A Goofy Movie

A Goofy Movie is a 1995 animated musical comedy film, produced by Walt Disney Television Animation and released to theaters by Walt Disney Pictures. The film features the characters from The Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop and 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 heading for disaster as they struggle to find common ground despite Max's persistence in having his own life and winning the girl of his dreams. As a result, they go on a road trip so both father and son can have a bonding relationship. A direct-to-video sequel, titled An Extremely Goofy Movie, was released in 2000.

In international theaters, the movie premiered alongside the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain.

Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was warmly received by the general public and was fairly successful.

Plot
It is the last day of school before the summer break for Goofy's teenage son Max, 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), but in his enraged and overreactive state, he reports 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 being dragged into a country dance by Goofy. Max attempts to hitchhike back home, which upsets Goofy, as he thought that he and Max were simply having fun, but Max is enraged to be dragged into what he calls "some stupid rat show." 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. However, while staying at a motel where they meet up with Pete and PJ again, Goofy is told by Pete that he overheard a conversation between Max and PJ about how Max changed the map, so he and Goofy are not heading straight to Idaho, but to Los Angeles instead. At first, Goofy thought Pete was lying, but after checking the map and realizing Pete was right, Goofy felt dumbstruck and disillusioned.

Goofy and Max later approach a highway junction where left goes to Los Angeles, right to Idaho. In a panic, Max picks left. Knowing that Max did not choose the route to Idaho, Goofy gets angry, stops the car at a mountain viewpoint, and storms off to think things through. However, he forgets to put the brakes on, which causes the car to go onto the road when Max, in some sort of anger at Goofy's refusal to listen, leans against it after kicking a tire in frustration. 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, while Goofy explained that Mazur called him, and Max 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. Finally convinced of his son's problems, Goofy then tells Max he'll take him to L.A. just as the two approach a waterfall. The car twists around in the water as Goofy and Max try to swim against the waterfall current and Goofy falls off the car and Max goes toward the waterfall on the car. Goofy finds the fishing rod and gets near Max, jumping on some 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 tarp. Goofy uses the Perfect Cast to catch the car just before it falls from the waterfall. As Goofy tries to reel it in, the car's weight pushes him into the waterfall, but he grabs hold of a rock. A scared Max sees to the bottom of the waterfall as Goofy is released from the rock. The car falls, but the tarp 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, much to their surprise. 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. With Goofy's pep talk, 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 due to the damage it sustained at the waterfall 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)
 * Aaron Lohr - Max (singing)
 * Bill Farmer - Goofy Goof
 * Kellie Martin - Roxanne
 * Rob Paulsen - P.J.
 * Pauly Shore - Robert "Bobby" Zimuruski (uncredited)
 * Jenna von Oÿ - Stacey
 * Julie Brown - Lisa
 * Joey Lawrence - Chad
 * Jim Cummings - Pete
 * Wallace Shawn - Principal Mazur
 * Tevin Campbell - Powerline
 * Jo Anne Worley - Miss Maples
 * Frank Welker - Bigfoot
 * Wayne Allwine - Mickey Mouse (cameo appearance)
 * Pat Butrum - Possum Park Emcee
 * Kevin Lima - Lester the Possum
 * Florence Stanley - Waitress
 * Herschel Sparber - [Security Guard

Additional voices

 * Dante Basco
 * Sheryl Bernstein
 * Corey Burton - Wendell
 * Pat Carroll
 * E.G. Daily
 * Carole Holliday
 * Steve Moore
 * Brian Pimental
 * Jason Willinger

Soundtrack
The soundtrack album for A Goofy Movie was released by Walt Disney Records in 1995.
 * 1) "I 2 I" - Tevin Campbell featuring Rosie Gaines
 * 2) "After Today" - Aaron Lohr and Chorus
 * 3) "Stand Out" - Tevin Campbell
 * 4) "On the Open Road" - Aaron Lohr, Bill Farmer, and Chorus
 * 5) "Lester's Possum Park" - Kevin Quinn
 * 6) "Nobody Else But You" - Aaron Lohr and Bill Farmer
 * 7) "Opening Fanfare/Max's Dream" (Score)
 * 8) "Deep Sludge" (Score)
 * 9) "Bigfoot" (Score)
 * 10) "Hi Dad Soup" (Score)
 * 11) "Runaway Car" (Score)
 * 12) "Junction" (Score)
 * 13) "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, 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 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 does not return. 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.

On August 14, 2015, a 20th anniversary reunion for the film occurred at the D23 Expo at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. Those in attendance included Bill Farmer, Jason Marsden, Jim Cummings, Rob Paulsen, Jenna von Oy, and producer Don Hahn. Wallace Shawn, Pauly Shore, and director Kevin Lima also sent video messages. The panel also included musical performances from Farmer, Marsden, and Tevin Campbell.

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 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 contained the Goof Troop episode "Calling All Goofs" (for some reason, the DVD doesn't feature the show's intro) as a bonus feature on both formats, with the DVD also including the Disneyland episode "The Goofy Success Story". To date, this film is one of the only animated Disney films produced in widescreen that only has a pan and scan DVD in the United States (the other being Doug's 1st Movie). 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. Despite the US release being delayed, the Goofy Movie DVD 2-Pack (known as Goofy Movie Collection) was released in the UK on July 27, 2009 with both fullscreen (1.33:1) and widescreen (1.85:1) viewing options.

Reception
A Goofy Movie was a fairly successful film, and was nominated for "Best Animated Feature", "Best Production Design", "Best Storyboarding", "Best Music", and "Best Animation" at the 23rd Annie Awards. On Rotten Tomatoes, the movie currently holds a 53% rating (5.6 out of 10) based on the reviews of 15 critics, while the audience score is at 70% (3.1 out of 5) and is based on 357,300 voters. On IMDb, A Goofy Movie currently has an average rating of 6.8 out of 10.

Trivia

 * During the "Car Journey" Scene when Max and Goofy are on their way to fishing, Walt Disney is the answer to one of Goofy's car game quizzes.
 * During the "On the Open Road" musical number, the hand sticking out of the Limo is an homage to Michael Jackson, making sense since Powerline is fairly similar to Michael Jackson.
 * As the musical number progresses, Mickey Mouse is seen with Donald Duck hitch-hiking. Mickey sings a line from the song.
 * In addition to this, Donald Duck is mentioned by Max as Goofy's supposed "best buddy" that he was going to spend the vacation with.
 * During the "Neptune Inn" scene, Pete mentions the "MTV generation" which was a popular phenomenon at the time of the film's release.
 * During the Concert scene, Mickey Mouse can be seen in the crowd cheering.