For this week* I watched the animated father-son road trip film from Disney:

A Goofy Movie. One of the most heart-warming films about a father and son yet. Seriously. This film takes a bizarre world wherein animals are anthropomorphized and makes you care about a (for lack of a better term) goofy dog and his wannabe cool son.

A few years before this film, the show Goof Troop had launched on The Disney Channel. The show followed Goofy and his son Max, along with Goofy’s on again, off again antagonist Pete and his respective son, P.J.

Plans for a movie featuring the quartet were in the works soon after. This film was the result of those plans and had been developed on and off for about three years before it was finally released on April 7th, 1995.

The movie follows Max, a kid who desperately wants to be cool so that he can impress his high school crush, Roxanne. In doing so, he pretends to be a famous musical megastar– a cross between Prince and Michael Jackson: Powerline.

Max dresses like him and hijacks a school assembly to lip-synch his biggest hit. As a result, Max gets in trouble, and Goofy fears he may be on the path to jail. So he decides to take Max on the road trip of his life, using a map that Grampa Goof used with Goofy himself was a kid.

Before Max leaves, he has to break off a newly-appointed date with Roxanne by lying about Goofy’s taking him to see Powerline at a concert in Los Angeles…

…and that he’ll be onstage with him for the final number. What a fucking lie, dude! Thank God this is a movie and all worked out in the end!

I loved this movie as a kid because it was my first example of what high school would be like. Yes, it was completely off base, but it made me feel like I could better relate to my sister as she was set to graduate the following year.

What’s the franchise like?

The film was followed up by the sequel An Extremely Goofy Movie, which apparently, my roommate says was the “basis” for the plot of Monster’s University due to the X-Games Competition; but it sounds more like Extremely Goofy ripped off Billy Madison by having Goofy go back to school in order to get a degree for a job.

Hmm… We could easily do this all day, couldn’t we?

Where/ when did I first see it?

I first watched this as one of my earlier theater experiences in 1996. We went to Hoyt’s in Presque Isle with my foster Mom, Lori, while on a shopping trip. Yes, the same Hoyt’s as this chapter.

How does it hold up?

It is a marvel how well this film was first constructed. It took the most inept character that Disney had, and injected his backstory with a lot of heart and addressed all of those kids out there with broken relationships with their respective Dads.

I mean, Goofy was always my favorite character, especially when he would star in the How-To videos narrated by a disembodied voice. Hey, come to think of it, those were very much like a father trying to get the television to work, or the tent, or –insert household task and/or appliance here-.

There was nothing more Dad-like than those short cartoons.

The voice cast was amazing too. From Bill Farmer as Goofy, Jason Marsden as Max, Jim Cummings as Pete, Rob Paulsen as P.J., Wallace Shawn as the Principal, Kellie Martin as Roxanne; and it was also cool to see hear Jenna Von Oy (Six in Blossom) and Pauly Shore in the film as well.

The Joker:

The Joker will always be the magnanimous Goofy. Hyuck.

Lessons Learned?

1. Don’t assume your son is a convict.
2. Always bring Bigfoot-repellant spray.
3. Don’t lie about going onstage to sing with Powerline for his final number.

Where can you see it?

Check out A Goofy Movie on CanIStream.It?

-Jamie (@GuyOnAWire)

---