Bambi Moé, who served as associate producer for the music in A Goofy Movie, recalled a time recently when her work on the film came up in conversation. “I was out with a group of people and was talking with this young man and mentioned that I had worked on the music for A Goofy Movie,” said Moe ́ in a 2021 interview. “I thought he was going to pass out! He was so excited because he was a writer and a recording artist, and he had recorded a couple of songs from A Goofy Movie!”
Talk with many today about A Goofy Movie, and you will most likely get the same response. Released in April of 1995, the Disney animated feature starring one of the Studio’s most iconic characters came and went in theaters with little to no fanfare.
Thirty years later, the fanatical attention around A Goofy Movie is something that no one would have predicted when the film first debuted. “‘It wasn’t even a B movie. It was a C movie,” said producer Don Hahn in a 2020 interview with Vanity Fair.
Initially, A Goofy Movie came about thanks to the success of Disney’s animated series, Goof Troop. Jeffrey Katzenberg, then Chairman of The Walt Disney Studio, green-lit the film after a personal experience where he and his daughter bonded on a road trip. The relationship between a parent and child became the springboard for the plot.
Goofy’s teenage son Max (voice of Jason Marsden, the singing voice of Aaron Lohr) is terrified of turning into his father (he even has a nightmare where he does literally turn into his Dad).
German theater lobby cards for “The Goofy Movie”
This causes chaos for Max, who has a crush on Roxanne (Kellie Martin), a girl in his class who will be going to a party where all the kids will be watching a Pay-Per-View concert of singer Powerline (Tevin Campbell).
To cover his embarrassment at going on vacation with his Dad, Max tells Roxanne that he can’t make the party because he and Dad are driving cross-country to see the Powerline concert.
What follows on the road trip in A Goofy Movie is a highly entertaining film. There’s great personality animation and an emotional connection between Goofy and Max, a funny sequence featuring Bigfoot with well-staged sight gags, nicely choreographed dance moves as Goofy joins Powerline on stage for his song, “I 2 I,” and even a self-deprecating jab at Disney’s theme park attractions, as Goofy and Max stop off at “Lester’s Possum Park.”
Produced through Disney Toon Studios (at Disney’s studios in Paris and Australia), A Goofy Movie was directed by Kevin Lima, who would go on to co-direct (with Chris Buck) Disney’s Tarzan, as well as the Studio’s live-action films, 102 Dalmations (2000) and Enchanted (2007).
Our editor snapped this photo of “The Goofy Movie” when it opened in Times Square in April 1995.
Released on April 7, 1995, A Goofy Movie didn’t ignite the box office, making only $35.3 million during its run (less than The Lion King made in just its opening weekend the previous year).
However, a generation growing up with Disney films on VHS later watched the movie over and over, and an obsessive cult following for A Goofy Movie began to snowball. By 2009, as Goofy Movie mania grew, a fan-made YouTube video featuring a live-action recreation of one of the film’s songs, “After Today,” became a viral hit.
It’s one of the film’s catchy numbers by Tom Snow and Jack Feldman, with Patrick DeReemer and Roy Freeland crafting the Powerline songs. “We wanted to create that feeling of a musical and that you’re about to go on this musical adventure,” said Moé in 2021. She also added, “What Tom Snow and Jack Feldman did so well provided that heart through the character’s songs. They know that the best songs and musicals are the ones where it moves the story along and adds emotional subtext.”
In 2015, when the film celebrated its 20th anniversary at Disney’s D23 fan convention, the reunion of the creative team took on the feeling of a “rock concert,” according to Vanity Fair.
Fans can now do something that they couldn’t do in 1995: buy A Goofy Movie merchandise and meet Max, dressed as Powerline in the theme parks. For the film’s 30th anniversary, not only is there a new wave of products available, there’s a special screening (featuring Bill Farmer, Kevin Lima, and more on a panel) at The El Capitan Theater in Hollywood on April 12th (2025).
There’s also a new documentary about the film, Not Just a Goof, that will debut on Disney+ on April 7th.
Thirty years later, so many have connected with A Goofy Movie’s breezy, charming tone and its universal theme about how the generation gap isn’t all that big. The film is now something it wasn’t back in 1995 – a hit – and audiences and the film are now finally seeing things “I 2 I.”
Michael Lyons is a freelance writer, specializing in film, television, and pop culture. He is the author of the book, Drawn to Greatness: Disney’s Animation Renaissance, which chronicles the amazing growth at the Disney animation studio in the 1990s. In addition to Animation Scoop and Cartoon Research, he has contributed to Remind Magazine, Cinefantastique, Animation World Network and Disney Magazine. He also writes a blog, Screen Saver: A Retro Review of TV Shows and Movies of Yesteryear and his interviews with a number of animation legends have been featured in several volumes of the books, Walt’s People. You can visit Michael’s web site Words From Lyons at: 
It’s taken decades for movie executives to realize what comics readers have known all along–that the Disney toon characters have the scope and dimensionalty to sustain a feature film. The Goofy Movie is a perfect example of this. Not only do we have in evidence the usual Goofy antics and clumsiness, but also some rare tender moments between Goofy and Max. This takes it way beyond the limitations of a six-minute short or a half-hour episode. Whether or not one is familiar with the Goof Troop TV series (what happened to Peg and Pistol, anyway? She must have had enough and walked out on Pete, taking the girl and leaving him with the boy) this film stands by itself. It’s engaging from start to finish. As far as I’m concerned, the production number “On the Open Road” alone is worth the price of admission.
There is an intriguing story arc developed through “A Goofy Movie”, “An Extremely Goofy Movie,” and “Mickey’s Twice Upon a Christmas” showing Max growing up and coming to grips with his “legacy”. And let’s face it, we’ve all been embarrassed by our parents at one juncture or another, but poor Max has to be embarrassed on a daily basis! Being the son of Goofy is not easy.
My big dream is for Disney to concoct a feature film that brings Super Goof to the big screen. If it’s done right, it could start a whole new franchise for Goofy. And might even serve to introduce his brainy nephew Gilbert to movie goers. There’s plenty of comics material to draw from–including I believe a new book coming out soon. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s….Super Goof?
I storyboarded the Goofy and Max segment of MICKEY’S TWICE UPON A CHRISTMAS. In fact, I worked on a few other segments of that, but this was the only one I thought worked well.
Last night, I began re-listening to the ‘Goofy Movie’ episode of the “Dis-Order Podcast” from a couple of years ago.
Like Hunter, I saw ‘A Goofy Movie’ long after its theatrical release; except on frequent Disney Channel rotation. At one point, with the aid of my dad, I rented a DVD copy of the film from Netflix (though 25, as I write this, I kinda feel old knowing that generations under me will associate Netflix with streaming by default). Among the few Bonus Features on that disc was a random episode of “Goof Troop”, titled “Calling All Goofs”. I quickly pieced together that ‘AGM’ and its DTV sequel were spiritual continuations of a Saturday Morning Disney show I never heard of up to that point.
I very much agree with Andy that for what could have easily been a bunch of “Goof Troop” episodes stitched to form a semi-feature-length adventure, ‘AGM’ blew those expectations out of the water!
I heard that Disney replaced A Goofy Movie’s original release date with The Lion King re-release to fill up their movie schedule at the time. They also (allegedly) did that to compete with The Swan Princess which was surpassed by the former.
I really like A Goofy Movie, but I never understood why Max didn’t just say, “Hey dad. I’ve been invited to a party by the love of my life. Can we do the trip afterward?” But it’s a cartoon, and I’m not supposed to ask hard questions! But seriously, it’s one of my favorite animated films, and I’m glad it’s gotten a reevaluation in the last decade or so.
Max actually does try to explain to Goofy early on, but Goofy dismisses it with “You can go to parties when you’re older!”
Huh–I don’t remember that. I’ll have to watch the movie again!
This was released in UK Cinemas to tie-in with the Half-Term Break (a week kids get off from school) in October 1996, a whopping 18 months after the film was released in the US. These days it’s standard for the UK to get films at the same time as the US, but even in the mid-90s it was unusual for a major release to be released here much more than 6 months later (although both Beauty & the Beast and Aladdin were released approximately one year after their US release). On the plus side here it was pared with Runaway Brain, a much more fitting home for the latter than A Kid in King Arthur’s Court. I wanted to see it, mostly on the strength of Runaway Brain to be honest, but I ended up waiting for VHS releases for both (Runaway Brain was on a UK VHS called Mickey’s Greatest Hits, which I received for my 10th Birthday a couple of months later). I enjoyed both a lot at the time, these days I still like Runaway Brain a lot, this I’m not particularly enthused about, but that’s OK, it’s got a huge fanbase and doesn’t need me in its corner.
Well, the animate is finished and the day has come! Tonight, Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde will be in the trailer of the New Holiday Edition of Zootopia 2! Lots of celebrity guests and other rich people will be on hand to witness all the updated effects and modernised technology!
At least it seems like there’s very little chance they’ll try and do a live-action remake of this one.
I’ve been waiting 30 years for them to make a Broadway musical version of this one. My fave Disney movie! I’m really looking forward to the new documentary today!
A Goofy Movie was one of my favorites when I was 8. These days, it has lost it’s appeal for me but I would recommend it for small children.
I recall reading about A Goofy Movie in Drawn to Greatness and the part about it being the C Project when Pocahontas was the A Project and The Lion King was the B Project. When the film came out, I vaguely remember much promotion for it and I missed it when it was in theaters and I practically went to every Disney or any animated feature for that matter throughout the 1990s. I eventually saw it when Disney Channel aired it. It’s super charming and possibly the best Goofy related cartoon Disney made. Plus the dynamic Jason Marsden and Bill Farmer brought together created such a memorable experience. The Goofy Movie finally becoming a hit after all these years, albeit belated, is truly merited.
Thanks for another great read, Michael!