25 Years Of 'A Goofy Movie!': Fun Facts About The Film

2020 marks the 25th anniversary of Disney's A Goofy Movie. When a less than encouraging call from the Principal leaves him fearing that his teenage son, Max, is on a bad path, Goofy arranges what he hopes will be a bonding road-trip to Lake Destiny, his favourite childhood fishing destination, unaware that he is derailing Max's own plans for a first date with his dream girl, Roxanne.

While not a complete classic when measured by Disney's usual standards, A Goofy Movie definitely has it's fans. In celebration of it's special anniversary, here are a few fun facts about the film.

Originally, The Film Was Conceived As A Goof Troop Movie

During the early 90s, Disney looked into producing theatrical features based on the shows in it's popular 'Disney Afternoon' programming block. Goof Troop was one of the series in line for a big screen adaptation, but after Ducktales The Movie: Treasure Of The Lost Lamp failed to make a splash at the box office, plans changed.

While the idea of further 'Disney Afternoon' films were scrapped, Disney still liked the idea of a big-screen adventure for Goofy, and so, A Goofy Movie was born. The movie became a sequel to Goof Troop rather than a direct adaptation, ageing the characters of Max and PJ from Junior High up to High School age.

Goofy Almost Sounded Very Different

Having served as Goofy's official voice actor since 1987, Bill Farmer was excited to bring his take on the character to the big screen. So, he was understandably surprised when Disney Chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg wanted him to drop Goofy's classic cartoonish drawl in favour of a regular speaking voice. Farmer quietly disagreed, believing that audiences would want to hear Goofy speaking in the voice that they were used to, but didn't feel he could argue with the boss.

After a week of recording Katzenberg's way, Farmer received a visit from CEO Michael Eisner, and Roy E. Disney, nephew of Walt himself. Following a quick review of the work so far, Eisner and Disney told Farmer to revert to the classic Goofy voice. Farmer happily did so, re-recording the early lines and going on to complete A Goofy Movie, and every Goofy appearance since, with the voice fans know and love.

A Goofy Movie Was Jason Marsden's First Voice Role In A Full Length Film

Dana Hill, who had voiced Max in Goof Troop, was well-known for her child-like voice, so when the decision was made to age-up Max for the movie, the role needed to be re-cast. Then 20-year old actor/voice actor Jason Marsden was cast as the teenage Max Goof. While Marsden was no stranger to Disney animation, having voiced page boy Cavin in seasons 4 and 5 of Disney's Adventures Of The Gummi Bears, but A Goofy Movie was his first voice role in a full-length feature, and one that truly earned him his place among Disney's regular voice actors.

Jason Marsden has voiced Max Goof in all the character's appearances following A Goofy Movie, save for Mickey's Once Upon A Christmas, where Max appears as a small child. Marsden is also known for voicing Haku in the English dub of Spirited Away, but his most popular role aside from Max is probably that of Kovu in The Lion King 2: Simba's Pride.

Four Different Songs Were Written As Potential Opening Numbers For The Film

In a Twitter Q and A for the 25th anniversary, Director Kevin Lima revealed that seasoned songwriters Jack Feldman and Tom Snow penned four potential opening numbers for A Goofy Movie. Lima wanted a song that would melodically pop, while also helping to establish Max's main motivations in the plot.

Lima eventually chose 'After Today'. Aaron Lohr performs Max's singing voice for this track, as well as the Max-Goofy duet, 'Nobody Else But You', later in the film.

A Goofy Movie Has Become A Cult Classic

While commercially more successful than Ducktales: The Movie had been, A Goofy Movie was still only a modest success by Disney's usual standards. For a while, it seemed as if the film was destined to slip into obscurity, but in recent years, it seems to have developed a cult following.

Some fans have painstakingly created 'live-action' remakes of the movie's song and dance numbers.

For the film's 20th anniversary in 2015, Disney organised a cast reunion, complete with musical performances, and a few video messages from cast members who couldn't attend in person. The reunion became a hot ticket for fans.

While the spread of Covid-19 scuppered plans for a a similar event this year, the D23 fan club invited fans to join in a virtual re-watch of the film.

There have also been numerous references to Goof Troop and A Goofy Movie in the 2017 Ducktales reboot.

In the series opener, 'Woo-00!', Scrooge is said to have investments in Spoonerville, where Goof Troop takes place, and in the season 2 episode 'Raiders Of The Doomsday Vault!', Dewey and Della Duck are seen singing 'Stand Out', with a Powerline CD clearly visible. Most recently, in the Season 3 episode 'Quack Pack', guest star Goofy shows off family photos of Max, one with him apparently dressed as Powerline, and another showing him possibly off to Prom with Roxanne.

Although A Goofy Movie may not have hit the mark with critics, it will forever be a classic in the hearts of its fans.