I really wanted to call this throwback review, A Goofy Movie: Redux, but truth-be-told, A Goofy Movie is a ride on the nostalgia train that reminds us of a time before all the stunt casting of A-Lister movie stars started taking over the roles that should have gone to cast members of the original series.
Yes, we did have a who’s who list of television stars at the time being supporting characters like Joey Lawrence and Jenna von Oy of Blossom, Kellie Martin from Life Goes On and MTV staples such as Julie Brown and Pauly Shore…who voices Bobby as Pauly Shore and actually has a funny line with, “Look, it’s the leaning tower of cheez-a,” while spraying an entire can of aerosol cheese in his hand.
Staying with the subject of MTV and the fathers mentioning that kids probably picking up their habits from watching those music videos was a gut punch. For those that are too young to know, MTV used to play music on a 24-hour basis, naturally A Goofy Movie had to give us some incredibly catchy tunes from then R&B sensation Tevin Campbell with I 2 I and Stand Out as well. Although those music videos primarily played on the Disney Channel.
But I digress, we had the true stars of the series taking their rightful places in this this hour and 21 minute father and son road picture. Disney Legends Bill Farmer and Jim Cummings are Goofy and Pete, respectively as well as Jason Marsden and Rob Paulsen are Max and P.J. again, respectively. We got the original cast of the animated series along with some celebrities peppered in, which is what we wanted and deserved from A Goofy Movie. We didn’t want sound-a-likes, we wanted the real deal and that’s exactly what was delivered.
Disney has always been great at taking you on an emotional roller coast of laugh, worry, tears of sadness and then leaving you feeling uplifted while humming the main tune as you leave the theater and for those that forgot, it was the number two movie for two weekends in a row only to be held off from the number one spot thanks to a little action blockbustered entitled, Bad Boys.
A Goofy Movie at its soul is a father trying to connect with his son as he enters adolescence, discovering girls like Roxanne (Martin), friendships, social situations and everything else quite a few of us were going through at the time of its release.
Quite frankly, Goofy is a great dad and a good hearted person…like Bill Farmer (you’ll see if you ever get a chance to meet him). As for Disney’s Fab Five, Mickey is the foundation, Donald is the crazy uncle, Minnie is the brains, Pluto is the fun loving one but Goofy is the soul of Disney animation and A Goofy Movie proves that. I mean come on, he’s a dorky, single father that will do anything for his kid and what more could anyone really ask for?
A Goofy Movie is out on DVD and if you’re lucky, ask your parents if they still have their VHS copy.
- Overall Score
Summary
A Goofy Movie celebrates its 25th Anniversary today with little fanfare but for those of us that remember this under appreciated animated classic, we got your back Goof. Being second to Will Smith and Martin Lawrence in 1995 was definitely nothing to scoff at.
