Tear Jerker / An Extremely Goofy Movie

• Max refuses to take his old teddy bear to college, but then secretly sleeps with it, which fills Goofy with tears.
  • This story featuring Stuffed Bear (which also serves as a Call-Back to the movie) is bound to give you so many tears.
• A mild one for PJ, but at the beginning when Max is complaining about Goofy, he quips to Max that at least Goofy isn't "counting the days before he can turn his son's room into a bowling alley", which is later followed by Pete ignoring Goofy's noticeable sorrow and mockingly shouting "C'mon son, I can't miss you if you don't leave!" and laughing.
  • Also, where are Peg and Pistol? Shouldn’t they be wishing P.J. good luck at college, too? While according to Word of God, Peg and Pistol were cut from the original movie because the writers couldn't think of a real role for them (which also applied to the sequel since even Pete's role is smaller there), story-wise they're just... gone. And considering Pete wasn't the best husband and father in Goof Troop, it's entirerly possible Peg just... moved on, taking their youngest child with her.
• The scene where Max leaves and Goofy is feeling lonely. Bumped up even more when you see the dead-end production line job he has. And then you realise that this single father has been doing this lousy job for three years (the previous movie had him as a child photographer) and still coming home cheerful and loving towards his son, and it's bumped up to eleven. The worst part is when he walks around Max's now-empty room before sitting on the bed and hugging his son's old teddy bear, sobbing (as seen on the page image). Many parents will testify that yeah, it's exactly like that when your baby leaves the nest.
  • What makes this even sadder is that, much like Ellie's miscarriage, Lady Tremaine abusing her step-daughter and Jane's dad leaving for the war, Goofy's empty nest syndrome isn't even Played for Laughs. It is portrayed as a very normal and very realistic thing that often happens in real life.
  • It's also possible that Goofy's empty nest syndrome is made even worse if we take into account that not only will he not see Max for a while, but Max's mom might have died; Goofy doesn't seem like the kind of man to divorce the woman he loved, so the most likely explanation is that Goofy is a widower. Goofy really does feel lonely since his son is temporarily leaving him for college, and his wife is gone forever.
  • Goofy also reflects that he may not see Max again until Christmas. Even this gives Max some pause in his otherwise haste to get out of there. Max generally doesn't seem to really process the ordeal like most real-life freshmen, who are heartbroken about leaving home; he's just in a rush to leave his overbearing father and completely ignores his feelings about it. One must wonder if he potentially would've suffered any angst or heartbreak had Goofy not joined him in college, and if he would've regretted his hasty departure. Either he suppressed those feelings, or was so caught up in his goals that he never thought about it.
    • Goofy doesn’t know how Harsher in Hindsight that thought is, because the last time we saw his son was in Mickey's Twice Upon a Christmas back in 2004, and Max was Put on a Bus after that with apparently no return in sight, only returning via a short cameo in Ducktales 2017.
  • Goofy also prepares an obscenely huge breakfast for his son the morning he leaves for college. Unfortunately, Max is leaving earlier than expected to attend freshman orientation, letting the lovingly crafted meal go to waste.
• Max's huge "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Goofy after the first X-Games challenge is pretty heart-wrenching, because Max was yelling at Goofy over something he didn't even know about (the Gammas rigged Goofy's skateboard and sabotaged Max's performance, causing him to just barely pass, and the reason this happened is because Max convinced him to be a part of that team in an attempt to keep him busy) and tells him "NOW JUST LEAVE ME ALONE AND GET YOUR OWN LIFE!!", pretty much blaming him for what happened in the qualifiers and disowning him just because he lost to him. This causes Goofy to become depressed, lose his focus, fail an exam, and miss his date with Sylvia, who then is seriously angry at him for ditching her. She does forgive him, but Max is still upset at him for how things went in the qualifiers and gives his father the silent treatment for months. It doesn't help that after Goofy finds out that the Gammas are planning to cheat and sabotage the other teams in the finals and warns his son about it, Max refuses to listen to him and still acts coldly towards him, not reconciling with him until after PJ is disqualified because of the Gammas' cheating.
  • Missing the date with Sylvia was an especially harsh blow because in addition to being a party to celebrate his upcoming graduation, they're having a lovely Romantic Candlelit Dinner at her place, with Sylvia noticeably dressed up for the occasion. This wasn't just a friendly get-together, it was supposed to be a serious step forward for their relationship, and Sylvia thinks Goofy stood her up. The heartbreak she felt that night must've been overwhelming.
• While mostly Nightmare Fuel, Goofy’s daydream about Max starts out painfully sweet and everything he desperately wants - namely, his little boy back and actually happy to spend time with him again. But then it all goes to hell as his little boy he wants love from turns into an aggressive Hulk and turns the daydream into a nightmare. And the end of Max’s angry rant towards him plays again, then Goofy is left alone, quietly sobbing with his face in his hands. Even though he learns to let go of Max at the end of the film, the ruined daydream just proves to Goofy that no matter what, the happy-go-lucky days when Max was an innocent child who depended on him are long gone and will never come back.
  • What’s worse is that Goofy is prodded back to reality to find his professor taking his exam despite Goofy not having finished. Goofy was so lost in his head that he disassociated for hours and didn't even notice everyone aside from him leaving the room. The professor solemnly says his time is up, probably all too familiar with students who either let time get away from them due to slacking off and not realizing their mistake until it was too late - or worse, simply didn’t finish in time even if they were prepared for the exam.
• Sylvia's heartbreaking rant when she refuses to speak to Goofy after what he did. When Goofy apologizes and admits all his mistakes, she forgives him and they reconcile their relationship.
• Max's guilty expression when he realizes his father was right about Bradley trying to eliminate his teammates in order to win. Especially when he calls out to Goofy through the Jumbotron:
  Max: I need you.
  • Worse is his reaction when he thinks Goofy isn't coming:
  Max: Well, I wouldn't blame him if he didn't come.
• When Bradley shot Tank and Max into the X, it caught on fire on live TV. Goofy tried to save his son before it could happen too, so he had tried to do something: he ran in the fire to save his son. Sylvia was in the audience, so she's seeing her boyfriend trying to go into the inferno to save his son. That is heartbreaking for both of them and for anyone watching this in their world.
• A bittersweet one in that PJ has gone his whole life being overshadowed by his friends, but meets a kind, beautiful girl in college who immediately falls head over heels for him. It gives him the emotional support and confidence that he had never really had his entire life beforehand. College is the first time in PJ's life that he could be who he is, with all that implies.

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