Tuesdays with Tom: A Goofy Movie's Powerline Moment

The sincere origins of Disney's rare underdog story; plus thoughts on meteor showers, Ovechkin catching The Great One, and Luka's return to Dallas

Disney movies were a core part of my childhood. We owned many of them and I was fond of reciting my favorite lines whenever I could. Many of them were instant classics that provided unlimited rewatchability. As an adult, I’m much more aware of the immense power of the Disney corporate brand. They have a stranglehold on American entertainment for families and kids. But there’s a Disney film that took a different path to notoriety. One that has gradually grown to become Disney’s rare sleeper success story. This unusual combination fascinated me enough to do a deep dive on A Goofy Movie. The 1995 animated film turns 30 this year. Against all odds, this movie is far more popular and beloved now than it was when I was three years old.

Goofy was introduced in 1932 as part of the cartoon movie Mickey’s Revue. He was initially credited as “Dippy Dawg”, an annoying audience member with a yodeling laugh. He was later rebranded as Goofy, an anthropomorphic dog who pals around with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. For most of his existence, Goofy was nothing more than a high wattage provider of slapstick humor, dim-witted antics and, well, goofs. His literally cartoonish voice and appearance is always played for laughs. Goofy’s friendly presence was lightly peppered across various Disney properties for many decades.

In 1984, Jeffrey Katzenberg took over as Disney chairman. He was charged with revitalizing the sagging animation feature department. With the help of many talented animators and filmmakers, Katzenberg did just that with critical and financial hits like The Great Mouse Detective, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin. While Disney worked on their next potential hit, The Lion King, Katzenberg also greenlit a script for a feature film about Goofy. Right from the start, expectations for A Goofy Movie, based on characters from the Goof Troop TV series, were extremely low.

Katzenberg tapped long-time animator and first time director Kevin Lima to lead A Goofy Movie. With the studio’s attention on The Lion King, A Goofy Movie was not top of mind for Disney. Lima’s team was given a much smaller budget and highly condensed timeline to make the movie. As detailed in the Disney+ documentary Not Just A Goof, Lima envisioned a John Hughes coming-of-age story set in the world of Disney animation. The challenge was elevating Goofy beyond physical humor and sight gags and into a relatable character. Lima combined this vision with an anecdote about Katzenberg’s uncomfortable bonding trip with his own teenage daughter, and Lima’s own strained relationship with his distant father.

Bill Farmer is one of six men who have been the voice of Goofy. He was ready to play Goofy again when Katzenberg threw a curveball into production. He thought Farmer’s voice was “too cartoonish” and suggested that they hire Steve Martin as Goofy. To prove that this was an awful idea, Farmer recorded his dialogue in a regular voice and they showed it to Katzenberg. He moved off the Steve Martin pitch. However, this accidentally led to a more nuanced performance from Farmer as Goofy. He eventually combined Goofy’s high octane antics with the vulnerable takes from his bit-free recordings. Other moments, like Max and Roxanne’s first kiss, were acted out for real in the recording booth to bring out authentic emotion in the vocal performances. This was the lone benefit of being the red-headed stepchild to The Lion King: unchecked creative freedom.

Due to the budget limitations, Kevin Lima relied on dozens of Disney studios across the globe to finish animation. It was a chaotic process, one that forced Lima to act out several sequences to work through the language barrier with each team. Later, they were unsatisfied with the initial song submissions for Powerline, the movie’s fictional pop star that is loosely based on Prince. But eventually, the team cooked up two iconic R&B pop songs about adolescence and growing up. They hired Tevin Campbell and Rosie Gaines (who was a Prince back-up singer) to sing and struck gold.

In Not Just A Goof, Lima states that creating and animating “I2I”, the closing Powerline track, was the hardest scene to make. They used footage of live action performers dancing on a soundstage to inspire the animators. It worked flawlessly. However, just when things were finally coming together, Jeffrey Katzenberg was fired from Disney. As The Lion King experienced unbelievable acclaim and success, it was suddenly unclear if A Goofy Movie would ever be finished or see the light of day.

The decks were stacked against this movie succeeding. There were no recognizable stars attached to A Goofy Movie. Goofy’s son Max was portrayed by Jason Marsden, a talented but anonymous voice actor. The so-called “big name” in the cast was Pauly Shore, who went uncredited as a student at Max’s school. Despite being a Disney icon for over 60 years, there had never been a feature film starring Goofy.

A Goofy Movie doesn’t follow the traditional playbook of Disney animation. It lacks a clear “good vs. evil” storyline. There is no real villain. It’s a quasi-musical about a father-son vacation gone awry, exploring the fractured relationship between the two. The story’s critical moment revolves around attending a pop concert. These aren’t foolproof tactics to resonate with parents and children. It was anyone’s guess if the film would land at all.

When A Goofy Movie finally hit theaters on April 7, 1995, it was mildly received by critics and only netted $37.5 million at the box office. It would be slightly unfair to call it a disappointment given the low expectations, but it was not The Lion King. Still, A Goofy Movie provided many memorable moments for viewers. The introduction of Max and his classmates is exciting and fun. Goofy’s spur-of-the-moment vacation kicks off with “On the Open Road” and continues with a Bigfoot sighting and a near-death excursion near a waterfall. The most soaring moments are Max performing as Powerline to “Stand Out” for Roxanne and later, meeting him in the climactic “I2I” scene.

One thing that can’t be denied is that Kevin Lima succeeded in making Goofy and Max very relatable. Who hasn’t been desperate to impress a crush or meet their beloved music heroes? Max’s angst for his goof of a father is a classic parental phase. Goofy showcased more depth in 78 minutes of screen time than he did in 65 years of other Disney appearances. I imagine single fathers felt very seen (this movie also continued Disney’s bizarre erasure of motherly figures). Through it all, Goofy and Max find common ground and reconnect in ways that tug on the heart strings.

A Goofy Movie seemed destined to be buried in the Disney vault, never to be seen or heard from again. But over the years, a groundswell of passionate support for the film has grown. It burst through the Earth in 2015 at the D23 Expo, when A Goofy Movie celebrated its 20th anniversary on the smallest stage available there. Over 1,000 guests showed up to see the cast, and hundreds of others were turned away due to the lack of proper seating. Tevin Campbell performed the two Powerline tracks live. In one hour, over 20 years of built-up appreciation and nostalgia for A Goofy Movie poured out into rapturous applause and praise.

Perhaps no Disney film has received a more heartwarming re-evaluation than A Goofy Movie. I knew something was up when Donald Glover wrote an entire episode of Atlanta as a spoof history of A Goofy Movie. My social feeds have been blasted with A Goofy Movie love in recent years. I even bought a fictional Powerline tour shirt. The cast is finally having their moment in the sun culturally. Disney is much more prepared for the love this time around, leaning in and embracing it. No Disney movie has experienced this kind of trajectory. It took 30 years, but Goofy finally became The Main Character (please forgive this Gen-Z colloquialism).

I’d be lying if I said A Goofy Movie is my favorite Disney film. It’s not even in my top ten. But I do remember enjoying it at the time, especially the catchy soundtrack. Weirdly, I appreciate it more as an adult now that I can comprehend the surprising depth of the story. I’m even more impressed at the behind-the-scenes drama that led to its creation. Clearly, A Goofy Movie resonated with millions of people in ways that were not evident when it came out in 1995. We live in a very reactionary time now, where things are dissected and devoured before they can really bloom. But the most rewarding relationships are nurtured slowly and with great care. In that respect, I find it beautiful that A Goofy Movie took the long (and open) road to the pantheon of Disney classics. It finally stands out and I think we can all finally see eye-to-eye on that.

Tom’s Thoughts of the Week

• In the last two episodes of Friday Night Beers, we reviewed Meteor Shower Pale Lager and Casa de Guava. Meteor Shower is the second gluten free beer we’ve featured on the podcast. I had a lot more fun talking about meteor showers, meteor movies and pop culture ghosts than I did drinking the beer. We brought the guava house down with Casa de Guava, covering a variety of guava-themed topics, Adrien Brody, questionable rebranding efforts and other fun performers. Please subscribe, rate and review our podcast here and follow our Instagram page for relevant updates!

• Unlike other professional sports, there’s no debate about who is the greatest hockey player of all-time. It’s Wayne Gretzky, whose unprecedented and spectacular play earned him the understated nickname “The Great One” over a dazzling 20 year professional career. This unparalleled greatness is why the sports world is awestruck by Alexander Ovechkin breaking one of Gretzky’s historic records. On April 6, 2025, the 39-year-old Russian left winger scored his 895th NHL goal, breaking Gretzky’s career record for most goals by a single player in league history. Gretzky was in the building to witness it. His gracious support of Ovechkin is indicative of the reverence that hockey players have for each other and the sport’s history. Ovechkin was already one of the NHL’s legendary figures, but claiming the all-time goals record puts him above them all in one category.

• When Wayne Gretzky retired from the NHL in 1999, he owned or shared 61 different NHL records. He still has the record for the most Art Ross trophies for points in a season (10), the most goals in a single season (92) and the most Hart trophies (9). He notched four 200-point seasons, including three consecutive ones from 1983 to 1986. He could have gone five-for-five there, but merely had 196 points in the 1982-83 season. No player has ever exceeded 160 points in one year besides Gretzky. In 1981, he scored 50 goals in 39 games, which was notable because no player had ever topped 30 in that short of a timeframe. In the 1983-84 season, Gretzky had 51 consecutive games with at least one point. And yet, nothing astounds the lords of hockey more than Gretzky’s unfathomable assist numbers. In total, Gretzky notched 2,857 total points, including 1,963 career assists. He has more career assists than any individual player has total points (Jaromir Jagr is second all-time with 1,921 points). In between all that, Gretzky found a way to score more goals than anyone else. That changed when Ovechkin drilled his record breaking goal against the New York Islanders.

• I point out Gretzky’s singular prowess as a compliment to Alexander Ovechkin. Incredibly, Ovechkin broke this record in the same exact number of games that both he and Gretzky had played to date (1,487). Ovechkin scored 800 career goals far quicker than Gordie Howe, Mark Messier and Jaromir Jagr did. If you include postseason stats, Ovechkin still trails Gretzky by 49 goals, but that is a minor inconvenience that doesn’t give proper credit to Ovechkin. The Washington Capitals legend has maintained a historic clip of goal production over 20 seasons since being drafted first overall in the 2004 NHL Draft. Ovechkin has 14 seasons with at least 40 goals, an NHL record, and he also has the most 30-goal seasons (19) of all-time. He’s tied with Gretzky and Mike Bossy for most 50-goal seasons. He might not be as dynamic as Gretzky or his NHL rival Sidney Crosby (who is 275 goals behind Ovechkin), but he stands alone now as the greatest goal scorer to ever live. He broke a seemingly unbreakable record set by a man who still has an impossibly high bar to clear for career achievements. I applaud Ovechkin for this amazing feat and I’m grateful I got to experience this historic sports record chase in real time.

• The nuclear reverberation of the Dallas Mavericks trading superstar point guard Luka Dončić to the Los Angeles Lakers is still as potent as ever two months later. I’ll never forget where I was when that midnight bombshell hit. So when Dončić made his first return to Dallas since the trade last week, it immediately became appointment viewing. We may never see an opposing player introduced this way ever again. It was almost as unforgettable as the trade itself, one that instantly became a contender for the dumbest trade in American sports history. Dončić rallied from his emotional outburst to torch the Mavericks, scoring 45 points in 112-97 victory. The Lakers are a prime contender in the Western Conference heading into the playoffs. The Mavericks are the last team in the play-in with virtually no chance of winning a single playoff round.

• There is no precedent for a sports team trading a player of Dončić’s caliber, age and impact at all, let alone for such a staggeringly low price. Dončić is 26 years old. He’s a five time All-Star and first team All-NBA player beginning to ascend into his prime years. He’s got a clean track record off the court. Just last year, he led the Mavericks to their first NBA Finals in 13 years. You just don’t trade players like that. If you do, you open it up to the best offer around the league instead of covertly negotiating with one team. And you better get a lot more than Anthony Davis, Max Christie and a 2029 first round pick. This trade is two months old and it already has its own Wikipedia page. This appears to be a historically petty personality conflict between Dončić and Mavericks general manager Nico Harrison. Watching Mavericks fans go wild celebrating Luka on Wednesday night, I briefly found myself rooting for the Lakers to whoop their ass. To be clear, I’m horrified that the Lakers once again found a ridiculous way to acquire a rising star. But from a human standpoint, I sort of hope Dončić spends the next 10 years sticking it to Dallas. This is someone who immigrated to a foreign country as a teenager and spent seven years delivering on wildly high expectations. He’s navigated a very complex, often brutal professional sports landscape with grace and class. Yes, he is exceptionally well compensated for this job, but how can you not feel for a guy in this scenario? He thought Dallas was going to be his forever home. It’s important to remember the human element of sports. The Dallas Mavericks are putting on a Master’s course in fan alienation and they deserve every bit of scorn they get for it.