Disney Animators Reflect on the Impact and Legacy of ‘A Goofy Movie’
Long before I understood that there was an entire community of fans on the internet, I would tell people that my favorite Disney film was A Goofy Movie.
As someone who grew up watching Goof Troop, seeing Max and Goofy hit the big screen was a real treat. When you added in the catchy music, references from the 90s, Powerline, and Pauly Shore, I was hooked.
As time passed and I got older, I grew to appreciate A Goofy Movie even more. The film not only served as a time capsule for the era I grew up in, but as an adult, I found that the central story held up even better than I remembered.
Photo: Disney
With A Goofy Movie celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, Disney has shined a spotlight back on the film. As it turns out, I was not the only fan!
In a recent video celebrating the film’s big anniversary, Disney asked some of Hollywood’s most prominent animators about the lasting influence of A Goofy Movie.
Photo: Slate
“When I was an aspiring animator, it made you want to animate like [A Goofy Movie‘s animators did,” Andrew Feliciano, a Walt Disney Animation Studios animation supervisor who worked on Big Hero 6 and Moana 2, said. “Today, I use it for inspiration if I want to get myself into a good mood. I’ll even play ‘I2I’ or ‘Stand Out‘ or the Powerline sequence. It just makes me happy.”
A Lasting Impact
Interestingly, many of Disney’s top animators have a personal connection to A Goofy Movie.
“I’ve watched ‘A Goofy Movie’ many times in my life — not just in childhood,” revealed Pixar Animation’s Domee Shi (Bao, Turning Red, Elio).
Photo: Deadline
“It’s affected me in unexpected ways, too. My storyboarding teacher in animation school, Nancy Beiman, worked on the movie; she’s been a big inspiration for me and is sort of the reason why I got into storyboarding. When I found out she worked on the movie, I totally fangirled.”
Animating ‘A Goofy Movie’
While Bert Klein now holds a place atop the Walt Disney Animation hierarchy, serving as an animation supervisor for Zootopia+, Once Upon a Studio, and the upcoming Zootopia 2, his first job was actually on A Goofy Movie.
Photo: Disney
“’A Goofy Movie’ was my first job here, 30 years ago,” Klein said. “Essentially, the in-betweener does the poses in-between to make the smooth action. So, I would look at the drawings of Sergio Pablos — this amazing stuff he did with Pete and Goofy — and flip them.”
Fans of the film have Klein to thank for the delicious-looking cheese pizza that P.J. eats in the film.
Photo: Hard-Drive.net
“You have no idea what’s going to be interesting years later,” he recalled with a laugh. “That was a little tricky to make it feel snappy, but I had some leeway to do something different.”
Hear More Stories
Visit thewaltdisneycompany.com to learn more about how A Goofy Movie continues to inspire animators and see their reflections on the film.
Photo: Disney
