The doc that loves “A Goofy Movie” as much as we fans do. Hyuck!

Five years ago when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Galaxy Con allowed fans to do virtual chats with select actors. Two of the actors I’ve met on my laptop were Bill Farmer, who is best known for honoring Pinto Colvig as the voice of Goofy, and Jason Marsden, who voices his teenage son Max. And I told the two of them that I used to watch “A Goofy Movie” on VHS at my grandma’s house as a kid. It was so cool speaking to these two, and you can check out my interviews with them on my YouTube channel, under “CJ at “CJ’s Movie Madhouse” The Movies.”

The year was 1995 when “A Goofy Movie” came out, and gave the famous Disney character a father-son road trip with pop star music and old-fashioned goofiness in the mix. The premise was inspired by the earlier series “Goof Troop” and by a real life road trip between Jeffrey Katzenberg (who was the Chairman of Walt Disney from 1984-1994) and his daughter. Max was in love with Roxanne enough to stage his own take on the singer Powerline. He gets in trouble for it, making Goofy think he’s prone to be in the electric chair. And that’s why he takes him on a road trip.

Now, the year is 2025, 30 years after that film came out. Disney+ has just released the documentary on it, called “Not Just a Goof.” We have a lot of complications within the early stages of the project, such as Katzenberg thinking that Steve Martin should do the voice of Goofy and not Bill Farmer, but then coming around and realizing he’s the right man for the job. And we also get the critical and box office results, which were not as impressive as it should have been (and even though Siskel & Ebert gave the film Two Thumbs Up, they still had their reservations on the evolution of Goofy and its 90s influence). And we don’t get everything from the archival footage, but we sure get enough to support the doc.

Parts of “Not Just a Goof” are supported through never before seen archival footage of the behind the scenes process and interviews, and parts of it are supported through animated sequences with the animators being depicted as dogs in Goofy’s world. And for my two cents, I dislike the current Mickey Mouse cartoons and their mean-spirited tone. So, it’s refreshing to see a new project trying to honor the 90s.

My first nephew George loves “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,” and thinks Daisy and Minnie are his favorite characters. But I do hope he sees “A Goofy Movie” and feeling the same kind of fun I had when I was a kid. This doc also represents the fanbase the 1995 movie has created. There are cosplays, YouTube videos, and special events, and we should all be glad this movie has found something stronger than the measly $37 million it made at the box office or the 64% Rotten Tomatoes score. It has found us, and we found it.

Now Streaming on Disney+