A Goofy Movie

"A Goofy Movie" is the first feature-length cartoon to star "The Goof," a staple of Disney shorts since 1932. And Goofy is teamed with his son Max, a relatively new character, created for Disney's recent daytime TV lineup. Wisely, the screenwriters and artists have decided to deal with this mix by playing to the contrasts of Goofy's "older generation" view of the world (his musical tastes lean toward Xavier Cugat) and his son's teenage view (he's a big fan of rock star "Powerline," a sort of Prince-Michael Jackson amal-gam).

Shy Max wants to impress Roxanne, a girl at school, so he interrupts an assembly on the last day of school by doing a Powerline imitation, and lands in the principal's office. This causes Goofy to wonder if Max needs some father-son bonding. And when Max painfully summons the courage to ask Roxanne out, his date plans are shattered when Goofy decides that a bridge-the-generation-gap fishing trip is in order.

Embarrassed at having to break his first date with Roxanne, Max spins a yarn, telling her that he and his father are headed for Southern California, where they'll be seeing the big Powerline concert. Then he adds that his Dad knows Powerline personally and they'll be on stage with him, adding that she should watch the television coverage because he'll be waving to her. In truth, Goofy is taking Max to his fishing-camping paradise, "Lake Destiny," Idaho.

Most of the film is the road trip, which is, of course, fraught with periodic disasters — including a hilarious encounter with Bigfoot, a parody of Disneyland attractions at "Possum Park" and even a tour of what appears to be southern Utah (making this the second time Utah's red rock scenery has been used in an animated feature — the first being "An American Tale: Fievel Goes West").

Despite the animation being a step down from the level of "The Lion King," it's not shoddy. The characters are expressive and there is nuance that is surprisingly sophisticated. But what really sets "A Goofy Movie" apart is the slam-bang sense of humor, with sight gags, physical humor and verbal banter that is perfectly timed. And timing is everything in movie comedy — whether it's live-action or animation.

On the other hand, the sentimental elements toward the end bog things down a bit, and the animators seem to have had trouble deciding just how "human" to make some of the animal characters — females in particular have become more bosomy and leggy for some reason.

Bill Farmer is great doing Goofy's familiar voice — yes, we do get to hear that famous "Ya-hoo-hoo-hooey" — and other voices are provided by Wallace Shawn, Jo Anne Worley, Pat Buttram, Julie Brown and an unbilled Pauly Shore (who is better in brief animated snippets here than in any of his own features). And even the songs are enjoyable.