The Best Disney+ Show Is…

If you haven’t been online in the past few weeks (god how I envy you), you might’ve missed that Martin Scorsese has come under fire recently—by people willing to defend giant corporations—for questioning the artistic integrity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Honestly, the closest I can think of them, as well made as they are, with actors doing the best they can under the circumstances, is theme parks,” he told Empire Magazine.

Argue all you want, but he kind of has a point. Marvel, and Disney as a whole, are generating focus-group tested narratives that subsequently dominate theaters and leave no space for anything that isn’t a multi-billion dollar franchise.

With that being said, I don’t think anyone needs to ask Martin Scorsese for his thoughts on Disney+. If the company’s ever-expanding monopoly on the entertainment industry doesn’t already fill you with overwhelming fear about the future of cinema, now it’s entering the streaming game too. The MCU already felt like cinema by way of the assembly line—and the content available on Disney+ embodies corporate entertainment at its starkest, like it was entirely designed in a boardroom for maximum mass appeal.

Last week heralded the arrival of the pretty underwhelming Apple TV+. Disney+ at least has more going for it with the entire Disney vault available for viewing. On top of that, the service will have original content too, brandishing recognizable stars and IP in the hopes of luring people away from Netflix, Amazon Prime, and the upcoming HBO Max.

A major disclaimer first: the Star Wars spin-off series The Mandalorian wasn’t made available for journalists, so that could well be the best thing on the service and make that $6.99 a month worth it. I really hope it’s good, because none of Disney+’s other original series make it a worthy financial commitment yet . If the entire Disney catalogue is all you need to keep yourself and the kids occupied, then by all means swipe that credit card, but there’s little else to get excited about at present.

There’s the live-action Lady and the Tramp remake, which is more impressive than the “live-action” The Lion King because it actually stars real dogs. But it’s a glorified straight-to-video movie with a bigger budget. The dogs are cute, until the film plunges straight into the uncanny valley when the canines talk via garish CGI. High School Musical: The Musical: The Series (yes, that’s the name) is a High School Musical reboot thinly veiled as a meta mockumentary on the school where the original film was shot. The World According to Jeff Goldblum is basically How It’s Made capitalizing on Goldblum’s quirkiness (which, disappointingly, wears thin quickly.)

But something truly glorious ascends from the rest of its cohorts: Forky Asks A Question, a series of three-minute shorts which double down on the philosophical terror of Toy Story 4. Since Forky has overcome the concept of consciousness, the breakout star of 2019 has bigger existential issues to tackle, like “What is money?” and “What is a friend?” They’re the sort of questions four-year-olds ask their exasperated parents made into a series, and the results are enjoyable, harmless fun. I found myself laughing hysterically at Forky yelling “WHAT? NOOO,” at a mug, and at that moment, I had an out-of-body experience where I was watching myself truly lose it at a plastic spork with Tony Hale’s voice. It dawned on me that this is my life now.

Forky Asks A Question is obviously not meant to be the brightest shining jewel of Disney+’s original content, though nothing in this initial lineup suggests it is. That could very well change in the next year, since Marvel is planning to keep everyone hostage by insisting that you need to watch Disney+ exclusives like The Falcon and Winter Soldier, WandaVision, and Loki in order to understand future MCU films. Everything aside, Disney has a cinematic universe, Star Wars, and all of Fox to ensure its place as a major player in the streaming wars.

I’ll acknowledge that I’m not the target demographic for Disney+. This was made, it seems, for kids and families in mind, but I don’t think quality should be reserved for adults only. These shows and movies feel like nothing more than engineered products reliant on the hope that brand recognition will make the subscription fee worth it. The streaming service attempts to coast along on nostalgia, but nostalgia can only get it so far. We’ll be watching.

A new streaming service is here, boasting new, star-studded shows…that don’t really work. 

Originally Appeared on GQ