The 15 Essential Animated Shorts on Disney+

One of the most under-appreciated categories within Disney+'s massive library of content is their substantial collection of animated shorts. From the first Disney animated films, through the advancement of Pixar's computer-generated projects, right up to the modern era, here are 15 must-watch signature shorts currently available on the streaming service:
 

The Disney History Lesson: Steamboat Willie

What would the Disney+ platform be without the one that started it all, or at least, the one we credit with the birth of Mickey Mouse and the Disney brand? But this short exists mostly as a historical and cultural artifact. The characterizations and outlandish expressions of the earliest forms of Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy are all kind of terrifying.
 

The Classic Character Showcase: Lonesome Ghosts

Disney+ has many old Mickey and Friends shorts that illustrate how serializing their favorite characters has always been part of Disney's business model. This one — which pits Mickey, Goofy, and Donald Duck against a haunted house full of ghosts — is among the best.
 

The Pixar History Lesson: Luxo Jr.

At a very brief two minutes, it might take you longer to search for Luxo Jr. on the platform than to actually watch it. But it's an essential piece of Pixar history and iconography. The computer animation revolution started here, even if it would take nearly a decade for Toy Story to declare it to the world.
 

The Comedy Option: For the Birds

One of the most adored of the Pixar shorts, For The Birds helped establish Pixar shorts as essential to the theatrical experience of watching Pixar's feature films. This is one of their clearest comedic conceits: an oversized, and possibly sociopathic bird ingratiates himself to a homogenized and exclusionary flock of birds on a wire. The farcical comeuppance to the mean flock and a lesson about embracing your uniqueness would become thematic staples of the Pixar short-film brand.
 

The Most Beautiful: La Luna

Again Pixar returned to themes of individualism and charting your own paths, here with an eye on masculinity passed down through generations as La Luna's little boy protagonist whimsically learns the family business. This short is one of the best purely for its timeless, mythic beauty.
 

The Marriage of Styles: Day and Night

Arriving after hand-drawn animation had died an unjust death in the wake of Pixar's computerized innovation, this short attempts to erect a bridge between the old and new approaches. The main shape of its dueling rivals feels inspired by the character design of classic Disney characters (see Lonesome Ghosts above), but their internal worlds are entirely computer animated. The manner in which both of the Day and Night characters learn to embrace their dualities feels like an extended olive branch, arguing that both animation approaches can fuel the other creatively.
 

The Disney Comeback: Inner Workings

Not all of the great modern era animated shorts are from the folks at Pixar. Think of this one as a biological Inside Out, but its silliness doesn't overshadow its simple insights into depressive episodes and how they can manifest throughout the body. For a young audience, “everything in balance” is a surprisingly nuanced message among this lineup.
 

The Cutting Edge: Piper

This Oscar-winning short won Pixar their first golden statue since For The Birds, and for good reason. While the story of an overly timid beach bird is a classic Pixar comedy of personal growth, the animation itself is sumptuous and incredibly detailed by even Pixar standards. You won't find any computer animation more photo-realistic than Piper's waves and sand,it's a major technical accomplishment. Compare it to Luxo Jr. and you'll be stunned.
 

The Rewards of Diversity: Sanjay's Super Team

For an indication of Disney and Pixar's increased commitment to diversity, Sanjay's Super Team arrived in a richly rewarding way. A deeply personal and imaginatively told story from director Sanjay Patel, this Oscar nominated short reinvents superhero tropes to look at religion and intergenerational divides when faced with western influences. This one is among the very best of the bunch!
 

The Good Cry: Bao

Last year's Oscar-winner remains the most moving Pixar short to date. Brilliantly encapsulating themes of the immigrant experience, parenting struggles, and eating your feelings, it may be more emotionally transformative than some of Pixar's feature length productions.
 

The Bonkers Ones: The Forky Asks A Question series

The most insane Pixar character has now inspired the most bizarre series on all of Disney+. No doubt more installments are in the works, but What Is Money? and What Is A Friend? — both showcasing Forky's unhinged musings as John Ratzenberger's Ham steers the conversation back to reality — have already introduced us to a new clown and straight man team for the ages.
 

The Darkest Thing on Disney+: Kitbull

This is perhaps the most affecting and visually inspired of the Sparkshorts. A territorial (and possibly rabid?) stray cat befriends a horrifically abused pitbull in a ramshackle backyard. Don't worry, this one has a happy ending, but know what you're getting yourself into before absentmindedly throwing this on for the kids.
 

The Unexpected Swears: Purl

This charming metaphor for the experience of women in male-dominated work environments unfolds as you might expect, until the central yarnball Purl tries to ingratiate herself to the male colleagues that snub her. When she barks “kiss our ass!” in a board meeting in a bid to win favor, it's a shocking and audacious way to present the pitfalls of the male-dominated workplace status quos.
 

The Plotty One: Smash and Grab

In case Wall-E (a love story about a lonely robot just wanting to hold a lady robot's hand) was too touchy feely for you, here's a somewhat similar mini-epic about two robots breaking free from their industrial confines to high five and be buds. This one probably packs more action and polished digital imagery than any feature length sci-fi adventure you've seen at the movies in the past year.
 

The Return to Peak Pixar Form: Float

This short tells the story of a single dad struggling to cope with the inherent feelings that come with raising an attention-grabbing son who is a little bit different. Remember when Pixar was the one telling stories like this? This SparkShort (the first to make its debut on Disney+) shows the series has the potential to showcase some of Disney and Pixar's most emotional and human stories.
 

Chris Feil is a freelancer writer and co-host of the This Had Oscar Buzz podcast. His previous work can be found at Vulture, Vice, Paste, and The Film Experience. Follow him @chrisvfeil on Twitter.