For most people, the benefit is that Hulu movies and shows will appear in the Disney+ app, meaning more variety and no need to switch between the two apps.
But it’s not a welcome change for some parents: Where Disney+’s family-friendly fare once felt like a safe, walled garden, it now includes more adult fare, including R-rated movies like “Alien” (advertised at the top of the home screen) and TV-MA shows like “American Horror Story” and “The Shogun.”
Even as parents create separate profiles for their kids and filter out more mature content, some are frustrated because they feel Hulu’s new programming — shows based on YouTubers and reality shows like “Dance Moms” — doesn’t live up to Disney’s standards.
“I was really excited to see Hulu integrated so I didn’t have to switch between apps,” Corey Doiron, a parent of two teenagers and a toddler, told Business Insider. He was frustrated that when he tried to use his son’s profile to show his youngest child “Bluey,” he was shown thumbnails and recommendations for horror movies like “Smile,” despite his viewing history being almost entirely kids’ programming.
Corey Doiron’s Disney+ account started recommending horror movies after he watched “Bluey.” Corey Doiron / Disney+ app screenshot
Part of this is down to user error: The Disney+ app has two ways to filter adult content for kids, but if parents don’t use either option, that’s their fault.
I agree.
Until recently, the Disney+ app didn’t have any R-rated movies. (Deadpool and Logan were added in 2022.) All of Disney’s content, even PG-13-rated movies like Hamilton and Marvel movies, felt family-friendly and high-quality, so many families couldn’t be bothered to mess around with age-rating options.
Disney+ user profiles can still be set to Junior mode, which displays a collection of shows and movies aimed at young children. Junior mode has a slightly different, easier-to-navigate interface. Content is geared towards the youngest audience with shows like “Bluey” and “Muppet Babies,” and includes only G-rated movies.
However, most of the recent Disney movies, including “Encanto,” “Inside Out,” and “Moana,” are rated PG and therefore unavailable in Junior Mode. For many families (including ours with an Elsa-obsessed 4-year-old), the lack of “Frozen” would be a big deal, and Junior Mode just doesn’t meet our needs.
Netflix has a better way to address this issue: Parents can customize content ratings for the “Kids” profile to allow up to PG and TV-PG content.
Additionally, Netflix lets you block certain titles from your Netflix Kids account if you think they’re inappropriate for your child, or if you’re tired of watching them 20 times, etc. You can’t block them on a per-title basis in the Disney+ app.
Netflix’s “Netflix Kids” profile option allows users to watch movies up to PG rating and blocks certain titles. Netflix / Screenshot
On Disney+, if you don’t want Junior Mode, your next option is to choose a granular level of content ratings, which isn’t hard to find or do in settings: You can create individual profiles for each family member with custom content ratings.
You can block all content rated PG or TV-PG or above. However, not all content rated PG or TV-PG is appropriate or interesting for children.
Unfortunately, parental guidance is exactly what is still needed today.
For example, if you allow PG-rated movies so your 4-year-old can watch “Moana,” you’ll also see recommendations for true crime show “Murder in Law,” along with ’80s courtroom drama “LA Law” and ’70s classic “M*A*S*H.”
James Briard, a parent of two children, ages 4 and 6, and a Disney+ subscriber, said the streamer’s setup doesn’t meet his family’s needs.
“The reason we have a PG rating is because a lower rating would only offer very childish options suitable for 3- and 4-year-olds,” he says. “It’s like we don’t have any rating options that are suitable for 5- to 8-year-olds.”
Briard said he noticed the documentary about the Gambino crime family mixed in with recommendations for animated films like “Rio” and “Rio 2.”
“It’s surprising that it’s not resonating with kids who want to watch ‘Frozen’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ but don’t want to watch a true crime documentary about murder in the bayou,” he said.
“ERAS,” the tour movie by Taylor Swift that’s popular with young children, is rated TV-14 because some of her songs contain foul language, but allowing a TV-14 rating also suggests true crime documentaries like “Cold Case Files” and “Casey Anthony: An American Murder Mystery.”
This is the crux of the issue: Disney’s reputation is for providing high-quality, family-friendly content. To some, Disney’s PG-13 movies are not the same as all other PG-13 content.
And Hulu’s new TV additions raise a slightly different issue than just maturity: There’s a difference in quality here: Hulu offers more reality TV series, such as “Dance Moms” and “Swamp People” (both of which are rated TV-PG).
Disney declined to comment on the matter.
A thumbnail from an episode of “Lankybox,” a Hulu show featuring Roblox-playing YouTubers. A screenshot from the Disney+ app.
Additionally, Hulu imports from YouTube are now also available to watch on Disney+.
Hulu offers a handful of shows developed from popular YouTube Kids channels, including “Love, Diana” and “Blippi,” aimed at toddlers and preschoolers, that may raise some eyebrows. The man who created and plays the character Blippi also makes grotesque videos under the name “Steezy Grossman,” who went viral for pooping on a naked friend to the tune of the “Harlem Shake” meme. There are also shows from YouTube creators about gaming and Roblox.
Business Insider recently reported that Disney+ is losing the battle to YouTube for Gen Alpha’s attention, so bringing these YouTube-native shows to the Disney+ app could help capture more of their attention.
But for parents who don’t want their kids to watch YouTube or Roblox content, Disney is no longer a safe haven.
Ultimately, parents and guardians are responsible for what their kids watch, and Disney has provided some tools to adjust content ratings. But for some parents, until very recently, Disney+ was something they could watch without worry. Now, they say, they feel like the rug has been pulled out from under their feet.
“This is a place where I feel comfortable leaving my kids to their own devices,” Emily Johnson, a mother of a 4-year-old, told Business Insider. “Sure, it’s not the ultimate parenting, but my kids enjoy the feeling of control that comes with being able to dance from ‘Bluey’ to ‘Spiderman.’ [and His Amazing] “Friends.” Now you can’t even find their episodes easily. The content is all polarizing and in my opinion, it devalues the Disney brand.