We’re back again with Disney’s favorite father-son duo, Goofy and Max, in one of my favorite Disney movies, An Extremely Goofy Movie.
One reason I love this movie is that Disney does a great job with character development with its male protagonists. We saw this in A Goofy Movie, Aladdin and The King of Thieves, and Hercules.
In A Goofy Movie, we see Max and Goofy navigate what it’s like for a parent to connect with their child in peak high school/first time crushes.
Now that some time has passed, we get to see Max and Goofy explore their relationship again as Max is ready to set off for his first year in college with his two best friends. Goofy, on the other hand, needs to go back to college to find a new job.
Disney reused the same plot, but it works well because kids who watched the first movie can still connect with Max, probably going through similar situations as him.
Rewatching this as a young adult, I see the complications from both sides, but I lean more towards Max.
Max doesn’t want to be seen as a baby anymore or just Goofy’s son. He wants his own identity outside his father; spread his wings and figure out who he is.
And while my parents never attended the same college as me at the same time, I understand the feeling of wanting to get away to start a “new life.”
And honestly, I can’t blame Max. If my dad went to the same college I was attending at the same time, and is significantly more popular than me, I wouldn’t want anything to do with him either.
Going away to college is a pivotal time in a young person’s life because they don’t have their parents’ safety net. They can go crazy if they want, stay up till all hours, play video games, go to parties; everything that young people should be doing without their parents around.
Through all of this, Max and Goofy managed to strengthen their bond.
Goofy was able to step back and see the situation from Max’s perspective, and vice versa.
At the end of the movie, Goofy understood that Max needs space to make his own mark. This is why I love the end of the movie when Goofy said he was joking about accepting a job at the university.
For Max, it wasn’t that Goofy needed to go back to college to find a better job. As a parent, Goofy was only looking out for his son and his friends regarding the final round of the X Games.
Listen to the full podcast episode and let us know what you think of this movie!
-Simone
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