On the day our country descended into yet another MCO, Malaysians anticipated and welcomed some much-needed injection of streaming entertainment to tide us over the weeks of lockdown. Disney+ Hotstar provides users access to Disney’s entertainment brands, including Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars and National Geographic.
Viewers can also expect local entertainment, thanks to multi-year content partnerships Disney has struck with top Malaysian studios. These includes Skop Productions, Revolution Media Films, Primeworks Studios, WAU Animation, Act 2 Pictures, Les’ Copaque Production and Red Films.
Hotstar was an Indian streaming service owned and operated by Star India. In 2019, it was acquired by 21st Century Fox, which was later acquired by Disney. Utilising its existing infrastructure, Disney could immediately unleash its library of films, shows and musicals to complement the wide range of local content available.
Malaysia is currently the third Southeast Asian country – behind Singapore and Indonesia to have access to this streaming platform. With Astro being its exclusive streaming partner, viewers can enjoy Disney+ Hotstar’s content on their smart TV, laptops or mobile devices.
This review is divided into 3 segments: overall content, quality and pricing. A scale of 1 to 10, 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, was used for each component to give an overall impression on this new streaming provider.
The Content (9.5/10)
The content of Disney+ Hotstar will surely amaze its viewers, or rather the movie buffs. Viewers can anticipate over 800 films and 18,000 episodes of TV series courtesy of Disney’s unparallel ownership of companies such as 20th Century Studios, Lucasfilm and leading Malaysian studios. Almost all Disney classics such as Cinderella, Pinocchio and Pocahontas are available for commercial-free viewing. There are also the modern classics such as Frozen, Maleficent and Soul that illustrates a unique blend of old and new. The inclusion of Marvel and Lucasfilm simply mean that viewers are set to be entertained with other Avengers, Captain Marvel and almost all the films in Marvel’s library. As for Lucasfilm, viewers are ‘served’ the complete Star Wars trilogy and its subsequent films.
Disney+ Hotstar also streams its own content/prodcution such as Wandavision, Falcon and the Winter Soldier to name a few. Needless to say, Disney+ Hotstar’s content represents an unrivalled strength in acquiring family friendly films and shows.
If I had to nit-pick, certain Disney and Marvel content such as Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Suite Life on Deck and the classic X-Men 1990 animated series are missing from this extensive library. Nevertheless, Disney+ Hotstar excels at providing feel-good family movies for the young and old.
Viewing Experience (8/10)
Right off the home page, it is clear that there are many options in terms of content for viewing, but with an ‘elementary’ selection mechanics, it appears to be less than there is. Unlike Netflix, Disney+ Hotstar does not have a “recommended” category suggesting movies and shows based on a user’s viewing history nor specific categories for its content but general “genres” in its place. The interface feels like a primitive Netflix, where trying to find something to watch by clicking next, takes few seconds longer.
Despite that, Disney+ Hotstar’s actual viewing experience is rather impressive. For subtitling, most movies and shows comes with the option of either English or Indonesian subtitles. As for local contents in languages other than English, multiple subtitle options are available for viewers. The quality of the video is where things may get slightly contentious. Disney + Hotstar claims that it allows full HD (1080p) viewing for most of its content. However, when selecting this option before streaming a show, the application only allows for the quality to be “High”. Hence, users cannot be 100 per cent sure if the content they are viewing is a full HD version or simply close to it. The process of forwarding or rewinding certain parts of the movie may not be as smooth and easy, as compared to Netflix. Nonetheless, it still does the job.
Pricing (7/10)
At RM54.90 for three months (RM18.90 per month), this streaming service appears to be well worth it, especially with new content being added on a regular basis. Taking a cue from Netflix, it will be great if there was a catalogue of options available for an individual’s preferences such as a tiered pricing system or a plan specifically for watching on mobile devices only. Allowing for multiple users to share an account will be another welcoming feature, as well as logging in without having to key in phone numbers (which can get complicated if you had to change your mobile number).
Disney+ Hotstar is definitely a much-needed addition to the line of streaming platforms already available today, not only in terms of its content but the potential opportunities it seeks to create. This expanding industry is poised to becoming one of the primary sources of entertainment— all thanks to a large part of our world which is still under the pressures of restricted movement!