The vast array of Star Wars and Marvel content may be Disney+’s biggest selling point, but that’s not all the conglomerate is bringing into your homes this fall. All the animated classics are available, as well as the Pixar films and series for younger audiences, not to mention National Geographic documentaries and thirty seasons worth of The Simpsons, in case you happened to miss a few hundred episodes.
But if space cowboys or superhumans or dancing kids don’t do it for you, there’s an abundance of heartrending material whose stories will affect you deep down. These are the best dramas on Disney Plus right now.
Table of Contents
The Fault in Our Stars
Director: Josh Boone
Writer: Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber
Cast: Shailene Woodley, Ansel Elgort, Nat Wolff, Laura Dern, Sam Trammell, Willem Dafoe
Hazel-Grace (Shailene Woodley) has cancer and has fallen into a deep depression. Even the cancer support group her mother (Laura Dern) forces her to go to is a bummer, that is until Gus (Ansel Elgort) shows up. Together they are able to take a dream trip to Amsterdam to hunt down Hazel-Grace’s favorite writer (Willem Dafoe). Meanwhile, the two fall madly in love and even with a death sentence, in each other they find something to live for. Based on John Green’s mega-hit novel of the same name, The Fault in Our Stars is where to go when you need a good cry. – Jennifer McHugh
Mr. Holland’s Opus
Director: Stephen Herek
Writer: Patrick Sheane Duncan
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Jay Thomas, Olympia Dukakis, William H. Macy, Jean Louisa Kelly, Alicia Witt, Forest Whitaker, Terrence Howard, Anthony Natale, Joanna Gleason
In 1964, the time has come for Glenn Holland (Richard Dreyfuss) to put his composing on hold and go with his Plan B; teaching. As Mr. Holland goes through the decades, he faces changes with the times as well as his students as he learns to love his job all the while still hoping to finish writing his Opus. A gift of a film for teachers or anyone who had a memorable teacher that changed their lives, Mr. Holland’s Opus is sure to tug at the heartstrings and hit all the right notes. – Jennifer McHugh
Hidden Figures
Director: Theodore Melfi
Writers: Allison Schroeder and Theodore Melfi
Cast: Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons, Mahershala Ali, Aldis Hodge
If you’re looking for inspiration, look no further than Hidden Figures. In 1961, three Black female mathematicians are subjected to racism and discrimination as they try to do their jobs at Langley in Virginia. The three women Katherine Johnson (Taraji P. Henson), Mary Jackson (Janelle Monáe), and Dorothy Vaughn (Octavia Spencer) set out to simply do their jobs and wind up changing history. All three women were given the Congressional Medal of Honor as well as many other awards. The film adaptation was widely praised and ultimately nominated for three Academy Awards including Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress (Spencer), and Best Picture. – Jennifer McHugh
The Last Song
Director: Julie Anne Robinson
Writer: Nicholas Sparks, Jeff Van Wie
Cast: Miley Cyrus, Liam Hemsworth, Greg Kinnear, Bobby Coleman, Kelly Preston
Miley Cyrus proved her acting chops outside of Hannah Montana when she starred in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation, The Last Song. Cyrus plays Ronnie, a rebellious former piano prodigy who is sent to spend the summer at a small seaside town in Georgia with her father (Greg Kinnear) and brother. She barely knows her Dad after her parents divorced and so, the teenage brooding is at an all-time high. Enter Liam Hemsworth who plays Will, the wealthy happy-go-lucky town hottie, and him and Ronnie embark on an intense summer romance. She helps him to indulge his rebellious side more and he inspires her to get back into music – the perfect yin and yang couple.
The Last Song has all the usual leitmotif of a Sparks adaptation: Gorgeous young couple, something that is trying to break them up, a terminally ill character and a lot of kissing on the beach. Unlike some of his other films, The Last Song stays in its own territory, never trying to venture out to discuss greater topics like religion or philosophy. It has charm, there are some truly heart-breaking scenes and it allowed Cyrus come into her own as an actress. – Emma Kiely
Edward Scissorhands
Director: Tim Burton
Writer: Caroline Thompson
Cast: Johnny Depp, Winona Ryder, Dianne Wiest, Anthony Michael Hall, Kathy Baker, Alan Arkin, and Vincent Price
Tim Burton’s take on the tale of Frankenstein, Edward Scissorhands is an early example of Burton’s favorite topics, but also how beautifully he can blend gothic elements with heart. Johnny Depp stars as the title character, a creature who lived in isolation with his master (Vincent Price), and was never fully finished—hence the scissors for hands. Burton and writer Caroline Thompson craft a surprisingly tender character, who wants compassion and love, but his appearance and the public opinion that he’s a “monster” keeps him away from those he wants to be with. We know that Burton has an affinity for strange, misunderstood characters, but Edward Scissorhands might be his most empathetic and heaertbreaking character. Edward Scissorhands is like the eponymous character himself, seemingly a bit weird and strange on the outside, but nothing but tenderness and warmth on the inside. – Ross Bonaime
We Bought a Zoo
Director/Writer: Cameron Crowe
Cast: Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Thomas Haden Church, Patrick Fugit, Elle Fanning, and John Michael Higgins
Filmmaker Cameron Crowe is known for making some of the best films of all time, from Almost Famous to Jerry Maguire, but running through all of his work is an earnestness that shines through. That’s put on full display in his 2011 family film We Bought a Zoo, which stars Matt Damon as a grieving single father of two who decides to buy a house that’s connected to a zoo – despite knowing nothing about how to run a zoo. The film is based on a true story, and while it may not be as meaty as some of Crowe’s other works, it’s unsurprisingly emotional and boasts a great original score by Sigur Ros frontman Jonsi. – Adam Chitwood
Old Yeller
Director: Robert Stevenson
Writers: Fred Gipson & William Tunberg
Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Fess Parker, Jeff York, Tommy Kirk
The grandfather of sappy dog movies, Old Yeller has been breaking audience hearts for six decades. The tale about Travis, a teenage boy tasked with looking after his mother and kid brother in 1860s Texas while his father is away on a cattle drive, soon becomes a boy-meets-dog story of grave consequence. Befriending a yellow mutt, who fights dangerous animals away from the family homestead, Travis ultimately comes face to face with the reality that saying goodbye is the hardest thing in life, especially when it comes courtesy of the business end of a rifle (spoiler alert). Old Yeller is a coming-of-age affair about growing up, about responsibility, and about tragedy. Families have long cherished this film, which has endured as a good reminder for storytellers that a bittersweet resolve is often the best option in weaving an emotionally potent narrative. Also, everyone loves dogs. — Brendan Michael
The Sound of Music
Director: Robert Wise
Writer: Ernest Lehman
Cast: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
If you’ve got three hours to spare, and you’re in the mood for a sprawling period musical epic, nothing really compares to The Sound of Music. The story of Maria, played by Julie Andrews, who becomes governess to the children of a widowed naval officer (a young Christopher Plummer, who was, believe it or not, a young man once), became an instant classic. Among its five Oscar wins were Best Picture, Best Director (Robert Wise), and a Best Music no-brainer. Shooting on location in Austria and Germany—including the Bavarian Alps—the film (shot on 70mm) has a scope that was unparalleled in 1965. Though set against the backdrop of World War II with the threat of the Third Reich pressing in, the movie’s tone is a joyous one, and its triumphant conclusion leaves you marveling at its beauty and pining over the fact that they don’t make ‘em like they used to. — Brendan Michael
Three Men and a Baby
Director: Leonard Nimoy
Writers: Jim Cruickshank, James Orr
Cast: Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, Ted Danson, Nancy Travis
What do you get when you throw an architect, a cartoonist, and an actor into a swanky Manhattan apartment and force them to share the duties of caring for an infant? You get the biggest American hit of 1987. Conceptually, Three Men and Baby is more of a comedy, but the thoroughly ‘80s film about this trio of buds and the hijinks they find themselves ensnared in, has a good bit of heart. The men, played by icons of their era, Tom Selleck, Steve Guttenberg, and Ted Danson, soon discover that this infant, who at first seemed nothing more than a nuisance, is actually making a positive impact on them. Directed by Leonard Nimoy, in his first feature departure from Star Trek, the film is thoroughly watchable—one you’ll want to revisit time and again. It doesn’t move you like most on this list, but if you want your laughs mixed with surprising sentiment, it’s right up your alley. — Brendan Michael
Turner & Hooch
Director: Roger Spottiswoode
Writers: Dennis Shryack, Michael Blodgett, Daniel Petrie, Jr., Jim Cash, Jack Epps, Jr.
Cast: Tom Hanks, Mare Winningham, Craig T. Nelson
A year after Tom Hanks delivered his first Academy Award-nominated performance in Big, he played a police investigator who takes in a Dogue de Bordeaux (which is a dog—a French Mastiff, as we’d call it), formerly belonging to a murder victim. Hanks is Scott Turner. His new unwanted roommate (and sort of partner) is Hooch. This mongrel is a wrecking ball in Turner’s life, but there’s no place else for the dog to go. Soon, however, Turner realizes that Hooch may be more valuable than he initially thought. Though the film is a laugh-a-minute romp most of the way through, thanks to the comedic sensibilities of Hanks, it’s ultimately the investigation and the drama that keeps your eyes glued to the screen. It even works as a buddy cop movie. But it’s the ending that stays with you. That’s when the buddy cop comedy becomes a sappy dog movie of the highest order. It also gives Hanks an opportunity to show off his talent—one that would shine brighter than anyone else’s the following decade. — Brendan Michael
Sister Act
Director: Emile Ardolino
Writer: Joseph Howard
Cast: Whoopi Goldberg, Maggie Smith, Harvey Keitel
Long before she was spouting her polarizing opinions on The View, Whoopi Goldberg had a nice movie career going. Two years after her Oscar-winning turn in Ghost, Emile Ardolino, director of Dirty Dancing, cast Goldberg in what has become one of her most memorable roles. In Sister Act, Whoopi plays Deloris, a lounge singer who witnesses her lover Vince (Harvey Keitel) kill a man. Vince is a gangster, it turns out, which puts Deloris is in imminent danger. But a police lieutenant finds a place to hide her: in a convent… as a nun. The treat is watching the irreverent Deloris attempt to fit in with her newfound “sisters” knowing the threat of death looms large. It’s funny, it’s sweet, and it’s even a bit tense. But at its core is strong storytelling and a reminder that Goldberg, in the right role, is a magnetic talent. — Brendan Michael
The Sandlot
Director: David Mickey Evans
Writers: David Mickey Evans, Robert Gunter
Cast: Tom Guiry, Mike Vitar, Karen Allen, Denis Leary, James Earl Jones
Sports comedies can also be dramas. And that, ultimately, is what The Sandlot is. The film, about the nerdy Scotty Smalls (Tom Guiry), who moves to a new Southern California neighborhood in the summer of 1962 and falls in with a band of baseball-playing middle schoolers, is an ode to both baseball and childhood nostalgia. It’s got a bit of A Christmas Story flavor as it follows the misadventures of the boys in their efforts to recover a baseball signed by Babe Ruth—now guarded by a monster dog on the other side of their precious sandlot’s fence. As a comedy, it’s a knee-slapper. As a baseball movie, it’s a top ten. As a coming-of-age tale about growing up, it hits all the right notes. A perfect summer film, The Sandlot has endured as a cherished family-friendly experience that you loved as a kid, and now can enjoy with your kids. — Brendan Michael
Remember the Titans
Director: Boaz Yakin
Writer: Gregory Allen Howard
Cast: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst, Donald Faison, Hayden Panettiere
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a football movie better than Remember the Titans. The true story (with a healthy number of liberties taken) about a black football coach leading a high school team in its first year of integration in 1971, will move and inspire you. Denzel Washington plays coach Herman Boone—a standout performance in a career marked with great ones. He won’t allow prejudices to mar the lives of these young men and, before long, the Titans are dominating on the field and gelling off of it. It’s a movie about the senselessness of racism and how overcoming it shouldn’t be as difficult as it’s been in America (and the rest of the world). Put everyone in the same circumstance with the same goal—like a football field—and equality is a lot easier to recognize. It’s a movie that makes you stand up and cheer and boasts a score by Trevor Rabin that will give you goosebumps. Look out for a young Ryan Gosling as one of the players as well. — Brendan Michael
The Rookie
Director: John Lee Hancock
Writer: Mike Rich
Cast: Dennis Quaid, Rachel Griffiths, Angus T. Jones, Brian Cox
After Remember the Titans, Disney saw that it found a good thing with the inspiring nonfiction sports drama. So 2002’s The Rookie became the next in a decades-long stretch of them. In it, Dennis Quaid plays high school baseball coach/chemistry teacher Jim Morris, who once had a shot at the big leagues himself as a pitcher, but injuries set him back. Now, well into his 30s, his team challenges him to try out once more. He will, if they win. Well, they win, so he does—reluctantly. To Morris’ surprise, his fastball still registers in the upper 90s and, before long, this family man who’d given up on his dream, is on a path back to achieving it. The film is a better character piece than it is a baseball movie, and its father-son angle is likely the element that will get you choked up more than any other. — Brendan Michael
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Director: Andrew Adamson
Writers: Ann Peacock, Andrew Adamson, Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Cast: Georgie Henley, William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes, Liam Neeson, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy
Based on the first of C.S. Lewis’ classic series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe is a faithful adaptation of the cherished book. Directed by Andrew Adamson, this live action fantasy epic is not on par with The Lord of the Rings film trilogy (Lewis and Tolkien were good buddies, remember), but it’s more palatable for children of all ages. It’s also a deftly made Christ allegory, which was always Lewis’ intent. Aslan the lion, voiced by Liam Neeson, is among the most spot-on representations of Jesus in popular culture that we’ve ever seen—complete with an atoning death, resurrection, and eternality. The film’s CGI is a bit dated, particularly in the battle sequences, but like any good movie, story trumps all else. There are also themes and mentions of Christmas in the film, rendering it a solid option for the holiday season. And James McAvoy has goat legs, which is pretty cool. — Brendan Michael
Invincible
Director: Ericson Core
Writer: Brad Gann
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Greg Kinnear, Elizabeth Banks
In 2006, Mark Wahlberg got in on the inspiring sports drama action. Playing Vince Papale, a South Philadelphia bartender and backyard football hero, Vince attends an open tryout for his beloved Philadelphia Eagles in 1976, coached by Dick Vermeil (Greg Kinnear). The undersized, overaged Papale impresses enough to make the hapless squad, becoming a local sensation. Yes, it actually happened, though the film takes full advantage of creative license. The Papale of history stood at 6’2” and never scored a touchdown, for example. But the point is, the movie is one the whole family can gather ‘round the television for, cheering on an unlikely down-on-his-luck everyman as he takes a shot at his dreams. Directed by Ericson Core (Togo), Invincible isn’t the best football movie ever made, or even the best made by Disney, but it works through and through, and reveals a previously little known slice of sports history. — Brendan Michael
Dan in Real Life
Director: Peter Hedges
Writers: Pierce Gardner, Peter Hedges
Cast: Steve Carell, Juliette Binoche, Dane Cook, John Mahoney, Emily Blunt
If Little Miss Sunshine proved Steve Carell could be taken seriously as an actor in a drama, Dan in Real Life proved he could lead one. Granted, both films are consistently humorous, but they’re complex roles for Carell—the comedy a mere byproduct of the stories that unfold on screen. Carell plays widower and advice columnist Dan Burns who, while away at a family gathering at his parents’ Rhode Island home, meets Marie (Juliette Binoche) in a bookshop. The two hit it off and extend their “date” to a café later. Dan is smitten. But when Marie later shows up at Dan’s parents’ house, revealed to be the girlfriend of Dan’s womanizing brother Mitch (Dane Cook), things get awfully dicey. Boasting a big cast including Emily Blunt, John Mahoney, and even a young Lucas Hedges (see if you can spot him), the movie is told on a very small scale, taking place mostly in the house. It’s Carell who steals the film—one that dives into the challenges of family dynamics and parenting and, in the end, leaves you with a smile on your face. — Brendan Michael
Secretariat
Director: Randall Wallace
Writer: Mike Rich
Cast: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Margo Martindale, Dylan Walsh, Nelson Ellis
Proving the genre isn’t just for men—or human beings, for that matter—2010’s Secretariat is yet another entry into heartrending, fact-based sports drama territory. Diane Lane plays Penny Chenery, owner of the greatest racehorse who ever lived—Secretariat. If you’re even mildly into horse racing, the ending of this film won’t surprise you in the slightest. The journey there is the tale most are unaware of, and Braveheart writer Randall Wallace, who directed the picture, takes his audience on the emotional roller coaster Penny and her family endured in 1973 as she spent much time away from her husband and daughters, maintaining that this horse was worth believing in. And speaking of belief, the movie has a faith angle (apparent in most of Wallace and writer Mike Rich’s work) that the others of its ilk do not possess. The standout performer, as he often is, is John Malkovich as eccentric trainer Lucien Laurin. — Brendan Michael
The Finest Hours
Director: Craig Gillespie
Writers: Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy, Eric Johnson
Cast: Chris Pine, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Eric Bana, Holliday Grainger
A criminally underseen true story of a daring sea rescue, The Finest Hours was about as disastrous at the box office as the fate of the SS Pendleton. The film follows Chris Pine’s Bernie Webber, who is dispatched on a motor lifeboat to rescue the crew of the Pendleton, an oil tanker that has split in half off the coast of Cape Cod in the winter of 1952 during a nor’easter. It’s unclear what turned people off to this movie upon its release, but the fact is, it’s a thrilling piece of nautical entertainment, even if it doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel. Directed by I, Tonya’s Craig Gillespie, the movie also stars Casey Affleck, Holliday Grainger, and the supremely talented Ben Foster. Though frightening at times for younger viewers, this cinematic history lesson works as an enlightening alternative to the typical mindless fare that today’s youth are all too quick to indulge in. Plus, Pine gets to sport a convincing New England accent! — Brendan Michael
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