Disney movies are often remembered more by their commercial success than by their storyline. When a release fails to meet expectations, it is quietly categorized as a miscalculation, and that label tends to follow it for years. Yet their reception is often shaped by timing. A film may not align with what audiences expect in a given decade. Even if a film doesn’t fit its era’s expectations, it can still be well‑made and meaningful.

With time, it becomes easier to understand what these films were attempting instead of how they were received. Most of the films experimented with darker tones or complex moral framing instead of relying on music or simplicity. In doing so, they unsettled viewers who associated Disney animation with emotional reassurance. Here are some of the films that have shown what the platform was capable of.

‘The Black Cauldron’ (1985)

Image via Buena Vista Distribution

In The Black Cauldron, Taran (Grant Bardsley) is introduced as a pig-keeper who believes heroism is something that can be claimed through ambition alone. When the Horned King (John Hurt) seeks a magical cauldron capable of raising an undead army, Taran attempts to protect the oracular pig Hen Wen. As Taran escapes captivity, he meets Princess Eilonwy (Susan Sheridan) and Fflewddur Fflam (Nigel Hawthorne) and forms an alliance with them.

As events intensify, Taran confronts the consequences of his earlier arrogance. The story reframes heroism as responsibility. When the cauldron demands a sacrifice to stop, Taran understands that courage often means surrendering your pride. The defeat of the Horned King does not come from strength alone, but from collective resolve. The narrative closes by suggesting that growth is often quiet and internal rather than publicly celebrated.

‘The Great Mouse Detective’ (1986)

Image via Walt Disney/Courtesy Everett Collection

The Great Mouse Detective follows Basil (Barrie Ingham), a detective whose confidence in deduction shapes his whole personality. When Olivia Flaversham (Susanne Pollatschek) asks Basil to locate her kidnapped father, Basil traces the crime to Professor Ratigan (Vincent Price), who intends to replace the Queen of Mousedom with a mechanical duplicate to seize political control.

Assisted by Doctor Dawson (Val Bettin), Basil analyzes clues, deciphers coded messages, and reconstructs all events through his observation. The investigation gradually becomes successful as he closes the distance between himself and Professor Ratigan. As Professor’s scheme moves forward, Basil’s pride nearly obstructs his clarity and forces him to reconsider all his previous assumptions. Doctor Dawson helps Basil to regain his composure and forget about his ego while seeking the truth. Eventually, Olivia reunites with her father, and the story tells us that in any circumstance, order is preserved through patience.

‘Atlantis: The Lost Empire’ (2001)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

In Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Milo Thatch (Michael J. Fox) devotes his life to proving that Atlantis exists, despite being dismissed by academic institutions. When Commander Rourke (James Garner) leads an expedition funded to locate the city, Milo Thatch joins as the linguistic expert. After surviving mechanical dangers and natural barriers, the crew discovers Atlantis beneath the ocean’s surface. There, Milo Thatch meets Princess Kida (Cree Summer), who seeks to understand her civilization’s fading heritage.

As Milo Thatch learns the truth about Atlantis, he realizes that Commander Rourke intends to exploit the city’s energy source. Faced with betrayal, Milo Thatch chooses preservation, and the story gradually shifts to moral accountability. When Princess Kida risks becoming a vessel for the city’s power, Milo Thatch intervenes to protect both her and Atlantis.

‘Treasure Planet’ (2002)

Image via Disney

Treasure Planet centers on Jim Hawkins (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), whose father’s absence shapes the distrust and restlessness he develops over time. When he discovers a map to a hidden fortune, Jim boards a voyage that is commanded by Captain Amelia (Emma Thompson). Among the crew is Long John Silver (Brian Murray), who gradually earns Jim Hawkins’ trust while concealing his own objective. Their expedition soon becomes a space-bound search for treasure, yet the emotional focus remains on Jim Hawkins’ evolving perception of authority.

As the ship approaches its destination, Long John Silver’s hidden alliances surface. Now, Jim must decide whether that betrayal confirms his cynicism towards life or challenges it. The story, in the end, showshow trust can exist even within deception and blur our decisions. In the final confrontation, Jim prevents any catastrophe and chooses integrity over resentment, and Long John Silver departs while acknowledging Jim’s growth. The treasure, however, becomes secondary to the transformation both of them faced that was shaped by mentorship and a clear choice.

‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame’ (1996)

Image via Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

In The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Quasimodo (Tom Hulce) lives confined in the cathedral tower under Judge Frollo’s (Tony Jay) authority. Judge Frollo presents isolation as protection in Quasimodo’s life, which shapes his understanding of himself. When he attends the Festival of Fools, he faces severe public humiliation that suddenly confirms how he has been shielded from cruelty all his life. Then, the story introduces Esmeralda (Demi Moore), who confronts both the crowd and Judge Frollo’s rigid morality.

As Judge Frollo’s obsession intensifies, Quasimodo begins to question his obedience towards him. The cathedral turns from a sanctuary into a contested ground. In the end, when Esmeralda faces punishment, Quasimodo finally chooses defiance over submission. The story resolves by allowing Quasimodo to step into public space, suggesting that dignity does not emerge from isolation.

Savannah Guthrie’s ‘TODAY’ Visit
I’m Holding Onto Faith … For My Mom!!!

Published
March 5, 2026
11:10 AM PST

By Jonathan Klotz
| Published 1 hour ago

When people think of the best decade for crime movies, they tend to think of the 70s and The Godfather, Chinatown, Serpico, and countless other classics, but the 90s shouldn’t be overlooked. The Godfather: Part III, Reservoir Dogs, Goodfellas, are all classics, and so is Martin Scorsese’s loving tribute to Las Vegas: Casino. The 1995 crime epic has returned to Netflix in time for another generation to discover the rise and fall and rise of the greatest adult playground. 

Casino Brings Las Vegas’ Sordid History To Life‘

Casino reunites Scorsese with Robert De Niro as Sam “Ace” Rothstein, based on the real Chicago mafia sports book handicapper Frank Rosenthal, who, against all odds, turned the Tangiers Casino into a money-printing success. Goodfellas standout, Joe Pesci, is also back for another round as Ace’s childhood friend turned business partner and mob enforcer, Nicky Santoro. It’s not a spoiler that the success and excess of the budding Vegas nightlife winds up turning the two lifelong friends into bitter rivals. Scorsese made a career out of the hubris of powerful men. This time, there’s a wildcard, Ginger, a former showgirl, now a con artist, played by Sharon Stone at the height of her Hollywood fame. 

Adapting the book, Casino: Love and Honor in Las Vegas by Nicholas Pileggi means the plot moves both incredibly fast, with time jumps and skipping over major life moments, and slow, with long, languid takes of the Tangiers floor or Nicky and Ace standing around looking pensive. Covering 13 years, 1973 to 1986, there’s a lot crammed into the runtime, including a love triangle, multiple betrayals, a kidnapping, and a brief foray into local broadcast television. Casino does more in thirty minutes than most modern films, but it’s also slower and more thoughtful, a tricky balancing act that only an auteur the likes of Scorsese could effectively pull off. 

They Don’t Make Them Like This Anymore

Considered either a spiritual successor to Goodfellas or an inferior attempt at recapturing the magic of the genre-defining film, Casino divided audiences upon its release. Critics thought it was a little too similar, and audiences torn between thinking it was boring or a fascinating look at the Mafia’s role in building Las Vegas. Sharon Stone won a Golden Globe for her work as Ginger and earned an Oscar nomination, yet even today, some viewers find her distracting and the worst part of the film. The Venn diagram between them and those who think Skylar is the worst part of Breaking Bad is a circle. 

Anyone would look inferior to Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci doing what they do best. Casino performed well for an adult-oriented, R-rated crime epic with a $116 million box office haul that was dwarfed by the film’s success on VHS, DVD, and Blu-Ray. 30 years later, and there’s even a growing consensus that it’s better than Goodfellas. It’s not, but with its recent addition to Netflix you can at least fire it up and judge for yourself. 

If you’ve never seen Casino, you’ll still find yourself recognizing camera shots and moments from the film. The Hangover recreated Ace and Nicky’s desert meeting. Then there’s the pen, a brutal moment only topped by The Dark Knight’s pencil trick. In a world with less and less adult dramas being made and Mafia movies having to step aside for streaming series, Casino is a throwback, both to how movies used to be and to how Las Vegas was long before it lost its soul by going corporate. 

Casino is currently streaming on Netflix.

Chicago Fire’s Joe Cruz survived a near-death experience during the One Chicago crossover — and the aftermath will continue to haunt him this season.

Warning: Spoilers below from season 14, episode 13, of Chicago Fire and the One Chicago crossover.

“There’s an after effect of this [case] that kind of shifts a little bit [of] the perspective that a lot of these guys have,” Chicago Fire showrunner Andrea Newman exclusively told Us Weekly, referring to the traumatic experience Firehouse 51 endured during the Wednesday, March 4, crossover event.

Newman teased, “We’re working on an episode now that is where there’s a lot of ramifications for Cruz in particular, that he’s dealing with in terms of it. There’s ripples. They just keep going and going.”

During Wednesday’s three-part event titled “Reckoning Part I, II and III,” Firehouse 51 was among the first on the scene when a plane landed in Chicago after losing contact with the tower for more than an hour.

Once safely on the ground, two members of Squad 3, Cruz (Joe Miñoso), Capp (Randy Flagler), as well as two additional firefighters from different trucks, Macy Vasquez (Carlita Tucker) and a new guy named Holt, went into the plane to assess what was going on.

They found the entire plane, including the pilots, dead from an unknown cause. The severity of the deaths — many were foaming at the mouth — left everyone on edge.

“[In] 20 years on the job, I’ve never seen anything like that,” Cruz said when he exited the plane.

While Chicago P.D.’s Intelligence Unit tried to pinpoint the mystery murder weapon, Cruz and Capp began driving their rig to another location when, suddenly, they both started to seize and foam at the mouth.

It was later revealed that the other two firefighters — the first inside the plane — also showed symptoms and all four were transported into isolated rooms at Chicago Med’s Gaffney Chicago Medical Center.

The murder weapon was later identified as a toxin being smuggled into the city by a drug trafficker that accidentally burst while the carrier was on the plane, killing everyone. (One passenger did survive, but later died at the hospital.)

Without knowing the location of the other tablet of toxin — an assailant who blamed first responders for his family’s death in a fire that happened 25 years prior broke into the morgue and retrieved the deadly toxin — and an antidote, everyone’s lives hung in the balance, including Capp and Cruz.

Luckily for fans, both Cruz and Capp did survive after their police counterparts took down the bad guy, who planned to release more of the toxin at a firefighter’s memorial for maximum casualties.

Paramedic Lyla Novak (Jocelyn Hudon) also survived after being sprayed with blood while treating the sole plane survivor. The woman later died after Novak helped deliver her baby in the back of their ambulance.

Sadly, Macy and Holt didn’t make it, dying at the hospital before they could find an antidote to counteract their symptoms.

Moving forward, Newman told Us that danger is part of the job when you’re a first responder, adding that viewers shouldn’t expect to breathe easy watching the show — ever.

“I mean, they’re firefighters. Every day is a close call,” Newman said. “There’s no episode where the team is safe.”

Chicago Fire airs on NBC Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 14 seconds ago

Have you ever watched a movie so shamelessly bizarre that your brain can’t even keep up with your eyeballs? 2022’s White Noise offers that experience, and I still can’t get over how much it has to say while also saying nothing at all. At its core, it’s a film about overcoming your fear of death, but it takes a long time to get there. What’s twisted about White Noise is how it delivers its message through melodrama and absurdity, each escalation met with perplexed glances and childlike curiosity.

I still don’t know what White Noise is about, but it makes you feel things, and it’s really funny. That’s all there really is to it. It’s a visceral experience that makes you laugh. The subject matter is heavy, but I found myself smiling more often than not while watching it.

Hitler, Elvis, And A Poisonous Cloud

Adam Driver is Jack Gladney in White Noise, the founder of a Hitler studies program at an Ohio university. Working at the same university, Don Cheadle’s Murray Siskind asks for Jack’s help developing a field of study based on his own burning passion project, Elvis studies. These guys basically rant about life, using their respective fields as a launching point for conversations about life, death, fame, and legacy. Jack doesn’t speak a lick of German, but he’s trying to teach himself because he’s slated to host a conference attended by a primarily German audience.

Jack’s family life in White Noise is chaotic to say the least. He and his fourth wife, Babette (Greta Gerwig), have four kids: two from Jack’s previous marriages, one from Babette’s, and one they conceived together. They love to eat chili chicken, and they’re all wrapped up in their own bizarre academic pursuits. When Babette’s daughter Denise (Raffey Cassidy) discovers that she’s taking an unlisted drug known as Dylar, Jack goes on heightened alert. He cares deeply about Babette and doesn’t want her keeping secrets from him. His concern comes from the right place, but he’s so wrapped up in his university job and German lessons that he can’t be everywhere at once.

Jack is also disturbed by strange dreams about a man talking about the fear of death, but he doesn’t have much time to dwell on them after a nearby train crash releases toxic waste, resulting in an Airborne Toxic Event that forces the entire community to quarantine at a local abandoned summer camp until it’s safe to return home. Jack, fearing he was exposed to the cloud, begins experiencing symptoms like deja vu and an overwhelming fear of his own mortality, while Babette sinks further into herself, using the mysterious drug as a way to cope with life.

More Vibe Than Substance

White Noise is one of those movies you just need to lean into when you’re feeling a little silly. It’s existential and will make you think about your own mortality. But it also features Adam Driver wearing Yoko Ono sunglasses while ranting about Hitler at a liberal arts college, with his students completely enthralled, unironically, by his enthusiasm. The Gladney kids are chaotic and always scheming, but they’re so well intentioned that you can’t help but love them. Everything about White Noise is dialed in to feel as unhinged as possible. You’ll feel things while taking it all in, but you’ll also be left confused, wondering what the hell you just watched.

If that’s the kind of viewing experience you’re looking for, you can stream White Noise on Netflix.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 16 seconds ago

It’s tough being a fantasy fan: good films like the Lord of the Rings movies are sublime, but once you start looking for other media to watch, you discover that most fantasy films stink worse than Gollum’s loincloth.

But what if there was a perfect fantasy film hiding in front of us for decades? The 1985 movie Dreamchild is pitch-perfect and currently has a 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.

Dreamchild focuses on Alice Liddell, the real person who inspired Lewis Carroll’s literary classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The plot itself is fictional, and we follow the elderly Liddell as she visits America to get an honorary degree from Columbia University. 

At this point, you might be forgiven for asking the obvious question about Dreamchild. If we’re focusing on the real-life inspiration for the classic Alice in Wonderland story, where does the fantasy element come in? Alice frequently has hallucination-style memories of a reverend in the Victorian era, and as her memory flip-flops between Victorian England and Depression-era New York, she needs the help of a young orphan to navigate a complex world full of outward exploitation and inner revelation.

As you might expect, the real Alice’s hallucinatory memories are eventually filled with some familiar characters like the March Hare and the Mock Turtle. If you’re mostly familiar with seeing Alice’s playmates as animations (either the 2D Disney style or the CGI of the Tim Burton movies), you may be pleasantly surprised by the amazing puppet work courtesy of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop. Throw in a killer voice cast, and you’ll be instantly charmed by these colorful characters.

Dreamchild features great performances from actors who will be familiar to genre fans. For example, Ian Holm (perhaps best known for playing Bilbo Baggins in the Lord of the Rings films) plays the reverend whose memory haunts the older Liddell. Peter Gallagher (best known for playing Sandy Cohen on The O.C. and William Dodds on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit) plays Jack Dolan, a new friend who helps Liddell navigate this brave new world.

Dr. Crusher: Puppet Master

Star Trek: The Next Generation actor Gates McFadden helped make this film, but you won’t see her onscreen at any point during Dreamchild. The Dr. Crusher actor actually developed both the choreography and movement for the puppets. Just think: if McFadden hadn’t blown us all away as Dr. Crusher, there’s a chance she would have ended up bringing the puppets to life for other sci-fi productions such as Farscape.

Incredible Reviews

As of this writing, Dreamchild has a whopping 100 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and ratings that high are virtually unheard of for genre films. If you’d like to check it out, that’s easy enough: the film is currently streaming for free (albeit ad-supported) on Plex. Don’t blame us, though, if you end up becoming obsessed with this quirky gem of a film and join Alice as she goes right down the rabbit hole into this fantastic cinematic world.

By Robert Scucci
| Published 14 seconds ago

Any true crime fan will tell you how awesome Mindhunter is, but only before lamenting the fact that it’s never coming back for Season 3. We want it to. I want it to. But it’s gone forever, and we need to accept that in order for the healing process to begin. To help cope, you can always fire up 2021’s No Man of God, a thriller based on the life and times of Bill Hagmaier, who famously logged over 200 hours interviewing Ted Bundy while he was on death row between 1984 and 1989.

Though Bill Hagmaier didn’t work directly with FBI agents John E. Douglas and Robert K. Ressler (fictionalized as Holden Ford and Bill Tench in Mindhunter), he was one of the earliest profilers working in the agency’s Behavioral Science Unit in the 70s and 80s. In fact, Ressler, who wasn’t interested in interviewing Bundy when invited to do so, contacted Hagmaier and encouraged him to take it on.

A Film That Depicts Bundy’s True Colors

When No Man of God writer C. Robert Cargill was asked why he felt compelled to pen the screenplay, his answer was simple. He was tired of all the true crime media that glorifies Ted Bundy’s mythos. He’s always called charming and attractive while being praised for his intimidating intelligence. In Cargill’s mind, “the deeper you dig into the story you realize there’s nothing to mystify here, there’s nothing amazing about him.” If that’s the point he wanted to get across, mission accomplished.

No Man of God centers on a young Bill Hagmaier (Elijah Wood), who’s tasked with getting to know Bundy (Luke Kirby) so his department can continue developing and fine tuning its profiling efforts. Between 1984 and 1989, the two men become close in that “I’m using you for research” kind of way. Bundy, who puts up a strong mental front at first, remains guarded because he doesn’t trust the FBI. He only warms up to Hagmaier because the young profiler seems genuinely curious about his motives and wants to understand. Everybody else, in Bundy’s mind, wants to spin a yarn and sell a book. Over time, their “friendship” forms around that uneasy rapport.

As their relationship develops, Bundy tries to convince Hagmaier that they’re not so different, which understandably troubles the FBI agent. Of course, this could simply be another one of Bundy’s manipulation tactics. In this case, though, his musings seem to come from a place of respect, giving the serial killer a level of depth that’s not often portrayed in popular media. When Florida Governor Robert Martinez signs the death warrant that expedites Bundy’s execution, the cracks begin to show, and Bundy finally seems ready to reveal his deepest and darkest secrets to a by now anxious and emotionally wrecked Bill Hagmaier.

A Must-See For True Crime Fans

Cut from the same cloth as Mindhunter, No Man of God is a dialogue heavy film that relies on its source material to drive its authenticity home. We’re getting dramatized reenactments of the actual interviews Hagmaier conducted with Bundy, much like the conversations with Ed Kemper, David Berkowitz, and Charles Manson in the now-defunct Netflix series. Similarly, Luke Kirby is a dead ringer for Ted Bundy, and if you squint you’d be hard pressed to think he’s not the real deal. If you’ve watched Netflix’s docuseries Conversations with a Killer: The Ted Bundy Tapes, you’ll quickly notice how Kirby nails Bundy’s mannerisms, verbal tics, and cadence.

There are no fireworks or theatrics in No Man of God. It’s very much a slow burn thriller that unpacks one of the earliest profiling efforts spearheaded by the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. If you’re still aching about Mindhunter’s unceremonious demise like I am, it comes with a strong recommendation that you stream No Man of God for free on Tubi the next time you want to witness the kind of conversations that will make your skin crawl.