Where would a person even start when explaining to their psychiatrist that their father was Goofy? That bill would be bigger than a student loan debt for certain if said person was to explain in every detail just how such a thing would mess them up for life and possibly follow them into the next life to be realistic. But speaking from a cartoon standpoint it’s easy enough to think Goofy and Max would just need to sing a song and have a near-death experience together to realize just how much they mean to one another. A good question that comes during the clip though is the idea of where Max’s mother is throughout the movie. One thing that Disney really appears to have a problem with is a stable mother figure in a lot of their movies since there are plenty in which the mother is usually absent for some reason or has been taken out of the picture, which is tragic as all hell but somehow is a similarity that many of the movies share. There was a Mrs. Goofy decades ago and she did get mention a few times, but she’s been notoriously absent ever since. That hasn’t stopped the Goof Troop or the Goofy Movie from happening though, as it does kind of free Goofy up for a little more mayhem without a missus there to tell him to knock it off and stop embarrassing their son. Poor Max.
Of course Max isn’t exactly an angel as he’s kind of a pain in the backside at times thanks to the fact that he’s a teenager and now thinks his dad is the most embarrassing individual on the planet. Going on a camping trip and a cross-country drive are likely the last things that an average teenager wants to think about, but then there are plenty of exceptions, unless of course that teenager in question is smitten with a certain doe-eyed individual that he can’t help pining for even if he can’t talk to her. A lot of guys have been this way in high school of course, you see a girl you really like and for one reason or another you can’t find the nerve to talk to her but you tend to obsess about her until you finally get the courage to say something. Of course Max spends a good portion of hte movie like this as well as trying to get away from his father so it’s hard to know whether to feel sorry for him or just want to smack him upside the head and tell him to grow up. It’d be nice if someone had been there for a lot of us to do that, huh? But given that this is a cartoon it might not have gone over very well for Goofy to intentionally strike his son, though there was enough of a threat coming from PJ that might have made some people a little uncomfortable since Pete has often been seen as the bad guy when it comes to Disney.
When it comes to the Goofy Movie though one could say that Pete is something of a jerk, but he’s not an overly abusive dad as far as anyone can see, while PJ is more or less a bit of a worrier and a little neurotic. As a best friend he’s not such a bad character but in the movie and on the show he was usually kind of an apprehensive character, which might make one feel that Pete isn’t all that great of a father once the doors are closed. But PJ’s mother, huh boy, she’s actually able to stand up to Pete on the show so it’s fair to say that PJ might actually be just a bit of a worrier that overthinks things at times. When it comes to Max though he’s pretty much the rambunctious and rebellious teenager that a lot of people might think of when they get a picture in their head of a young boy of that age. He doesn’t want to be around his father, he doesn’t want to be around anyone that he thinks is uncool, and he hates to be embarrassed in a huge way since he cares about his image and his place in the social circles of high school. In other words, he’s a regular kid.
The Goofy Movie could come off as a little more disturbing to some viewers simply because he’s always been more than a little absent-minded, which means that he almost kills himself and Max while driving, is clumsy to a degree that appears deadly, and is absolutely clueless in most things when it comes to life. But he’s a staple of Disney so we cut him a lot of slack, largely because we know that in a cartoon, unless you’re a mom, things are usually going to turn out okay.
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