Heartwarming / A Goofy Movie

A Goofy Movie

"... Hi, Maxie."

• Everything about Roxanne! She's a total Nice Girl and just as adorkable as Max. It's obvious why he has a huge crush on her (because to a certain degree, so does the audience).
  • She's the only one of Max's peers with whom he's not friends who shows him any compassion, helping him to his feet after he falls at the beginning while the others just laugh at or dismiss him. Plus, it's all but stated that she returns his feelings for her, getting flustered when she tries to talk to him after his Powerline stunt and sounding like she wants him to ask her out to Stacy's party, nervously giving him a kiss on the cheek afterwards.
  • The way she smiles up at Max during his performance, particularly since it's implied that she knows it's him even before he was 'unmasked' (she's already finger-twirling her hair when Max starts singing, and reaches toward him when he's airborne - after the unmasking, she's barely surprised and just smiles). It's clear that him singling her out from the crowd to sing to her makes her feel special.
• Stacy, Roxanne's best friend, is completely supportive of Roxanne's interest in Max and does what she can to nudge the two together. When one of the cool girls is hitting on Max, Stacy pushes her away, declaring "Back off, girl. He's Roxanne's."
• "Nobody Else But You," the perfect father-son-reconciliation song.
  • Before that, Goofy and Max's true feelings about the situation coming out during a heated argument as they're going down the rapids, which calm down just as they start to hear one another out.
    Max: I'm not your little boy anymore, Dad! I'm grown up! I have my own life now!
    Goofy: I know that! I just wanted to be part of it! (long pause) You're my son, Max. No matter how big you get, you'll always be my son.
  • Goofy kissing Max at the end of their song. Like the first scene where he does it, Max is embarrassed by it, but rather than get mad, he just laughs it off as a sign that his father really does love him unconditionally.
  • The two of them finally having an earnest heart-to-heart while floating down the river. Max is finally being honest with Goofy and Goofy, in turn, is finally listening to his son's feelings.
  • And then after Max confesses why he changed the map over a promise he made to a girl, Goofy declares that he's going to get Max to that Powerline concert to fulfill his promise to Roxanne. Which he does. In the end, it was more important to Goofy that his son was happy than whatever he originally had planned for the road trip.
• The scene before “Nobody Else But You” has some blink-and-you-miss-them moments as Goofy and Max are chasing after the car. Even when they are at each other's throats and arguing, Max and Goofy still try and save each other when the car starts going downhill. Max pulls Goofy into the car as it rolls down the road, Goofy pushes Max on top of the car when it falls into the river, and then Max pulls Goofy up onto the roof too. Despite them having an intense argument, they both prioritize each other’s safety.
• Max crashing the school assembly with a lip-sync performance of "Stand Out" is not only incredibly cool, but you can tell that Max is having the time of his life doing it! No insecurities or self-doubt like we'd just seen, he's just a kid living out a fun fantasy and loving every minute of it.
  • Even better, all of the kids at the assembly love it too! They cheer and scream in joy the whole time, like they're at a real Powerline concert (and for a lot of them, this may be the closest they'll get to one). The fact that they still give Max props for it after he gets busted and they find out it's him also shows that they aren't just humoring him, they were all genuinely impressed with the performance he gave them and enjoyed it a lot.
  • Compare the scenes of Max arriving at school and leaving: at the beginning, he's anxious and angry and everyone just dismisses him as an awkward loser. When he leaves, they're all chanting his name and he's so thrilled that he literally dances all the way home.
  • When Max leaves for school, he can't open the front gate and has to jump it. When he returns, he confidently kicks it open and strolls in. It was a good day.
  • Of course, it's all to make the punchline of Goofy taking him on an impromptu fishing trip immediately afterwards all the bigger of a dilemma. It wouldn't have been nearly as torturous for him had he not just gotten exactly what he actually wanted: he earned the respect of his peers, got the attention of his crush and has a date with her to a cool party.
• From the brief scene we see of it, Goofy is really good at his job as a baby photographer. Not only does he take great joy getting the kids to smile, but he implements many real-life techniques used for making small children more comfortable around adults: he learns their names, plays with them and even squats down to look one kid in the eye while talking to her (the last of which is extremely important for anyone who plans to interact with small children). Compare this to Pete, who just wants to get the job over and done with and has to chase a kid who sees right through his attempts to charm her.
  • Goofy's first customer is a toddler on the verge of tears who, despite his best efforts, won't smile. He squeaks a rubber duckie for her, but accidentally swallows it, causing his voice to sound squeaky, which gets the kid to giggle. Without a second thought, he starts making funny faces and squeaky noises while snapping several photos of her giggling face. Then, when he hands the girl back to her mother, he continues to amuse her with funny sounds and faces. The mother warmly tells him how good he is with kids.
  • To a lesser extent, just seeing Goofy not only be good but great at something. It's a sign that this isn't the same perpetually clumsy buffoon from the How To... shorts, but someone who takes pride in the things he works hard at. Needless to say, Disney won't ever need to make a How To Be A Baby Photographer short.
• After Bigfoot chases them into their car, trapping them there, Goofy cooks a can of alphabet soup for himself as Max with the car's lighter. As he does, he starts chuckling as he remembers a little inside joke between them: "'Hi dad' soup," which is what they used to call the words Max would write out with the letters, one of which being "Hi dad" (hence the name). The conversation falls awkwardly silent when Goofy remembers that one of the phrases was "I love you," but after he's done eating, Max, in his first sign of genuine affection for his dad, hands Goofy his cup. At the bottom are the word "Hi dad." Goofy looks over and watches his son fall asleep with Tears of Joy in his eyes.
  • Before this, Max starts joking about how he wrote more complicated words and phrases with his soup, a brief glimmer of the loving relationship the two of them had before Max's started changing with puberty and a sign that it's still there.
  • Goofy pours all the soup into the cup he gives Max, not taking any for himself. It's a good example of the lengths parents will go to and the sacrifices they'll make for their children.
  • Goofy chuckling at Max having a "soup mustache" when he drinks his soup.
  • A small one, but when Goofy uses the cigarette lighter to heat the soup, he happily quips "At least it's good for something."^note While this probably wasn't the intention, this is especially meaningful if you know that both Walt Disney and Pinto Colvig, the latter Goofy's original voice actor, died from lung cancer brought on by constant smoking.
  • Another small one when Goofy is trying to get the can of soup in the car. Max quickly grabs his dad’s hand and rotates it so that Goofy’s hand and the soup are safe from Bigfoot who was charging towards their car.
• Max saving Goofy from the waterfall by copying his father's "Perfect Cast" absolutely flawlessly. When the two are reunited in the spray of the fall, Goofy is less happy to be alive and more touched that his son saved his life with the family tradition he'd passed down to him and smiles at him with Tears of Joy.
  Goofy: (in a proud whisper): The perfect cast.
  • As they parachute away, Max happily embraces Goofy. He's no longer the moody teenager too proud to be seen with his father, rather he's once again the little boy who looks up to his father and loves him unconditionally. All Goofy can do is look down and smile warmly, happy to have his son back, without saying a word.
  • And best of all, Max does all of this without a second thought.
• When he finally sees that Max is clearly not enjoying himself going to all of the places that he'd planned for them, Goofy makes Max the "official navigator," which is basically a nice way of saying Max is allowed to take them anywhere on their route that he wants. While it doesn't quite get the root of Goofy's problem with his son (actually listening to and understanding Max), from here the two of them start to have fun with each other, not only because Max gets to do things he actually wants to do rather be forced to do what his dad wants but because Goofy finally gives Max some respect and autonomy.
  • Goofy's little bit at the diner where he officially "dubs" Max as the navigator to a crowd of strangers. Rather than be apathetic or annoyed that their breakfast is being interrupted by some wise guy trying way to be funny, the patrons all happily applaud this father and son having a sweet bonding moment. Max's initial embarrassment giving way to happy surprise when they do shows that Goofy knows exactly what he's doing.
  • During their montage, Max sees Goofy having a hard time at a monster truck rally and decides to take them to one of the original stops on Goofy's father's map: The House of Yarn. Cue Goofy gleefully dragging Max inside in a fit of childlike nostalgia.
  • By the time Pete meets up with them, Goofy and Max have gone from awkwardly trying to bond to laughing, hugging and joking with each other. As Goofy later says, Pete was wrong: trying to keep your son under your thumb doesn't work. Being compassionate does. It's not hard to assume that Pete is actively sabotaging Max and Goofy's relationship out of jealousy and spite when he (correctly) tells Goofy that Max changed the map.
• Early on, Goofy says that his favorite musician is mambo king Xavier Cugat and pulls Max in for an impromptu dance, yelling "Everybody mambo!" Later when Roxanne accepts Max's invitation to go with him to watch the concert at Stacey's party, he joyfully shouts "Everybody mambo!" and pulls in the secretary for the same dance. Seems the apple doesn't fall too far!
• When Goofy accidentally winds up on stage next to Powerline during "I2I," Max calls out for him to save himself by doing the perfect cast as a dance step. Powerline is understandably confused for a moment, but rather than stopping the show to get them kicked off, he just rolls with it and looks genuinely impressed with Goofy's "dance." And considering he's the biggest pop star in the world, that's quite a compliment!
  • The reactions of Max's friends after Max ends up on stage. Bobby goes from not buying his story and treating him like a stranger to bragging to everyone that he knows Max. Roxanne, who was sad that Max hadn't shown up yet, remains silent but gets a huge warm smile. PJ, who was unhappily cleaning the floor, glances at the screen and immediately grins widely and cheers wholeheartedly that Max managed to achieve his goal.
  • The song itself, the lyrics of which are all about reconciliation and reaching an understanding with those you love. There's a reason it plays again over the end credits.
    "If we listen to each other's heart
    We'll find we're never too far apart
    And maybe love is a reason why
    For the first time ever, we're seein' it eye to eye"
• While Stacy and Bobby hooking up is definitely a case of Pair the Spares, there's something oddly heartwarming about the way the two connect and charm each other during the Powerline performance. Stacy by flashing her braces, and Bobby lifting his shades.
• The entire finale, which bookends Max's character arc. In the very first scene, he has literal nightmares about how the possibility of turning into his father will hurt his chances with the girl he has a crush on. In the very last, he's happily introducing the two, whom he loves equally.
  • Roxanne is understandably annoyed at Max for lying to her about his dad knowing Powerline, and that his appearance at the concert was just another stunt in his attempt to get her to like him. However, rather than reject him, she accepts his apology and reassures Max that she already liked him, and it wasn't because of any of his stunts. It was the way he laughed when they talked for the first time. What Max had feared would be a death knell to his social life ended up being a charming personal trait, inherited from his dorky father or no, that Roxanne found more appealing than she would any superficial attempts at being cool. Performing with his favorite singer and being on TV may have been a dream come true for Max and worth all the risk he put into doing so, but the real victory was earning the affections of his crush by being himself.
    • Doubly sweet when you actually listens to Max's laugh. He clearly sounds like Goofy, but it's not just Goofy's voice coming out of a character who isn't Goofy. It's another character with a laugh similar to Goofy's, but still clearly a different character. It really is his laugh. Compare, also, the first time he does it, when it's an embarrassed laugh, to when after Roxanne reassures him that she likes it and he does it again, and he gives a laugh that sounds genuinely happy.
  • And after all this, he still postpones his date with Roxanne. Why? Because he and Goofy planned something for that night. Max actually wants to spend time with his dad. Of course, they happily reschedule without a second thought (and Max even steals a kiss from her, much to her delight).
  • In the final minute of the movie, we get some characteristic slapstick when Goofy's car, after all of the abuse he's given it, explodes, sending him flying into the air and through the roof of Roxanne's porch, complete with his trademark holler. Max, not embarrassed in the least, just smiles and introduces his father to the girl he loves - and she clearly likes him right away.
  • The final shot (before the pan-up to the sky) has Goofy kissing Roxanne's hand and giving her a friendly "Enchantee, mademoiselle!" earning him a flattered giggle from Roxanne. And they say chivalry is dead.
• Not counting the telephone in his likeness seen in Max's room at the beginning, Mickey Mouse has two cameos in the film, one during "On the Open Road", and the other in a Freeze-Frame Bonus in the cheering crowds at the Powerline concert. If we assume Mickey and Goofy are friends in this continuity (as are Donald and Goofy, mentioned by Max), then he's cheering for his friend who unexpectedly turned up on stage to join the show.
• The Happily Married vibe of the Tiny Guy, Huge Girl couple.
• A lot of the general sense of happiness and excitement from the other students in "After Today" (especially the ones who aren't mean to Max throughout the song), like when Stacey and her friends race past the park bench or they pour out of the school bus. One particular moment that contrasts Max's treatment is how the twin boys about to kiss the twin girls don't seem upset with the interruption of a pair of nerd characters nearby (although it's also possible they simply didn't notice).
• The effort put in by Lester the Opossum. Here's a children's park that is very old by the fact that Goofy - the father of a teenager - presumably went there with Grandpa Goof as a child and the general state of things. Most of the staff are lethargic, the animatronics are glitching and close to breaking down, and there's not a ton of business. On top of everything, here's this moody teenager who's clearly too old to be here, but more than that, he's unhappy. Lester doesn't break character even when smacked - as many man-in-suit actors would do to yell at the kid - just walks away after honestly trying to cheer Max up. It's a small scene, but the man is devoted to this clearly failing gig, and one only hopes he found a new park after this one closed down.

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