Disney+ documentaries to romcoms: The 11 best hidden gems on the new streaming service

Disney+ has arrived in the UK, bringing with it an enormous catalogue of favourites from the house of Mickey - including all the latest Marvel blockbusters and Star Wars films.

But what about the hidden surprises that you wouldn't expect?

Thanks to the Disney-Fox merger, a number of unexpected titles are available to watch on the all-new streaming service.

See 11 of the best below...

Cool Runnings

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Based on a true story, Cool Runnings is one of those feel-good movies that reminds you that joyful feeling is one of the main reasons to watch movies.

Following the Jamaican bobsled team that were the underdog favourites at the 1988 Winter Olympics, Cool Runnings was a major hit upon its release in 1993, and on Disney+ - which you can sign up to here - it offers a rare break from superheroes and Star Wars for the whole family.

Diana: In Her Own Words

This Channel 4/National Geographic documentary makes use of a series of secret interviews conducted in 1991 to create a portrait of Princess Diana in her own words. With a blend of archival footage and photography, the doc offers a new perspective of a woman whose life has been endlessly scrutinise from almost every angle but her own.

Free Solo

If you’re looking to reduce anxiety in your household, maybe avoid this one, but if you're into gripping documentaries about extraordinary people, this one’s for you.

The Oscar-winning Free Solo documents professional rock climber Alex Honnold’s attempt to free climb the 900 metre vertical rock face El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. Not only is this film a technical marvel, but it’s also a fascinating psychological study of what drives people to perform death-defying acts.

Mrs Doubtfire

Yep, this is a Disney film. Mrs Doubtfire is brilliant in that it sort of encapsulates the innate peculiarity of mainstream filmmaking in the 1990s. Directed by a pre-Harry Potter Chris Columbus, Mrs Doubtfire is almost entirely hinged on Robin Williams’ hilarious performance as an actor pretending to be a Scottish maid to be closer to his estranged children.

10 Things I Hate About You

Who knew Disney owned the 90s? This teen classic holds up extremely well to modern standards, with the ensemble cast - Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Allison Janney, to name a few - turning out flawless performances. It’s actually a modernisation of The Taming of the Shrew too, so you can show it to your kids and say it’s English class.

Never Been Kissed

As a journalist in their 20s, you couldn’t pay me enough to go undercover at a high school. But in this 1999 film, a 25-year-old Drew Barrymoore seems to think it’s just the ticket for a big scoop.

Of course, she confronts residual trauma from her time as an unpopular teenager along the way, while also crossing a whole lot of ethical journalistic boundaries. In all honesty, you won’t really care; this is the kind of pleasant nostalgia trip that harks back to an era of charming rom-coms that we’ve never really returned to (maybe for good reason).

Sister Act

Disney+ is truly stacked with classics. It doesn’t get much more legendary than Sister Act, a musical that finds Whoopi Goldberg playing a nun. Need we say more? Sister Act was so successful back in 1992 that it spawned a whole franchise, as well as the live stage musical; watch this now, in case the upcoming London staging of Sister Act due in July doesn’t go ahead.

The Sound of Music

Disney loves its nuns. This three-hour classic is available to stream on Disney+, which means you can introduce youngsters to the defining musical of the 20th century. Despite its pertinent political themes, The Sound of Music remains a joyful, soothing balm for the soul.

Ice Age

All five Ice Age films are available to stream, but all you really need is the first, which is a heart-warming story about three unlikely friends - a mammoth, sabertooth tiger and a sloth - who must return a human baby to its family. While Pixar is still the reigning champ of animated features, Ice Age made a strong case for Dreamworks when it premiered in 2002.

While You Were Sleeping

A year after her breakout role in Speed, Sandra Bullock starred in this rom-com that begins with one of those classic only-happens-in-movies set ups: woman (Bullock) saves man (Peter Gallagher) from a moving train. He’s placed in an induced coma, his family mistake her for his fiance and take her in; she falls for his brother. Another '90s gem, the likes of which they don’t really make anymore.

X-Men

Before superhero movies were a dime a dozen, X-Men was a groundbreaking moment in blockbuster filmmaking.

This 2000 film about people with extraordinary abilities who are ostracised from society struck a chord for its endless parallels with the real world; as well as being escapist popcorn entertainment, many viewers saw themselves in its ragtag group of outcasts, a power the franchise tried to sustain over its subsequent sequels.

Disney+ is now available in the UK. Sign up for a free 7-day trial here.