Gorsh!

Once again, Leonard Maltin turns in a comprehensive and thoroughly entertaining DVD set with The Complete Goofy, the third and final edition of this year’s Walt Disney Treasures series. Including (almost) every short starring Goofy, the set inarguably proves that the artist formerly known as Dippy truly was the most versatile and adaptive of all the Disney cartoon stars.

From his debut as an unknown guffawing bit player in Mickey’s Revue in 1932, to supporting roles as Dippy Dawg, a.k.a. the Goof, in more Mickey shorts throughout the 30s and 40s, to his first starring role (and the first time he was referred to as Goofy) in Goofy and Wilbur in 1939, through his hilarious ‘How To’ series and sports-themed cartoons of the 40s, up to his typical 1950s everyman character, and then finally (jumping forward four decades) to his own television series (Goof Troop) and feature film (A Goofy Movie), taking on the mantle of modern dad in the 90s, Goofy sure has had one impressive career … pretty good for a clumsy, simple-minded (yet always loyal, lovable and laughable) pup from the sticks.

(c) Disney

And, as with the Mickey Mouse in Black and White set, Maltin provides individual commentaries on a few of the shorts (Victory Vehicles, Californy ’Er Bust!, Teachers Are People and For Whom the Bulls Toil … but, curiously, not for No Smoking) to aid contemporary viewers understand the inclusion of racial and ethnic stereotypes, school violence and other now-taboo subjects in the cartoons included, all of which are unedited and uncensored. And some, like Goofy-as-gambling-addict in Get Rich Quick, have not been seen in any form for many years now due to their subject matter.

But, most importantly of all, you have the best of Goofy (almost all directed by the indomitable Jack Kinney), including such classics as How to Play Baseball, How to Play Football, Hockey Homicide, Goofy Gymnastics, Motor Mania (with the classic conflict between Mr. Walker and Mr. Wheeler), Fathers Are People and How to Dance, all together for the first time, perfect for the next time you want to get in touch with your inner Goof.

Bonus Feature Highlights:

• Art Babbitt, acclaimed animator of such characters as the Wicked Queen in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and the dancing mushrooms in Fantasia, was an early proponent in the success of Goofy. Recreated here, in The Essential Goof, is a lecture Babbitt gave to his fellow animators in regards to the correct way to animate their rising star. Excellent insights into the physicality and personality of Goofy are inter-cut with his greatest moments, not only from the shorts presented here, but also black and white and color cartoons from the Mickey Mouse Treasures sets.
• Maltin presents an informative biography of Pinto Colvig: The Man Behind the Goof. Colvig was a studio storyman who occasionally provided voices for the early shorts (Pluto, Practical Pig in Three Little Pigs, the Grasshopper in The Grasshopper and the Ants) as well as two of the seven dwarfs (Grumpy and Sleepy) in Snow White. But his greatest claim to fame was originating such classic Goofyisms as his unmistakable laugh, aw-shucks delivery and his theme song, “The World Owes Me a Livin’”, which Colvig wrote for The Grasshopper and the Ants and later appropriated for the Goof.
• Colvig left big shoes (literally) to fill as Goofy, and Maltin introduces us to the former stand-up comic who now voices him in A Conversation with Bill Farmer. Farmer, who does a killer Pat Buttram impersonation, discusses how he won the role of a lifetime on his very first animated voice audition, a role that he has continued over the past 16 years, encompassing thousands of projects featuring Goofy.
• A most appropriate narrator can be heard in the Goofy Poster and Goofy Through the Years Galleries.