D23 Expo 2015 Highlight: A Goofy Movie Celebration

It’s hard to believe that 20 years ago, A Goofy Movie debuted in theaters. I personally have been a fan of Goofy ever since I can remember. Watching Goof Troop as part of the Disney Afternoon was somewhat of a ritual for my brother and I. Now that I am grown up and go to the Disney Theme Parks regularly, I will never pass up an opportunity to take my picture with the Goofster. So, you bet that, when I heard that there was going to be a special panel at D23 Expo 2015 celebrating the 20th Anniversary of this movie, I cleared my schedule for that Friday night, where laughs were had and history was made.

Sadly, it was asked that there be no video recording. At least they did it in a fun way!

The panel was hosted by Don Hahn, who was the Producer for such Disney masterpieces as Hunchback of Notre Dame, Beauty and the Beast, and The Lion King.

 

Panel members for this celebration included:

Screenwriter Jymn Magon and voice of Stacy, Jenna Von Oy

 

Voice of PJ, Rob Paulsen

Voice of Pete, Jim Cummings

Voice of Max, Jason Marsden

and…

Voice of Goofy, Bill Farmer!

Of course, there had to be special guests who sent in congratulatory videos. First up was the movie’s director, Kevin Lima, who marveled at the fan following of the movie and shared a look at some rare statues made for retail that never made it into production.

 

Then there was Wallace Shawn, who voiced Principal Mazur… and who’s video was hilarious.

Last up was the one and only Pauly Shore as Bobby…. Cheddar whizzy! When his video ended, they brought out canned cheese and crackers for the panel, and some of the audience, to have.

A couple of highlights during the panel for me was when the got into the character voicing and Bill Framer talked about how they actually wanted Goofy to have a “normal” voice. He had a hard time grasping that they wanted to use his regular voice for Goofy, but recorded it anyhow. Soon thereafter, once people finally came to their sense, he was back in re-recording the lines using his Goofy voice. All told, Farmer spent well over a month, on and off, in the recording studio for A Goofy Movie.

When it came around to Jim Cummings, there was no doubt that Pete would be portrayed as he always has been,,, self proclaimed “father of the year”… what was fun was that Jim broke into two of his other Disney voices, Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, during the panel… something I loved seeing.

The came a point in the panel when they paid tribute to the late Pat Buttram, a talented TV and voice actor whose last movie was A Goofy Movie. In the movie, he played the Emcee of Lester’s Possum Park, which always reminded me of Country Bear Jamboree gone awfully wrong.

The segment where they talked about “Easter Eggs” was fun, as I always enjoy trying to find them in the Disney movies (almost every one of them has at least one these days… the trick of a good animator is to put them in without the audiance realizing it outright.

Did you know that Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert gave A Goofy Movie “Two Thumbs Up!” while, as a whole the movie had very mixed reviews? However, the legacy lives on, and cast members talked about numerous times throughout the panel of people coming up to them and telling them how the movie got them trough a tough time with a parent, especially the father/ son relationship. Perhaps Siskel and Ebert were on to something when they praised the movie for it’s “sweet” father and son plot.

For me, the most exciting part of the panel came when Jason Marsden and Bill Farmer got up to sing “On the Open Road” together… for the first time… ever. You see, Marsden was not the singing voice of Max when the movie was made (Aaron Lohr sang the part), so he never got the chance to see how he could handle singing with Farmer. So, in a historical duet, the two sang together, and Marsden more than held his own.

When the panel concluded, there was one final surprise… a concert from Powerline! The music started playing, and Tevin Campbell, the voice of Powerline in the movie, came out with a dance troupe and they all led the crowd in a room shakin’ rendition of “Eye 2 Eye”.

Of course, Farmer had to get into character.

And, with that, the panel concluded, and with it a wonderful first day at D23 Expo.

I would like to take this time to thank my friend Pat Brady for this experience. It was through Pat that I was sitting four rows back watching this awesome panel, as one of Bill Farmer and his wife Jennifer’s guests. I was honored to be there taking it all in with a crowd of about 900 people, all there to celebrate their love for this movie… and Goofy.

Of course, later on in the weekend, I was introduced to the cast while on the show floor (I previously have known Rob Paulsen, but with the rest this was the first time) and got my picture taken with the head Goof himself…. GWARSH!