a role model for her young audience. The Proud Family really does center on family dynamics, especially between Penny and her father, who seems to be almost as immature as his teenage daughter and her friends. But at the close of each episode, the familial bonds remain strong. 

Aside from being lots of fun for young viewers, the series is stylish and features an opening theme song performed by Solange Knowles, featuring none other than Destiny's Child. It makes sense that the show's creators wanted some serious star power behind that theme, since Penny aspires to be a singer herself, echoing the desires of so many teenage girls. What's more, Disney+ has announced that there will be a revival series, The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, coming soon to Disney+!

If you couldn't get enough of Baloo in The Jungle Book (or Little John in Robin Hood), you can enjoy a new interpretation of the great big bear in TaleSpin. In this series, Baloo (voiced by Ed Gilbert, taking over for Phil Harris) is an extremely talented but lazy pilot, whose bumbling and fumbling often leads to problems for his friends. He works for Rebecca (Sally Struthers), a shrewd businesswoman with a young daughter, who bought out Baloo's air service and plane when he was unable to pay a bank loan. Along with the young navigator Kit (R.J. Williams), the group has many adventures in their work at Higher for Hire moving cargo. 

The series borrows from many of the same old '30s and '40s action-adventure stories that inspired Indiana Jones, from a time when planes were the coolest way to journey into thrilling jungles. Though the show couldn't be farther from The Jungle Book in its plot or setting, many of the Disney film's characters make an appearance, including the sinister tiger Shere Khan. This is the show of choice for high-flying adventure!

Live action romantic comedies aren't the first thing one thinks of when considering the Disney oeuvre. And yet, the Drew Barrymore flick Never Been Kissed stands proudly among the princess films and wacky animal adventures, providing some sweet escapism for an older audience. Barrymore plays a 25-year-old copy editor named Josie who is made to go undercover as a high school student in order to report on the lives of teens. She immediately falls back into her less-than-popular high school persona, befriending a nerdy classmate (Leelee Sobieski) after getting on the wrong side of the popular crowd early on. She begins to fall in love with her English teacher (Michael Vartan), who ends up confused about his feelings, believing that Josie is a student and therefore not an appropriate love interest. 

Never Been Kissed has all the classic ups and downs of a romantic comedy and a high school drama, and the sweet ending makes it an excellent feel-good flick that could easily get lost in the shuffle. Like a first kiss with the right person, it's totally worth seeking out.

While adults were getting their fix of the paranormal from The X-Files, Disney dreamed up a tween equivalent with So Weird. The first couple seasons follow Fiona (Cara DeLizia) as she travels from place to place with her rockstar mom, Molly (Mackenzie Phillips), and her family and crew. Fiona keeps a blog where she recounts her various run-ins with the paranormal, from encounters with aliens and ghosts to altercations with a Bigfoot and a Scottish will o' the wisp known as a spunkie. 

The reason Fiona continues to seek out these interactions with the other side is that she's desperately trying to contact her father, who died when she was just three years old. This was the show for budding conspiracy theorists, and it's another one that's fun to revisit, especially if you have a penchant for the odd and the ability to suspend your disbelief in things like vampires and werewolves!