A Goofy Movie is a 1995 animated musical comedy film, produced by Disney MovieToons and Walt Disney Television Animation. The animated directorial debut of Kevin Lima, the film is based on The Disney Afternoon television series Goof Troop, and acts as a follow-up to the show. Taking place several years after the events of Goof Troop, A Goofy Movie follows Goofy and his son, Max, who is now in high school, and revolves around the father-son relationship between the two as Goofy takes Max on a fishing trip out of fear that Max is drifting away from him, unintentionally interfering with Max's social life, particularly his relationship with Roxanne, his high school crush. It features the voices of Jason Marsden, Bill Farmer, Jim Cummings, Kellie Martin, Pauly Shore, Jenna von Oÿ, and Wallace Shawn, and prominently features the singing voice of Tevin Campbell as Powerline, a fictional pop star. The film was also dedicated to Pat Buttram, who died during the film's production.
A Goofy Movie was released theatrically on April 7, 1995, by Walt Disney Pictures to mixed reviews from critics and moderate box office success. It has since gained a cult following among millennials. A direct-to-video sequel to the movie titled An Extremely Goofy Movie was released in February 2000.
Video A Goofy Movie
Plot
Goofy is the single father of 14-year-old Max Goof in the town of Spoonerville, Ohio, although the two have a tense relationship. On the last day of school before summer vacation, Max and his best friends P.J. and Robert "Bobby" Zimuruski hijack the auditorium stage in the middle of Principal Mazur's speech, creating a small concert where Max performs, while costumed as the pop singer Powerline. The performance succeeds in making Max a school celebrity and impressing his love interest, Roxanne, but he, P.J., and Bobby are sent to Mazur's office. While waiting outside of the office, Roxanne speaks with Max and agrees to go with him to a party where Powerline's concert will be aired live. However, Mazur exaggerates these events to Goofy and forewarns him that Max's actions may result in him facing capital punishment.
Oblivious to what Max is planning to do with Roxanne, Goofy decides to take Max on a fishing trip to Lake Destiny, Idaho, following a map route he and his father took years ago, and the two go into his station wagon. Max stops by Roxanne's house to call off their date, but when Roxanne says she will just have to go with someone else, Max panics and instead fabricates a story about his father knowing Powerline; he tells her he will be on stage at the concert.
Despite his son's objections, Goofy plans his own trip, with initially disastrous results. Max hurts his father's feelings after his father humiliates him at an opossum-based theme park. While camping, Pete and P.J. join them. Following Pete's advice to keep Max under control, Goofy takes his son fishing and performs the Perfect Cast fishing technique, luring Bigfoot to their camp. Pete and P.J. flee, leaving Goofy and Max to spend the night with Bigfoot. At night, while Goofy is still asleep, Max alters the map route to Los Angeles, where the concert is taking place.
The next morning, Goofy decides to make Max the navigator of the trip. The two go to several locations that satisfy both of them. They stop by a motel where they meet Pete and P.J. again. When Pete overhears a conversation between Max and P.J., he tells Goofy that Max has tricked him in traveling to Los Angeles. The next day, Goofy and Max come to a junction: one leading to Idaho, the other to California. Max chooses the route to California, making Goofy stop the car at the Grand Canyon and storm off in anger. With the brake loose, the car drives off on its own; Goofy and Max chase after it and end up in the canyon. Goofy reveals that no matter how old Max gets, he will always be his son and the two reconcile with each other. After learning that Max had promised Roxanne that he would be at the concert, Goofy decides to take him to Los Angeles. The two nearly plummet down a waterfall to their deaths, but Max fortunately saves Goofy, using the Perfect Cast technique.
Goofy and Max get to Los Angeles, and while attempting to sneak backstage, they end up onstage and dance with Powerline, watched by Pete, P.J. and Roxanne on separate televisions. Goofy and Max later return to Roxanne's house in their damaged car. Max tells the truth to Roxanne, though she accepts it and admits she always had feelings for him, ever since he first said, "Ahyuck!"; thus, a relationship starts between them. Goofy's car suddenly explodes due to the damage it has sustained, ejecting Goofy in the process, but he safely falls through the porch roof of Roxanne's house, and Max proceeds to introduce him to Roxanne.
Maps A Goofy Movie
Voice cast
- Jason Marsden as Maximillan "Max" Goof, an insecure teenage boy living in Spoonerville.
- Bill Farmer as Goofy Goof, Max's father who works as a photographer at a toy store. He takes Max on a fishing trip out of worry that their relationship is drifting.
- Kellie Martin as Roxanne, Max's high school love interest.
- Jim Cummings as Peter Pete, Goofy's next-door neighbor who he and Max happen upon during their road trip.
- Rob Paulsen as P.J. Pete, Pete's son and Max's best friend.
- Pauly Shore (uncredited) as Robert "Bobby" Zimuruski, Max and P.J.'s best friend at school.
- Jenna von Oÿ as Stacey, Roxanne's best friend.
- Julie Brown as Lisa, a student in Max's high school who, along with the students, makes fun of Max until his performance as Powerline made her and the students to congratulate Max. She is Chad's girlfriend.
- Joey Lawrence as Chad, a student in Max's high school who, along with the students, makes fun of Max until his performance as Powerline made him and the students to congratulate Max. He is Lisa's boyfriend.
- Tevin Campbell as the singing voice of Powerline, a famous rock star celebrity who Max looks up to.
- Wallace Shawn as Principal Mazur, the principal of Max's school.
- Frank Welker as Bigfoot, a monster who lives in the forest.
- Kevin Lima as Lester
- Florence Stanley as Waitress
- Jo Anne Worley as Miss Maple
- Wayne Allwine as Mickey Mouse, who is seen hitchhiking alongside Donald Duck during Max and Goofy's road trip.
- Pat Buttram as Possum Park Emcee
- Herschel Sparber as Security guard
- Brittney Alyse Smith as Photo Studio Girl
- Corey Burton as Wendell
- Pat Carroll as a restaurant waiter.
Production
A Goofy Movie was the directorial debut for Disney crew member Kevin Lima, who went on to direct the Disney films Tarzan (1999), 102 Dalmatians (2000) and Enchanted (2007). In 1995, 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."
Although based upon a Disney TV series, A Goofy Movie was jointly produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation, Walt Disney Television Animation, Disney MovieToons, Walt Disney Animation France. and Walt Disney Animation Australia. Pre-production was done at the main WDFA studio in Burbank, California, starting as early as mid-1993. The animation work was done at Walt Disney Animation France in Paris, France supervised by Paul and Gaëtan Brizzi, with additional scenes animated at Disney's studio in Sydney, Australia under the direction of Steve Moore, and clean-up work done at the main Burbank studio. Additional clean-up/animation was done by Phoenix Animation Studios in Canada, and Digital ink and paint by the Pixibox studio in France.
According to Bill Farmer, who provided the voice talent for Goofy, in a panel interview, producers had asked him to give Goofy a "normal dad voice" as opposed to the voice he traditionally gives the character, but Farmer refused to, stating that "no one wants to hear that." The voice of Max was done by Jason Marsden, whereas his singing voice was done by Aaron Lohr. The movie is dedicated to Pat Buttram, who voiced the emcee at possum park, as he passed away after finishing voice work for the film.
Music
The score for A Goofy Movie was provided by Carter Burwell and Don Davis. Burwell was the primary composer; after Burwell had recorded his score with Shirley Walker orchestrating and conducting, Davis was hired to rework his score rather than write a completely new one. Burwell later wrote "My score had relied somewhat on unusual instrumentation - banjo, percussion and choir for example - and Disney wanted the sweeping scale and familiar affect of symphonic score." . Davis is credited with "additional music" on the movie and the soundtrack album.
The songs "I 2 I" and "Stand Out" were performed by R&B singer Tevin Campbell. The soundtrack album for A Goofy Movie was released by Walt Disney Records on March 18, 1995. Mitchell Musso covered the song "Stand Out" for the DisneyMania 7 album, which was released on March 9, 2010.
Release
A Goofy Movie was originally scheduled for a November 1994 theatrical release, but production setbacks resulted in a push-back to 1995, while The Lion King was reissued to fill in for the film's absence. The film's premiere took place on April 5, 1995, at the AMC Pleasure Island at Walt Disney World Resort in Lake Buena Vista, and was attended by director Kevin Lima and voice stars Bill Farmer and Jenna von Oy. On the 7th, it was released nationwide. The film played a limited engagement at the El Capitan Theatre from August 25 through September 4, 2017.
Home media
The film was first released on VHS by Walt Disney Home Video on September 6, 1995, and included a music video for the Parachute Express song Doctor Looney's Remedy on their video, Come Sing with Us. In the UK, it was released in theaters succeeding the Mickey Mouse short Runaway Brain on October 18, 1996, and on VHS in 1997. It was reissued on June 20, 2000, along with a DVD version as part of the short-lived Walt Disney Gold Classic Collection. This edition includes the Goof Troop episode, "Calling All Goofs" and a "Disney-fied" edit of Mambo No. 5. To date, this film and Doug's 1st Movie are the only two Disney animated films produced in widescreen that have pan and scan-only Region 1 DVD releases (not counting separate widescreen and pan and scan DVD releases of the two Disney/Pixar films The Incredibles and Cars). However, the film's PAL and NTSC (Japan) counterpart does have a non-anamorphic widescreen DVD, and the film is available in a letterbox presentation on LaserDisc and also in standard-definition widescreen on digital video retailers.
Reception
Critical response
A Goofy Movie holds a score of 53% at Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews from 15 critics.
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". McCarthy praised the film's technical aspects, calling them "crisp and clean". 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".
Siskel and Ebert both approved of the movie, praising the color scheme and the "sweet" father-son plot, and gave it three stars. Writing for Common Sense Media, Nell Minow gave the film 4 stars, saying that "even tweens will enjoy this road trip with Goofy."
Box office
A Goofy Movie was considered a relative success for Disney, opening in 2,159 theaters at #2 on its opening weekend with $6,129,557 - held from the #1 spot only because of the Will Smith blockbuster Bad Boys that opened the same weekend, with $15,523,358 in box office returns. It ultimately ended its run at the US box office grossing $35,348,597 - coming in as the 51st highest-grossing domestic film in 1995.
Accolades
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.
Legacy
A direct-to-video sequel to A Goofy Movie, titled An Extremely Goofy Movie, was released on DVD and VHS in 2000. The film centers Max's freshman year in college. Characters that returned for the sequel were Goofy, Max, P.J., Pete and Bobby, but Roxanne, Max's love interest, is absent from the sequel and is not referenced. Roxanne later appeared in the television series House of Mouse in the episode titled "Max's Embarrassing Date", where she was voiced by Grey DeLisle instead of Kellie Martin.
The film has gained that of a cult following, particularly among millennials who grew up with the movie. On August 14, 2015, a 20th anniversary reunion for the film was held 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 Oÿ 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.
References
External links
- Official website
- A Goofy Movie on IMDb
- A Goofy Movie at The Big Cartoon DataBase
- A Goofy Movie at AllMovie
- A Goofy Movie at Box Office Mojo
- A Goofy Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
Source of article : Wikipedia