Forgotten Television: The Goofy Movie

Where have all the Disney icons gone? I cannot say—but Mickey, Donald, and Goofy used to shine during the Golden Era in cartoons. Goofy and Donald, in particular, had shows based around their family life. For Donald this meant his three obnoxious nephews.

For Goofy, it meant his son Max. This created an interesting spin on the character who made us laugh with his carefree air and comedic style of approaching life a little differently than everyone else. Suddenly, Goofy had to take on a parental role in which he needed to care for, discipline, and teach Max about the world. That broke the cartoon tradition of having icon characters take on similar challenges only when needing to care for nephews, or little cousins. Mickey, Donald, and most major cartoon characters followed the same formula, though there was a reason behind it: they have few attachments as possible to allow freedom of movement or situations. Or so I theorize.

But whatever the true reason is behind such pairings, it doesn’t change the fact that “Goof Troop” (the series focusing around Goofy and Max) worked very well. Being a father figure just increased the charm Goofy brought to the show, and Max was loveable too. It also helped that Goofy could bounce off his greedy neighbor Pete, which helped create a fun atmosphere in Spoonerville.

The Goofy Movie takes place years after the series ends, while Max is a high school student. Here is yet another circumstance: Disney showing characters have aged. Most cartoons are ageless—and Goofy remains so—but his son eventually graduates and moves out of their house.

The film begins simply. It is the last day of school before summer vacation, and Max stages an impromptu concert at their final assembly to impress a girl he likes named Roxanne. He gets brought to the principal’s office, and Goofy receives a call from the disgruntled school head to say his son is in deep trouble and needs someone to straighten him out before “he winds up in the electric chair.” Fearing Max has gone down the wrong path, Goofy decides to take his boy on a road trip to a special fishing spot his own father and he used to visit during his childhood.

Unknowing of his father’s plans, Max asks Roxanne on a date to watch the concert of a rock star (Power Line) famous with the other students at school—and so he literally faints on hearing about the trip. He does not want to cancel the date with Roxanne, though, and winds up lying that Goofy and he will be on-stage with Power Line during the concert.

As the film progresses, Max tries to figure out how to steer Goofy towards the concert—while Goofy tries to figure out a way to become closer with his son. Their relationship is the top strength of A Goofy Movie, because this attachment most other characters avoid gives Goofy greater depth. For example, you learn Goofy misses the trips he used to spend with his father, and he wants to give those types of precious  memories to Max as well.

There are some fun songs, and the rich animation style is Disney’s through and through. Even if CGI, beside similar programs, have come to mostly replace traditional hand-drawn work in Disney cartoons—A Goofy Movie presents the former format to us in proud honor of Walt Disney pictures.

I won’t give away anything else, except how An Extremely Goofy Movie follows as a sequel to this movie and takes us to college with Max.

So enjoy some laughs and sink back into Disney tradition with A Goofy Movie.

He-yuck!