Disney has produced an impressive VIP lineup, but none of them are quite as amorphously defined as Dippy Dawg's successor. Goofy can do anything the situation requires; be it bursting into vaudeville melodrama, getting into a fistfight with a dresser drawer, taking a boulder to the head, or playing every male and female character onscreen at the same time.
One of my favorite memories working at Disney involved Goofy. A friend of mine was portraying the character, and it wasn't feasible for him to do his set at main street, get out of costume, walk to Toon Town, get back INTO costume and do his next set. So he just wore the whole costume backstage and at the bus stop. So I was sitting next to him, having a random conversation, when the Traditions class rolled up (New hirees and their first day). And I thought to myself, "Their first impression of being a Disney cast member was seeing ME...chilling with my buddy Goofy". I still smile today.
At his core, Goofy is a metaphor. He's that basic human sense of accomplishment, even if the small victory he achieves is nowhere near his original goal. He has a delight and an optimism that is simply undefeatable. The world is always more complex than his brain is capable of processing, but those tiny moments of clarity never fail to provoke a comforting "Uh-Hyuk" out of him.
Therefore, it was a true stroke of genius for the team at Disney MovieToons (the company notorious for beating up our childhood with *favorite Disney memory* II and III direct-to-trashbin) to place Goofy in an unwinnable situation where there are personal consequences for him. 1995's A Goofy Movie explores the the period where Goofy's son Max has entered his adolescence and is dealing with the hormonal changes that make every perception feel like life or death, and his father the villain by virtue of proximity.
It's a pretty bold premise for Disney. The 1990's made for a cynical decade. This was the period of films like Reality Bites, and Clerks. Of course this was also Disney itself was experiencing its animated renaissance, partly from adults who desperately needed a sense of whimsy. Neither Mickey nor Donald could have held up in this situation because Mickey doesn't work unless he's able to fix the problem, and you can't fix cynicism. And Donald would have just yelled at it. No, it was Goofy and all of his endurance that made him the correct gladiator to send in.
If you haven't seen the movie, here's the quick version. Max likes this girl at school named Roxanne. In a desperate attempt to get her attention he shows out at school, which works but also gets him in trouble with the principal. The principal chews Goofy out over the phone for not raising his son correctly, which instills the Goof with a sense of real stress. His solution? To drag Max on a cross country vacation to go fishing, which Max (and I) would rather eat nails than agree to. This requires Max to back out of his first date with Roxanne which he covers with a lie, claiming his father is taking him to a televised rock concert in L.A. and that he's going to join the singer Powerline on stage for the final number.
The chemistry between Max and Roxanne is fantastic considering how little screen time it gets. It's the first of several important elements which ground the cartoon into credibility. The second is the two leads, Max and Goofy. As the audience, we can see both sides with both arrays of character flaws, and the emotional tension approaches uncomfortable levels.
Then they get to Lester's Possum Park, which is the second best scene in the movie. It starts off freaking hysterical, with Disney doing an almost Simpsons-styled satire on their own theme park attractions. And then it ends in heartbreak when Max rejects every effort Goofy makes to bond with him. The final image of the scene involves Goofy's car running over the possum hat that Max has thrown out the window (looking suspiciously like a real dead possum). It's not clear where the line between tragedy and dark comedy is, but the tire tracks are certainly skirting it.
That's Act I. Act II gives us the suspenseful moment when Max changes the route on Goofy's map sending them to L.A. instead of their fishing destination. Of course he temporarily dodges the bullet when Goofy straight up gives him the map to act as navigator, and the new responsibility causes them to become closer. But then they cross paths with Pete.
Pete (aka Pegleg/Pistol Pete) honestly deserves a blog all to himself. His anthropomorphic base-animal has gone from cat to bulldog, with possible bear thrown in for a while. There was a time when his character was being simultaneously used by rival animation companies, courtesy of the whole Oswald the Lucky Rabbit fiasco. But whenever a Disney story needs a bully antagonist, Pete is your guy. Here, he represents the proverbial bad father.
Pete's presence in A Goofy Movie is limited to just a handful of scenes, but his effect resonates through the entire film. It was the combined voices of Pete and Max's principal that convinced Goofy there was a problem in the first place, but whereas the principal is just being a little overdramatic, Pete has a multi-layered agenda. On the one hand, his goal is to always keep Goofy a peg below himself, like a true bully. But beyond that initial motivator there's an actual heart to him. Pete actually believes he's helping Goofy. It just might be the character's best performance to date.
The best scene in the movie is the hot tub scene that closes out Act II. It's nothing more than a conversation between Goofy and Pete and it's done without any background music (a bit of a rarity in Western Animation). Pete reveals to Goofy that his son has changed the map route and been lying to him. And for the first time in the movie Goofy stands up to him and says "I don't believe you." It's an intense moment, because Goofy's nature is to take everyone at their word. And it's made all the more painful by the fact that (for once) Pete is right. Cue Goofy's breaking point.
From here we go fully into Joseph Campbell territory, albeit Disney-fied. The 'death of the father' trope metaphorically happens at a waterfall sequence where Goofy in unable to rescue his son but Max is able to rescue his father using a skill he learned on the trip. In the end, Goofy gets what he hoped for, even if it wasn't what he set out to do. Max accomplishes exactly what he said he would do but, through his father's encouragement, faces the reality that it was a lie. That's some pretty adult material for a movie with the name 'Goofy' in the title.
Goofy's first appearance was in 1932. It amazes me that a sixty-three year old character can still be given room to develop. This movie continues to evoke the tears in me whenever I watch it, not because of the sadness, but because of the depth. Is it perfect? Of course not. I was kind of expecting there to be more humor in it than there was. But who cares, when there's so much that's even better? The quality of A Goofy Movie is sadly overlooked, but I still maintain this is a true gem.
Well, that's my review, but I want to close out this week with a tribute to Goofy's calling card, the Goofy Holler. You have to have heard it before as it's as famous as the Wilhelm Scream. The Goofy Holler made its debut in the 1941 short The Art of Skiing. Man, they got some mileage out of it for that cartoon. Recorded (and I assume created) by yodeller Hannes Schroll, the affectionate "Yaaaaa-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey" has become iconic. Now in some instances I feel the Goofy Holler is used incorrectly. He's called it out when running from a bull and riding on an out of control carriage. It's best meant to be a falling thing. So here are my top five examples of the Goofy Holler.
5. A Goofy Movie (1995 film)
See the above review. The holler happened three times in the movie, during the title screen, subtly on the roller coaster, and at at the end when the car finally explodes. The best use in this movie was the first. The words "A Movie" appear with all of their cinematic dignity only to be undermined by "Yaaaaa-hoo-hoo-hoo-hooey" and the word "Goofy" drops into place signifying exactly what kind of mood we should be in. And then the colors fill the screen.
4. You Can Always Be Number One (1983 video)
This insanely passionate ABBA inspired (and possibly plagiarized) song appeared on the album Mickey Mouse Splashdance. You can find the song online, but I haven't found the music video for it anywhere, which was made up of clips from Goofy's sport related cartoons. In the video, the Goofy Holler appeared twice during the same bridge. It's the second one that matters because it fits the timing of the music perfectly. I don't know why it wasn't on the album version, but...memories.
3. The Prince and the Pauper (1990 short film)
This film was both wonderful and not. Meaning, the production team had a lot of great ideas and not enough space for them to fit into a measly 24 minutes; Donald Duck in particular is a casualty of run-time. But Goofy gets to steal just about the whole film, and his peak is the Goofy Holler that comes before you're expecting it. Goofy has just realized the Mickey he thinks he knows is actually the prince, and swears to protect him. By getting thrown out of a window. It's a really awesome break in the rising tension.
2. Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978 film)
In the seventies, Disney started sneaking the Goofy Holler into several of its live-action movies. This comedy western, starring Jim Dale in three different roles, was the best use of it. Dale's primary character is Eli, an innocent preacher who gets roped into a complicated race through the mountains with his twin brother for his inheritance. The first leg of the race involves locomotives, and Eli's gets sabotaged into veering off track through an Indian reservation (that wouldn't fly today) and eventually off a cliff. Based on his character's demeanor and the over-his-head situation he's in, the Goofy Holler could not have been more appropriate.
1. Three for Breakfast (1948 short)
It's so weird. The only Disney short on this list doesn't actually have Goofy in it. Three for Breakfast is a Donald Duck/Chip and Dale short where the trio come into conflict over Donald's pancakes. When an accidental rubber cement spill creates an impossibly elastic pancake, the opposing sides engage in a carefully structured tug-of-war, which culminates in Donald's side wrapping the pancake around every piece of furniture in his house and popping up on the roof where the chipmunks are refusing to let go of their side. Dale greases Donald's feet with butter, and the potential energy that has been built up turns kinetic. Donald gets the "Oh crap" facial expression and disappears off the roof. Goofy Holler.
This is why I think it's the best use of the sound effect. There is the tension which escalates beyond reason. There is the turning point. And then there's the beat right before all hell breaks loose. It's in that beat where the Goofy Holler excels. That's what the whole yell is about. "I have just lost control of my situation at the worst possible time and there's nothing I can do except take the impact".
And it happens on a fall.
No comments:
Post a Comment