DisneyToons review: A Goofy Movie

DisneyToons 3rd film.

http://freedisneycartoon.blogspot.ca/2013/07/a-goofy-movie-1995-watch-online.html

My opinion right after watching movie

My opinion on the movie right after watching is that it is not that bad. Sure, it is not that good either, but the animation is almost WDAS quality, the story is not overly ridiculous (emphasis on overly), the characters are not that bad, and you won’t get irritated or bored with the film. I will say this movie is mediocre.

Production

The info I found about the production of this film is that it was directed by Kevin Lima, who directed Tarzan and Enchanted. The people on this film wanted to give Goofy more depth than he has received in the past installments of shorts and films he was in, and many of the characters in this film are from the TV series Goof Troop, but many of them are aged up. This film was worked on by both Walt Disney Animation Studios, and Walt Disney Animation France. The film was supposed to be released in late 1994, but production issues with this film pushed it back to 1995, causing them to put up The Lion King in theaters…again.

Story

The film starts with Goofy (Bill Farmer)’s son Max Goof (Jason Marsden) dreaming about being with a girl named Roxanne (Kellie Martin), and just when they are about to have some fun in the grass, he transforms into her father, which creeps her out. He wakes up late to the last day of school, and rushes to the school. Max is embarrassed of his father, and sings some awful song called After Today, where he is singing about Roxanne being his after today. A choir sings with him, and I cannot get into this song.

So after he fails to speak to her, he decides that during an assembly, he will dress up as some famous person and dance to impress her. It works, and he gets busted in front of the entire school.

He is sent to detention, and Roxanne soon shows up to tell him that she likes his dance. They are both nervous, and he nervously asks her if she wants to go to a concert with her, which she easily accepts. Max is happily singing and jollying through the  town, on his way home, only yo be told by Goofy that they are going fishing. The principal (Wallace Shawn) called him earlier to tell him that his son is a bad kid, and that he needs to raise him better, which prompted Goofy to take him on the fishing trip, though of course Max is extremely pissed off about, since he has, like, you know a life, and apparently this trip will run everything.

Max forces Goofy to take him to Roxanne`s house to say goodbye to her. He tells her that he cant take her to the concert, which saddens her, though her mood changes when he lies and says that his father is taking him to an LA concert…..that will be on TV. So he hops back in the car, and the father and son are having trouble choosing which music to listen to.

I have to say that it is nice to see Goofy in a different role, and as a single father. I wonder who Max`s mother is.
So they sing about the trip, and how much Max hates it, and it is another bad song. Goofy is reading the map, which almost gets them into a car crash.

Goofy takes them to some country bumpkin place, and I have to agree with Max that it is a hot ass mess. Max walks out, and slaps the mascot that tries to speak to him. Bish………you need to get your damn act together. Goofy acts like a fool in the country bumpkin place, and when they are in the car, Max lashes out like he has no sense. That would not be tolerated if I was Goofy.

So the two camp at some forest to rest, and soon enough, neighbors Pete (Jim Cummings) and his son P.J. (Rob Paulsen) join them with a nice camp setup (with a bunch of technology and stuff). P.J. tells Max that everyone knows that he is going to be on TV at the LA concert, and Pete tries to teach Goofy how to have his son under the palm of his hands, by being commanding and bossy. Pete later hears a conversation between the two sons, and tells Goofy that Max has tricked him into going to California.

You know Max, if you just told your father that you had a date, he might have put this off, or cancelled it altogether. You need to tell your parents you have plans. Anyways, Goofy discusses what him and his father used to do, and Max feels a bit bad. They then discuss what the two of them used to do in the past, which causes Max to apologize, though his mind is still on the concert.

They are at the diner the next morning, and Goofy decides that it is time they discuss the map, and publicly dubs him the navigator of the trip (it is a trick). They drive to many locations and actually start to have a good time, though Goofy finally realizes what is happening with his son, and him being fully tricked.

The next morning, they are driving, and there is a junction ahed, so the navigator has to tell him where to go, according to the map. Goofy needs to know if they should go left or right, and when Max tells him to go left, Goofy is rightfully pissed off. He parks the car, and storms off. Max tries to sepak to his father, who is pissed, since he is “too stupid to understand”. Max kicks the car to drive off, and the two of them run after the car. The two argue about Goofy ruining everything, Max ruining the trip, and says that he never wanted to go on the trip, and he has his own life now. Uhhhhhh, how about this; as long as you live under my roof, you follow my rules. Isn’t that how parenting goes? They hop up on the car that is floating on the river, and sing a song about them sticking together, and they are stuck together. Probably the best song in the film.

So they are in a life to death situation, where they are about to fall off a waterfall, and Max uses Goofy’s fishing technique that he taught him, saving his father’s life. Goofy decides to take them to the LA concert (which they sneak onto backstage), and Max ends up on TV, which Roxanne sees. He later goes to Roxanne’s house, where he tells her the truth, all is forgiven, and the film ending with her meeting Goofy.

I had to remove the fact that if this was not a Disneytoons film, I would not think so negatively about it. There is not much wrong with the film, and while it is predictable, at least it is not predictably bad. I definitely do not see myself watching this again though.

Characters

The characters are………….alright. Not really that memorable, but not horrific either.

It was refreshing for me to see him in a fatherly, more mature role than he usually is. I thoroughly enjoyed him, and I like how he still maintained his personality.

As you can tell, he was irking me at points in the film, but he did take responsibility for what he did, and is not horrible. He does seem like the typical teen though.

Pete was not an outright villain, but it does seem like he was stirring trouble with Goofy and his son. He was not there that much, but he was decent and more toned down than usual.

I am confused if he is Max’s friend, or just a classmate. Did not remember much of him.

Roxanne seems like the nice girl, but she is legit just a satellite love interest. I cannot say anything else about her.

Animation

The animation is very clear and bold. You can tell that it is still TV animation from how the character movement and the lines are, but the colors are so bright, and you can tell that there was a lot more effort put into the animation of this film. It won’t make your eyes hurt.

Music

The music is…………..very 80s. I swear this movie is supposed to take place in the mid 90s, but they are playing music from the late 80s. The songs are not really memorable or good at all either. They are just kind of a distraction to me, though the score is not that bad.

Reception at Release

When the film was released on April 7th, 1995, it opened at #2 in the box office, and ended up earning $35,348,597 domestically. I could not find any info on the international gross. It is apparently the 51st most profitable film of 1995.

The film received mixed reviews, with many liking the technological advancements and sharpness with the animation, though the music was panned, with many also seeing the film as too short as bland. Goofy’s reception in the film was mixed as well.

Reception Today

When it comes to the reception, many people still like it, and see it as one of the better DisneyToons film (though some think it is a WDAS film), but it is also not remembered to a lot of people, and some see it as just plain boring.

Final Score

Story: 7/10

Characters: 7/10

Animation: 7/10

Music: 6/10

27/40 = 68%

Next time…

Review: January 26th, 2015

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