A Goofy Movie is an animated rock musical comedy film, produced by DisneyToon Studios and released in theaters during Spring of 1995 by Walt Disney Pictures. The film features characters from The Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop, but is not canon to the series.
The film's plot revolves around the father-son relationship between Max and Goofy 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 the school year for Goofy's (voiced by Bill Farmer) teenaged son Max (voiced by Jason Marsden), who has a plan to shed his "Goof" label and impress his crush, Roxanne (voiced by Kellie Martin). Max and his two friends PJ (voiced by Rob Paulsen) and Bobby (voiced by Pauly Shore) hijack the auditorium stage in the middle of Principal Mazur's (voiced by Wallace Shawn) speech, creating a small concert where Max performs while costumed as Powerline (voiced by Tevin Campbell), a famous pop superstar (who is in a Michael Jackson/Bobby Brown/Prince mold). 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. Roxanne speaks with Max and agrees to go with him to a party where Powerline's concert will be aired live, but Mazur telephones Goofy and forewarns him that Max may end up with a criminal record and face capital punishment on an electric chair.
In desperation, Goofy decides to take Max on a fishing trip to Lake Destiny, Idaho, following a map route he and his father took years ago. Max, whose popularity had boosted after his concert, is not too pleased with this but stops by Roxanne's to call off their date but then lies to her about Goofy knowing Powerline, and he will be on stage at the concert. Roxanne falls for this. Goofy and Max's trip is not the most enjoyable, Goofy unintentionally humiliating Max at a possum-based theme park. They camp soon after, encountering Goofy's friend Pete (voiced by Jim Cummings) and son PJ, Pete advising Goofy to keep Max under his control. Goofy takes Max fishing and performs the Perfect Cast fishing technique, which ultimately lures Bigfoot to their camp. Pete flees, leaving the two to spend the night with Bigfoot. Max discovers the map route and alters it to Los Angeles, where the concert is to take place.
Goofy decides to make Max the navigator of the trip, the two going to several locations that satisfy both of them. They stop by a motel where they meet Pete and PJ again, Pete overhearing Max telling PJ about altering the map and he then tells Goofy, who at first disbelieves him but then finds the map himself. The next day, Goofy and Max come to a junction, one leading to Idaho, the other to California. In a panic, Max chooses the route to California, causing Goofy to stop the car and stomp off in anger. The car drives off on its own, the two Goofs pursuing it and arguing until they crash into a river, where they eventually rekindle their relationship. The two nearly plummet down a waterfall but Max saves Goofy with the Perfect Cast. The two go to Los Angeles and both end up on stage with Powerline, watched by Pete, PJ, and Roxanne on separate televisions. Max and Goofy return to Roxanne's house in their now wrecked car, Max revealing the truth to Roxanne but she accepts it and admits she always had feelings for him ever since he first said "Ahyuck". Goofy is blown upward by his exploding car, but safely falls, crashing through the porch roof of Roxanne's house, and is introduced to her by Max.
Cast
Production and follow-ups
Director Kevin Lima said that "Instead of just keeping Goofy one-dimensional as he's been in the past, we wanted to give an emotional side that would add to the emotional arc of the story. We wanted the audience to see his feelings instead of just his antics."[2]
The main characters of this film, specifically Goofy, Max Goof, Pete and PJ, are based on their incarnations in the Goof Troop television show, albeit slightly older. In the television series, Max and PJ were middle school students, but in this film they are portrayed as older teenagers. 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), with their sequences directed by Steve Moore. 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, PJ, Pete, and Bobby, but most notable is that Roxanne, Max's love interest, is absent from the sequel and not referenced at all. 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.
Music
The score for A Goofy Movie was provided by Carter Burwell and Don Davis.[3] The songs "I 2 I" and "Stand Out" were performed by R&B singer Tevin Campbell. A soundtrack album for A Goofy Movie was released by Walt Disney Records in 1995.[4]
| 1. |
"I 2 I" (Tevin Campbell) |
4:02 |
| 2. |
"After Today" (Aaron Lohr and Chorus) |
2:21 |
| 3. |
"Stand Out" (Tevin Campbell) |
3:00 |
| 4. |
"On the Open Road" (Bill Farmer, Aaron Lohr, and Chorus) |
3:01 |
| 5. |
"Lester's Possum Park" (Kevin Quinn and Chorus) |
1:25 |
| 6. |
"Nobody Else But You" (Bill Farmer and Aaron Lohr) |
2:35 |
| 7. |
"Opening Fanfare/Max's Dream" |
1:25 |
| 8. |
"Deep Sludge" |
2:35 |
| 9. |
"Bigfoot" (Bill Farmer) |
1:50 |
| 10. |
"Hi Dad Soup" |
2:04 |
| 11. |
"Runaway Car" |
2:14 |
| 12. |
"Junction" |
1:32 |
| 13. |
"The Waterfall!/The Truth" |
2:17 |
Reception
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 June 20, 2000, along with a DVD version. To date, this film is the only animated Disney film produced in widescreen that has a pan and scan-only DVD. However, its PAL counterpart does have a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD, and the film is available in a letterbox presentation on Laserdisc. When the film premiered for the first time ever on Toon Disney HD on June 2, 2008 and on Disney Channel HD on June 10, 2008 (with an afternoon repeat on June 11, 2008), 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. The 2-Pack is currently available in the UK, however, it is unknown at the moment if the DVD has included the film in its original Widescreen aspect ratio.
Critical response
A Goofy Movie garnered mixed opinions from critics, and received a 54% rating from Rotten Tomatoes.[5] Variety's Todd McCarthy criticized the film's score, calling the six featured songs "unmemorable". He also felt that the personality of Goofy's character, while agreeable enough in support, proved a bit over the top for a headliner, and that "by any reasonable reckoning, he's distinctly overbearing and selfish, and responds with a bland dismissal to any opinion offered up by his son." However, McCarthy praised the film's technical aspects, citing them as "crisp and clean".[6] Louis Black of The Austin Chronicle summed up his review by saying the film was "bland, a barely television-length cartoon stretched out to fill a feature, and not much fun."[2] The film 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.[7] According to Box Office Mojo, A Goofy Movie grossed $35,348,597 at the United States box office, and was the 51st highest-grossing domestic film in 1995.[1]
References
External links
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Goof Troop |
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| Main Voice Cast |
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| Additional Voices |
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