Animated Anecdotes

This week the awesome Gareth Bradwick from Popped shares his Animated Anecdotes.

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Oct 10, 2023

Gareth writes a terrific Substack, Popped that is based all around cinema from movies to history, stories to directors Popped is where it lives.

Goofy is a goof. He’s an innocent, clumsy, fun-loving character that is probably galloping around Disneyland as we speak, dancing the night away. But in the mid-90’s, Disney released a movie that gave him depth and something to fight for, and I think it is still one of their most under-rated films to date.

A Goofy Movie is a coming-of-age comedy musical. Goofy, worried that his son Max is going down the wrong path, hurriedly takes him on a summer road trip across America to rekindle their bond. Max however is on the verge of being the coolest kid in school. He sings, he dances, and he looks like the biggest star in the city, Powerline.

The coolest kid in school does not want to go fishing with his dad. A constant struggle, the road trip goes from bad to worse as Goofy tries everything to bring his little Max back from the brink of naughty-hood, and eventually they learn that family is everything (“aww” cries the crowd).

Reflecting on it today, A Goofy Movie taught me a lot about pathos. The best comedies sting a little. They get you so close to the characters and then cut you with reflection or tragedy, before bringing you back to joy again. I find British sit-coms are particularly good at this. The Royle Family or Only Fools and Horses are examples where I’ve been openly sobbing in my living room at characters I usually laugh at. Today, I go into every Pixar film knowing I’m going to cry my eyes out. But I didn’t expect pathos when I watched A Goofy Movie.

Even at eight years old I got a sense of how devastating it was to watch Goofy as a dad trying his best, a dad worried about failing his son. I spent the whole movie sympathising with him and being frustrated at Max for not enjoying every minute of his vacation.

There’s a moment in the second act where Goofy and Max are cooking some soup in their car. They’re reminiscing on how Max used to spell out words in his alphabet soup when he was young. Things like

Hi dad.

Bye-bye

I love yo…

Goofy tries to catch the words in his mouth before he’s finished saying them. The car is mournfully silent.

The struggle a lot of fathers and their sons have to say ‘I love you’ to each other is simply portrayed but it hits hard considering we’re in the middle of watching A Goofy Movie.

Slated during its initial release in 1995, it has since become a cult classic, with many film makers and actors citing the movie as an inspiration for their work. Domee Shi was inspired by it when creating her directorial debut, Turning Red in 2022, while Alana Haim from Licorice Pizza and HAIM fame said that it is her favourite film of all time.

At this point, I think we should all take a moment to listen to the headline song for our own wellbeing and to lift things a little after that sad bit about the alphabet soup.

The soundtrack is something that has always stuck with me. I 2 I is an outstanding song by any standard. Performed originally by Tevin Campbell, it’s remained popular since and its dance swept TikTok for a while in 2020.

Luckily and predictably, everything works out ok for Max and his dad. Goofy proves himself a worthy father and Max proves himself a worthy Goofy.

A Goofy Movie, while not as timeless as The Lion King or as grand as Beauty and The Beast, is masterful at being a family film. It’s not shooting for all-time greatness, but I think it deserves a place on the Disney Classics shelf; it certainly has a prime spot on mine.

If you’ve never seen the film, watch it on Disney+.