The holidays are a high-stress time. It’s not true that there are more suicides at this time of year than any other; in fact most people seem to wait until the holidays are over. I did, on the other hand, read that murders tend to peak during the holidays, and I can absolutely believe that. Frankly, the way my family’s being right now, I can absolutely sympathize. It also makes me believe that suicides spike afterward in the same way that Virginia Woolf killed herself when she wasn’t depressed rather than face being depressed again. So let us, this week, discuss something we can watch a minute without stress.

Lots of people have written over the years about the sheer artistry of Disney films. Heck, a friend of mine gave me an entire book about it for my birthday this year, and it’s far from the only one. A lot of that beauty, though, has been put into establishing shots and so forth. Disney films have been in such varied settings as the bottom of the ocean, high in snowy mountains, and a Tokyo-San Francisco hybrid. New Orleans and Neverland. The African savanna and outer space. All those decades of animated films means a lot of animated establishing shots.

Zenimation, on Disney+, is a collection of moments from the history of the studio—mostly focusing from the Renaissance on—that are just about the scenery. Moana’s first glimpse of her ancestors’ boats. Aladdin and Jasmine in the clouds. The beautiful curve of Montressor Space Port. The first appearance of Atlantis. Tarzan surfing on the branches. The amazing future of Meet the Robinsons. And so forth. I’m not sure every Disney feature is here, but no few of them are, even some of the ones that don’t get talked about much.

There is no dialogue. There is no score. If the characters make nonverbal noises, those are here—the cooing of baby Moana, the gasping of Elsa—but no one talks. The score is gone as well. I’ll be honest that I don’t know if the sounds are all original to the films; I’m quite sure some of them are, especially on the newer films, but did the audio track from Sleeping Beauty layer in all those rustling leaves and bird songs? You couldn’t prove it by me. I’m sure The Hunchback of Notre Dame included the sounds of wind and creaking ladders, but if you removed the more noticeable tracks, would this actually be what the movies sound like?

Regardless, the way they are now is incredibly soothing. Okay, so I’m not sure that includes the “Discovery” segment, which has an awful lot of Judy Hopps getting to know her new city, but a lot of the rest of it, especially divorced from plot. I’ve never seen Hercules, but the establishing shot of Mount Olympus is still restful. (I think that’s what it is, anyway.) Duchess and O’Malley looking out over a sleeping Paris. Nani and Lilo watching flowers blow away in the breeze.

The segments are short, too, and that helps some. You can take five or ten minutes to watch the water or the forest or even cityscapes, and it’s just a moment to breathe. “Nature” is perhaps a bit all-encompassing of a subject, but it starts with that wonderful sunrise that attracted so many of us to The Lion King in the first place, if we are old enough to remember the preview. And how strange to realize that the merchant from the beginning of Aladdin was so beautifully animated. That’s not why we remember it.

The scenes where they include Peter Pan or The Rescuers Down Under tend to suggest why there are fewer of those clips; one thing the presentation requires is constantly changing aspect ratios. The Northern Lights in Brother Bear are not in the same ratio as the Northern Lights in Frozen 2. The waterfall in The Jungle Book is not in the same ratio as the waterfall in The Lion King. I personally don’t mind, but there are people who do who might get distracted by the continually shifting black bars.

Still, if you are feeling overwhelmed this holiday, it’ll do you no harm to take a minute and decompress with this. Belle’s first glimpse of the library. Mulan paying tribute to her ancestors. Kuzco looking out into the jungle. Christopher Robin and Pooh wandering together. Bolt learning to play with other dogs. Tiana wishing on a star. Hiro feeling the joy of flight. Ariel’s joy at the fireworks. And Ralph sitting quietly. Just a chance to breathe.

Celebrate the holiday season in a more productive way than killing your relatives by contributing to my Patreon or Ko-fi!