| A Goofy Movie | |
|---|---|
 Opening title for A Goofy Movie' | |
| Film information | |
| Directed by: | Kevin Lima |
| Produced by: | Dan Rounds |
| Written by: | Jymn Magon Chris Matheson Brian Pimental |
| Music by: | Carter Burwell |
| Distributed by: | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Language: | English |
| Gross Revenue: | $35,348,597 |
A Goofy Movie is a 1995 animated musical comedy film, produced by DisneyToon Studios and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures. The film features the characters from The Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop but is explicitly part of the show's canon. The film can also be considered a road movie.
The film's plot revolves around the father-son relationship between Goofy and Max as they struggle to find common ground despite Max's persistence in having his own life and winning the girl of his dreams. A direct-to-video sequel, titled An Extremely Goofy Movie, was released in 2000.
Plot[]
It is the last day of school before the summer break for Goofy's teenage son Max (who is 14 years old), who has a plan to shed his "Goof" label and impress his crush, Roxanne. Max and his two friends P.J. and Bobby hijack the auditorium stage in the middle of Principal Mazur's speech, creating a small concert where Max performs while costumed as Powerline, a famous pop superstar. The performance succeeds in making Max a school celebrity, but Mazur puts it to a halt and the trio of friends are sent to his office.
While waiting outside Mazur's office, Roxanne talks to Max and they both agree to go together to a party that Roxanne's friend and student body president, Stacey, is holding to watch Powerline's latest concert on pay-per-view. Unknown to Max, Mazur calls Goofy while at work, (his job is a department store children's photographer), reporting Max's actions as "dressed as a gang member, your son caused the entire student body to break into a riotous frenzy!" Believing that Max's exhibiting behavior that will lead him to a life of criminality ending in the electric chair, Goofy decides it is time to re-establish his relationship with his son, which has drifted apart over the years.
Goofy decides to take Max on a fishing trip to Lake Destiny in Idaho, on the same route he and his father took years before. Max tries to dissuade his father, but is shoved into the family car, a yellow AMC Pacer Wagon, and the holiday begins, but not before Max visits Roxanne at her house to tell her the news. When Roxanne disappointingly mentions possibly finding someone else to go with to the party, Max quickly creates a lie claiming he and Goofy are going to the Powerline concert in Los Angeles and will be on stage with Powerline. Roxanne, though initially dubious, falls for it. Goofy and Max head out on their uneasy road trip, but it is not incredibly fun as Goofy hoped.
The trip starts out on a bad foot to say the least. While Goofy tries to bond with Max, Max is sullen. Goofy later makes a stop at a run down theme park called Lester's Possum Park, which Goofy had gone to as a boy. While there, They also watch an out-of-date country folk jamboree of animatronic possums (parodying The Country Bear Jamboree), which malfunction halfway through the show. Afterwards, Max is humiliated by having an opossum leap down his pants and then beingdragged into a country dance by Goofy. Max attempts to hitchhike back home, which confuses Goofy, as he thought that he and Max were simply having fun. Later, they unexpectedly run into Pete and PJ; and are chased by Bigfoot during a fishing practice session involving Goofy's Perfect Cast technique.
Trapped in their car by Bigfoot, who has the car keys, Max and Goofy spend the night in the car. While Goofy is asleep, Max changes the road map destination from Idaho to Los Angeles . The next day, Goofy pronounces Max as official navigator of the trip while they stop at a roadside diner, unaware of the change in direction. The two go places where Max or Goofy likes and the two rebuild their relationship and have fun. But Goofy later discovers the switched map when Pete overhears a conversation between Max and PJ, and feels shocked and betrayed.
Goofy and Max later approach a highway junction where left goes to Los Angeles, right to Idaho. In a panic, Max picks left. Stressed with what has been going on, Goofy stops the car at a mountain viewpoint to think things through. However, he forgets to put the brakes on, which causes the car to go onto the road when Max leans against it. As the two Goofs pursue the car down the road, eventually landing in a river on the car, they get into an argument. Max clued in to his dad discovering the switched map, and stated he's not a kid anymore, and that he wants his own life. The argument concludes with Goofy saying that he just wanted to be part of Max's life as he grew, and Max explaining why he wanted to go to the Powerline concert in the first place. Goofy then tells Max he'll take him to L.A. just as the two approach a waterfall. The car twits in th water as Goofy and Max try to swim against the waterfall current and Goofy falls off the car and Max goes to the waterfall in the car. Goofy finds the fishing rod and gets near Max jumping on rocks. Max tries to grab the fishing pole but misses. The car crashes into a rock and turns around and Max gets involved in a warp. Goofy uses the Perfect Cast to catch the car just before it falls from the waterfall. As Goofy tries to rit it in, the car weight pushes him into the waterfall but he grabs from a rock. A scared Max sees to the bottom of the waterfall as Goofy is released from the rock. The car falls but the warp turns into a parachute and saves Max's life. Max grabs the fishing rod and saves Goofy. But the handle splits from the rod and Goofy falls. Max saves him using the Perfect Cast.
Goofy and Max arrive in Los Angeles on the night of the concert, but are accidentally separated when Max is distracted staring at Powerline's background dancer's bottoms as they walk pass him. Goofy is pushed into an electrical ball and flies out onto the stage where Powerline is performing his song "I2I". As convinced by Max, Goofy does the Perfect Cast technique in a freestyle version as a dance style, and everybody is impressed by it, including Powerline, who then also performs it as well. Max is chased by a security guard up onto the stage's lights, but Max crashes down onto the stage between Goofy and Powerline. The three break into dance with everyone cheering for them. Roxanne, Stacey, PJ, Pete, Bobby, and others watch the concert from various televisions surprised by their performances.
The next day, Goofy and Max pull up outside Roxanne's house in the car, which was recovered and almost repaired. Max reveals to Roxanne he lied to her about mostly everything but she instantly forgives him, revealing herself she has liked him for a long time, ever since he first laughed the classic "Ahyuck" which he was embarrassed about before. The two make a deal to not lie anymore, sealing it with a kiss. Goofy's car blows up and he flies through the air, crashing through the roof of Roxanne's house where Max introduces him to Roxanne.
Voice cast[]
- Jason Marsden - Maximillian "Max" Goof (speaking)
- Bill Farmer - Goofy Goof
- Rob Paulsen - P.J.
- Jim Cummings - Pete
- Kellie Martin - Roxanne
- Pauly Shore - Robert "Bobby" Zimmeruski (uncredited)
- Jenna von Oÿ - Stacey
- Julie Brown - Lisa
- Joey Lawrence - Chad
- Wallace Shawn - Principal Mazur
- Tevin Campbell - Powerline
- Frank Welker - Bigfoot
- Aaron Lohr - Max (singing)
- Wayne Allwine - Mickey Mouse-cameo appearance
- Pat Buttram - Possum Park Emcee
- Kevin Lima - Lester Main Possum Park Emcee
- Florence Stanley - Waitress
Soundtrack[]
The soundtrack album for A Goofy Movie was released by Walt Disney Records in 1995.
- "I 2 I" - Tevin Campbell featuring Rosie Gaines
- "After Today" - Aaron Lohr and Chorus
- "Stand Out" - Tevin Campbell
- "On the Open Road" - Bill Farmer, Aaron Lohr, and Chorus
- "Lester's Possum Park" - Kevin Quinn
- "Nobody Else But You" - Bill Farmer and Aaron Lohr
- "Opening Fanfare/Max's Dream" (Score)
- "Deep Sludge" (Score)
- "Bigfoot" (Score)
- "Hi Dad Soup" (Score)
- "Runaway Car" (Score)
- "Junction" (Score)
- "The Waterfall!/The Truth" (Score)
Production and follow-ups[]
Kevin Lima, the director of the film, said that as opposed to making Goofy "one-dimensional as he's been in the past," the creators intended to "give an emotional side that would add to the emotional arc of the story" and for "the audience to see his feelings instead of just his antics."
The main characters of this film, specifically Goofy, Max Goof, Pete and P.J., are based on their incarnations in the Goof Troop television show, albeit slightly older. In the television series, Max was a middle school student, but in this film he has is portrayed as an older teenager. However, other characters that had been established in Goof Troop do not appear in this film, such as Pete's wife Peg, his daughter Pistol, Waffles and Chainsaw. Goofy and Pete retain their classic looks from the 1940s cartoons as opposed to the looks that they had in the 1950s cartoons and Goof Troop.
Although based upon a Disney TV series, production on A Goofy Movie was handled by Walt Disney Feature Animation instead of Walt Disney Television Animation. Pre-production was done at the main WDFA studio in California. The animation work was done at WDFA's then-new satellite shop (formerly the Brizzi studio) in Paris, France supervised by Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, as well as at the Walt Disney Animation studio in Sydney, Australia (later DisneyToon Studios). Additional clean-up animation was done by Phoenix Animation Studios in Canada, and digital ink and paint by the Pixibox studio in France.
A sequel to this film was released in 2000, titled An Extremely Goofy Movie. The sequel takes place some time after this film, involving Max's freshman year in college. Characters that returned for the sequel were Goofy, Max, Pete, P.J. and Bobby, but most notable is that Roxanne, Max's love interest, is reduced to a very small cameo when the boys first arrive at the college, however she doesn't seem to recognize them. However, Roxanne did appear in the television series, House of Mouse (specifically the episode "Max's Embarrassing Date"), where she was voiced by Grey DeLisle instead of Kellie Martin. This was Pat Buttram's (the voice of the Possum Park Emcee) final film. He died on January 8, 1994 of kidney failure in Los Angeles, California.
Release[]
The film was originally intended to be released in theaters during the holiday season of 1994. However, some production problems in France delayed the film's release to Spring of 1995, while The Lion King was reissued to fill in for the film's absence.
The film was first released on VHS home video on September 6, 1995. It was reissued on VHS and DVD as part of the Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection on June 20, 2000. This release containing the Goof Troop episode "Calling All Goofs" as a bonus feature on both formats, with the DVD also including the Disneyland television episode "The Goofy Success Story". To date, this film is the only animated Disney film produced in widescreen that has a pan and scan-only DVD in the United States. However, the PAL counterparts have non-anamorphic widescreen DVDs (the Region 2 DVD is in 1.78:1, while the Region 4 DVD is in the theatrical ratio of 1.85:1), and the film was available in a letterbox presentation on Laserdisc. When the film aired on Toon Disney HD, Disney Channel HD, and Disney XD HD, it was in the standard-definition format instead of the high-definition format.
An ad inside a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse DVD released in May 2009 revealed that a Goofy Movie 2-Pack would be released soon. It would include the film and its sequel An Extremely Goofy Movie. However, the set appears to have been delayed. It is unknown at the moment if the DVD would include the film in its original widescreen aspect ratio.
Reception[]
A Goofy Movie was a fairly successful film, and was nominated for "Best Animated Feature" in the production categories and "Best Production Design", "Best Storyboarding", "Best Music", and "Best Animation" in the individual categories at the 23rd Annie Awards. However, the movie has a 57% rotten rating for Rotten Tomatoes, with 57% also liking it from 339,923 users that gave it a 3.1/5. However, it scores a better 6.6/10 rating on IMDb from 13,127 users, beating Cars 2 by .2/10, despite it having a 39% Rotten Rating.