Fair word of warning here: I fan boy the absolute HECK out of this article.

Let me set the scene… It was the 14th of July and I was bored, maybe even a little lonely. It was a Wednesday and I could remember wishing for the weekend. My two remaining brain cells had left the building 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 could have done instead. 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’.

Mildly intrigued, I clicked on only to find out I was basically watching some dude fan boy over a 25 year old movie from the 90s. I remember thinking - he better hook me real quick or I’m outta here. I didn’t grow up in the 90s, can’t relate, sorry.

I watched for another two minutes and found myself instantly hooked. I giggled inside for even doubting that a Disney movie let alone a Goofy movie wouldn’t be entertaining. To say I was excited was an understatement.

I hadn’t grown up with many Disney films and never saw Goof Troop (the predecessor to this movie) but I instantly fell in love with Goofy and the general idea of the movie from the two minutes of watching Sideways’ video.

I gathered up my remaining brain cells, jumped into bed and watched ‘A Goofy Movie’.

This film, might be - no - it is my favorite film of all time. I’ve never been a fan boy before, but I guess I can say I know what that’s like now.

The moment I finished the film, I was looking up Wikipedia articles on characters, learning the songs, and trying to find out why I hadn’t watched it until I was 21.

This movie establishes itself so gawrsh darn well in the first five minutes, it felt like I already knew all of the characters flaws, desires, goals and hopes.

But 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 a father and son, trusting each other and more.

From the opening number, to meeting Roxanne, to seeing Goofy and the desire that Max has to not be like his father. It sets the stage so perfectly for what is an amazing father-son adventure full of life lessons for those young and old.

But where this movie really got me was the feels. 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 ditch and get away from his father to find his independence and Goofy just trying to be 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.

Unlike Luca though, A Goofy Movie actually addresses these issues and our main characters come to a fundamental understanding where Goofy learns to back off a bit, and Max learns to let his father into his life more.

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.

Okay, okay - enough blabbering… GO AND WATCH THE MOVIE ALREADY! It’s on Disney+ - there is no excuse. I will pay for you to watch it…

But why am I inspired you might ask?

Simply put - I want 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 want 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 loveable and attractive characters that captivate audiences and share the same depth and love that I have for Goofy and Max.

It sounds silly for a 21 year old in tech to completely switch interests, but come to think of it, I’ve never been as excited about tech as I have been about this movie and the idea of a creative future in media for myself.

Watch this space I say - I’ll be posting my learning progress as I go and updating this blog.

Will I completely drop tech? Hell no! I need money to survive, don’t be silly. Plus, I still have things I want and need 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 all time favorite movie.

Peace.

PS - check out the music for this movie too. Absolute gold mine that I’ve had on repeat for weeks…