Review of A Goofy Movie (1995) by Aaron B — 14 Jun 2009

Disney released three animated movies in 1995. One was Pocahontas, a movie about a historical figure with no historical accuracy at all. Despite its vibrant color palette and great music, being released after The Lion King hampered its chances at any substantial legacy. Another movie, Toy Story, is a bona fide modern classic that launched Pixar, brought 3D animation mainstream, and inadvertently started 2D animation's downfall.

The third movie was A Goofy Movie, and for me it was THE movie of 1995. It was the third movie released by DisneyToon Studios, who had previously released the DuckTales Movie (the one with the genie, remember?) and The Return of Jafar. The studio would churn out a bunch of direct-to-video sequels over the years (including An Extremely Goofy Movie), most of which were absolutely terrible. It may not seem like high praise to call A Goofy Movie the best of DisneyToon's output given its competition. However, A Goofy Movie is also arguably better than Pocahontas and several films from Disney's official line of animated classics.

The movie's premise is conventional; Goofy, wary of how his teenage son Max will turn out, decides to take him on a fishing trip. The dramatic zaniness that occurs during the trip is arguably conventional as well. But boy, A Goofy Movie takes all the cliches and blows them out of proportion, a tactic that works to perfection. This may just be natural, considering the titular character is Goofy, and he's, well, goofy.

From Pete's ugly-but-effective (in his eyes) advice to Max's pent-up anger to Goofy's good intentions, so many things work in this film. This is due to how universal the clash between child and parent is. From Goofy's point of view, he's spending quality time with someone who he's grown further apart from over the years. Max, on the other hand, has his own life to live outside of his dad's jurisdiction. If such plights don't relate to you, then you're either perfectly in tune with your folks or you are dead inside. All kidding aside, the tension stemming from the father-son relationship is the root of all the action that occurs, be it hilarious or serious in tone. My only gripe is that Goofy kind of loses out most of the time. Then again, he seems good-natured enough to be happy just getting to know Max better than before. This doesn't make me gloss over the fact that A Goofy Movie might be more appropriately titled "A Max Movie," but it does help make the issue more irrelevant.

Though A Goofy Movie's animation is better than a straight-up conversion of Goof Troop to the big screen, it's not special, certainly not in the same sense as Pocahontas or Toy Story were. The animators did do a great job in resurrecting the classic look of Pete and Goofy, however; they always did look weird in Goof Troop (bah-wap bah bah-doo wop! Yeah...). And though she's a cartoon anthropomorphic chipmunk(?), Roxanne is just plain adorable. The character design, the mannerisms... props to her animators. The voice acting is perfect, but two performances in particular stick out: Pauly Shore as Max's slacker friend Bobby and Kellie Martin as the aforementioned Roxanne. Speaking of voices, the movie's most pleasant surprise is how good the songs are. They never steer the story in a wrong direction or pop up at inappropriate times; they actually enhance the plot and bolster the movie's already fun personality. A Goofy Movie was High School Musical before High School Musical.

Given its crossing of genres, A Goofy Movie is many times a favorite of mine. It is my favorite father-son movie, and my favorite buddy film. It's my favorite road movie. It's my favorite coming of age/high school flick. I don't consider it the best Disney movie ever made, but I'd be hard pressed to find another that I could watch over and over again. A great story, great characters, great music, and humor that doesn't rely on outdated pop culture references have allowed it to age very well. We'll see if my kids will feel the same way down the line.

"My life is a living --".

"HELL-O, LITTLE BUDDY!".