It was Wednesday the 14th of July and I was bored out of my mind, so much so I remember wishing for the weekend. My two remaining brain cells had evaporated and I knew it was time to find something to give my brain a break.
I mean sure, there were half a dozen things I probably could have been doing instead, learning web dev, cleaning my office etc. But for some reason, rather unsurprisingly, I found myself browsing YouTube once again.
scroll scroll scroll sigh... nothing interesting to watch.
I was about to give up when I scrolled one more time and saw Sideways video on Why a Goofy movie is Better Than You Remember.
Intrigued, I started watching only to find I was basically watching some dude fan boy over a 25 year old movie from the 90s. Well now, he better hook me real quick or I'm outta here... didn't grow up in the 90s, can't relate, sorry.
What can I say except that he portrayed this movie in such a way that I essentially had to watch it!
Growing up, I wasn't exposed to too many Disney films outside of the big classics (The Lion King/Tarzan) and never saw Goof Troop (the TV show predecessor to this movie) but I instantly fell in love with Goofy and the general premise of the movie.
This is definitely one of my top 10 favourite films!
This movie establishes itself so gawrsh darn well in the first five minutes, connecting its audience with the characters exceptionally well, exposing us to their flaws, desires, goals and hopes while also leaving plenty of room to expand on these characteristics.
Yet it doesn't just stop there, it continues to develop on the themes it introduced and offer thought provoking and challenging questions on how to raise your kids, a relationship between ones father and son, maturity, trust and other themes.
From the opening number, to meeting Roxanne, to seeing Goofy and the strong desire Max has to be anything but his father. It sets the stage so perfectly for what is an amazing father-son adventure full of life lessons for both the characters that translate exceptionally well to the audience.
I'm fortunate to have a great relationship with my father, but I still felt like I needed to catch up and give him a massive hug after watching this movie.
The entire movie hinges on the desires of Max and Goofy. Max wanting to abandon everything that makes him look like his father, to try and find his independence and Goofy simply trying to be more involved in his sons life, maybe a little too much for Max's own good.
It's a serious topic that doesn't get nearly enough screen time in media. The overbearing parent and rebellious child trope rarely ever find a middle ground.
Typically, the overbearing parent is often used as a story trope to get the main character to do something they normally wouldn't do, then completely forgotten at the end of the movie once the villain or problem has been defeated. You can see a similar thing in the Pixar movie Luca with his overprotective mother. She basically flips her entire attitude at the end of the movie with not much of a second thought or any sort of conflict resolution.
Unlike Luca though, A Goofy Movie actually addresses these issues and our main characters come to a mutual understanding. Goofy learns to back off a bit, and Max learns to let his father into his life more, both appreciating each other for their differences, yet also embracing them, allowing for both characters to mutually benefit from this much healthier father-son relationship.
The dynamic between these characters in the more serious scenes is serviced so well that it adds an incredibly difficult to replicate layer of depth to the topics outlined. Jason Marsden and Bill Farmer execute these scenes perfectly and stay true to their characters through and through.
But why am I inspired you might ask?
Simply put - I desire to tell stories like this film. I've never really thought about creating media, writing stories, drawing or animation as a career, but after watching this movie and seeing how it touched me, I want to replicate this over and over again, not just for myself, but for other people too.
I desire to be apart of a team like the one that worked on A Goofy Movie. I want to animate, be creative and come up with ideas and stories that touch future generations like this movie had touched me - nearly 25+ years after it was made.
Primarily, I've been inspired to learn how to animate and make lovable and attractive characters that captivate audiences, so that they too may share the same depth and love that I have for A Goofy Movie.
It sounds completely outrageous for a 21 year old in tech to be suddenly interested in creative arts, but come to think of it, I can't say that I've been this interested in telling stories like A Goofy Movie.
Will I completely drop tech? Definitely not! I need money to survive, don't be silly. Not to mention, I love programming, networking and all of the goodness that entails, plus I still have plenty of things I want to learn in tech too - choppin' that up with more creative learning will certainly be a good thing for retaining information.
Anyway, that's my rant about why A Goofy Movie is my favourite movie right now!
Peace. ✌️
PS - don't forget check out the music for this movie too. Absolute gold mine that I've had on repeat for weeks...