Under the best of circumstances, people love adorable animal videos: pets doing cute stuff, animals greeting long-absent human friends, and so on. In stressful times, however, we might need the simple pleasures of furry and feathered friends even more. As many of us face time at home—perhaps with kids on breaks from school—looking for family-friendly entertainment that lifts our spirits, here are a few animal-oriented highlights on the Disney+ playlist that just might bring a much-needed smile.
Walt Disney’s Story of Perri
The precursors to DisneyNature—the “True-Life Adventures” of the 1950s—pioneered the trick of giving animal stories a human-like narrative, and a protagonist with a name. This 1957 feature gets the designation of a “True-Life Fantasy,” loosely adapting another work by Bambi author Felix Salten with narration by familiar Disney documentary voice Winston Hibler. Original songs (including by Disney Parks legend George Bruns) give an extra boost to a story focused on a baby pine squirrel called Perri, but with plenty of sub-plots about the harsh realities of life and death in nature. Though Perri disappears for large chunks of the movie, you still get a satisfying mix of survival adventure and baby animals looking precious while, say, learning to climb down a tree.
World’s Greatest Dogs
This 2015 National Geographic special focuses on profiles of five canines that are noteworthy for a variety of reasons. Jumpy, a border collie/blue heeler mix, is trained for elaborate stunt work like jumping from rooftops and riding skateboards; golden retriever Ricochet uses his skills as a surfer to assist special-needs individuals, like an autistic grade-schooler, to get out on their own boards; French sheepdog Norman pushes himself along on a scooter. The stories themselves are generally uplifting; there’s also a little education, like information about why certain breeds might be better suited to mastering certain skills, and a little interstitial segment about Presidential pets. But the real fun comes from watching the dogs seem to take such pleasure in doing the things that we can enjoy watching.
Unlikely Animal Friends
If you need a more regular infusion of cuteness, you’ve got 11 43-minute episodes of this 2012-2014 National Geographic series that showcases the kind of stories that make for great happy-chat stories at the end of a local newscast: A grieving orangutan that befriends a stray kitten! A cockatoo giving backrubs to its best chum, a housecat! A literal lion, tiger and bear (oh my!) who socialize in the same enclosure! The uplifting backstories for how the animals came to together add some depth to the sight of the improbable combos frolicking together, though it’s hard to deny that the frolicking is the real appeal. And even when the pairing involves an animal and a person, you get irresistible images of a baby and the family’s new puppy napping together. It’s truly “awwww”-inspiring.
How Dogs Got Their Shapes
This 2014 special certainly brings more of an emphasis on education than mere adorableness with its stories behind the physical evolution of specific dog breeds. Organized primarily by a variety of body features—ears, tails, coat, etc.—it’s actually quite a fascinating storehouse of information about the advantages of, say, bloodhounds’ extra-long ears, or the white tip on a beagle’s tail, and how human needs resulted in selective breeding for such a wide variety of dog shapes and sizes. Everything from the use of toy breeds as hand warmers for royalty, to the unusual head shape of bull terriers, is covered, all with plenty of entertaining footage of the dogs at work, at play and at rest.
Chimpanzee
Several DisneyNature documentaries are available on Disney+, and everyone will have their own favorite animals to focus on, whether it’s the fluffy pandas of Born in China or the lion cubs of African Cats. But the antics of the African ape troop in Chimpanzee—particularly an adorable baby chimp called Oscar—might give it a particular charm for viewers of all ages. The narration by Tim Allen provides information and the narrative story for these characters, and predictably throws in his trademark monkey noises. It’s just hard to resist the drama, combined with plenty of footage of Oscar dangling playfully from whatever happens to be nearby, or not-quite-mastering the technique for cracking a nut with a tool.
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Let Us Hear From You
Have you seen any of these yet? Which one are you most interested in watching while you’re at home? Do you have any cute animal content you’d add to the list? Let us know in the comments below.