We’re all stuck in the house, right? There’s never been a better time to dig into those retro movies that you’ve always wanted to watch, but never had the time for. Personally, I’m a bit of a retrophile and tend to watch more older flicks than newer ones. On Fangirlish, you can now look forward to a retro review from me each Wednesday in this column. I’ll be highlighting one throwback movie a week, offering a spoiler-free review of the film, any throwback thoughts from my childhood, and where you can watch the movie yourself. Sit back, relax, and enjoy #WayBackWednesday.
At the time I’m writing this article on A Goofy Movie, the polls are starting to close and no election results have been announced. On a stressful night, especially one in a stressful season, sometimes you just need a break. A comfort movie is just what the doctor ordered.
I’ve seen A Goofy Movie so many times in the 25 years since its release. I didn’t get to catch it in the theater when it was released, but I would stop and watch it every time it was on The Disney Channel. The catchy music, the humor, the extremely relatable content, there wasn’t a thing about A Goofy Movie that I didn’t love. Fun fact–I still love all those things about the film as an adult. Have you seen this Disney classic? Check out the trailer for A Goofy Movie and let’s get started.
The Music
One of the things that I think makes A Goofy Movie continue to hold up over the years is high-quality music. While the score is pretty standard fare for a modern Disney film, the lyrical songs are the most memorable. All the Powerline songs are absolute bangers from the word, “Go.” I get chills whenever “Stand Out” starts up EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. The “Perfect Cast” performed to “I2I” gets me singing along no matter how many times I’ve seen the film. The Powerline songs are performed by R&B singer, Tevin Campbell, and he does a bang-up job on each tune.
The other songs, “After Today” and “Nobody Else But You” are also excellently performed by Aaron Lohr and Bill Farmer. It’s challenging enough to perform a character’s voice while speaking; I applaud Bill Farmer and his ability to sing like Goofy too! Heck, I even enjoy “Lester’s Possum Park,” and had to laugh at myself for still remembering every word to the song, even if it’s been years since the last time I watched this film. If you enjoy a film with quality music, look no further than A Goofy Movie.
The Humor
It’s only appropriate that a film featuring Goofy would be well, goofy. A Goofy Movie definitely delivers on the humor. While this is a family film and there obviously isn’t any crass humor, there are loads of puns and lots of sight gags. As many times as I’ve seen this film, this is the first time I noticed that Max and Goofy visited “Carl’s Butt Caverns” and that the cave they run from is shaped vaguely like a booty. I cackled when I realized the joke! There are many other jokes like this throughout the film. It’s a challenge for me, as it is for many others to put down the cell phone while watching a film or television show. It’s worth it to leave your phone in the other room to catch the sight gags in this one.
The Extremely Relatable Content
As a kid, I could not have identified more with Max. My parents were great at embarrassing me (and if I’m being honest, they still are). They were awesome at making plans and not relaying those plans to me until the last minute when I already had other things I wanted to do. All of Max’s feelings about wanting people to like him, to be noticed, different, etc. are feelings that I felt deeply growing up. Watching this film again at 35 brought all those feelings right back to the forefront of my mind. I think the film’s ability to push that kind of sense memory to the forefront is a testament to the quality of its writing. Is the story predictable? Sure. What Disney movie isn’t? There is a certain comfort in predictability. But I think the heart in the story is what gives A Goofy Movie its staying power. If you’re in need of this kind of comfort, you’ll want to add A Goofy Movie to your watch list.
A Goofy Movie is streaming now on Disney+.
