Product Description

With a gentle, childlike innocence, Goofy has delighted audiences for 70 years. For the first time ever, celebrate Walt Disney's lumbering, lovable, and eternally loyal everyman in this retrospective of his classic animated shorts and enjoy the heyday of one of the most popular characters in cartoon history. Unlike the rest of Disney's "mouse pack," Goofy didn't become a major movie star overnight. This compilation of shorts begins with the Goof's first starring role. The volume also includes animator Art Babbitt's original descriptive reference of all things Goofy, the original voice behind the Goof, Pinto Colvig, and an exclusive interview with the current voice of Goofy, Bill Farmer. You'll also have the opportunity to see theatrical posters and other memorabilia, a selection of story drawings, and background paintings. After all, it's the Goofy thing to do. Featuring exclusive introductions by film historian Leonard Maltin, this is a timeless collection from generations past for generations to come.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15840 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-12-03
• Rating: G (General Audience)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 326 minutes

Amazon.com
In Stand By Me (1986), one of the boys asks, "If Mickey is a mouse and Donald is a duck, what's Goofy?" The answer: he's a dog. Originally named Dippy Dawg, the Goof, as the animators called him, made his debut as an obnoxious hayseed in "Mickey's Revue" (1932). This generous collection includes 46 of the 48 shorts that starred Goofy between 1939 and 1961 (but none of the great Mickey-Donald-Goofy films from the mid-'30s). The "How to Ride a Horse" sequence in The Reluctant Dragon (1941) set the pattern for many of these cartoons. An elegant narrator (artist John Ployardt) explains a sport that Goofy attempts to demonstrate. The character that animator Art Babbitt described in a 1935 lecture (quoted in the DVD bonus material) as an easygoing dimbulb gave way to an enthusiastic but spectacularly maladroit figure. One of the funniest entries in the series, "Hockey Homicide," contains several studio in-jokes: dueling stars Icebox Bertino and Fearless Ferguson, and referee Clean-Game Kinney are named for artists Al Bertino, Norm Ferguson, and director Jack Kinney.

During the '50s, Goofy was transformed into a genial suburban Everyman in such domestic sitcoms as "Fathers Are People," "Two Weeks Vacation," and "Father's Day Off." The animators reduced his floppy ears and buck teeth, improved his posture, and gave him a brisker walk. The best-known short from this period is "Motor Mania" (1950), a mildly didactic spoof of American behavior on the road that was shown in driver's education classes for decades. (Unrated: Suitable for all ages: cartoon violence) --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

All 46 Goofy cartoons...
Here is a list of all forty-six Goofy cartoons--year by year--contained on this new Disney Treasures collection:

1939-"Goofy and Wilbur" (Goofy's first official "solo" short)

1940-"Goofy's Glider" (The first in the long-running "How-to" series)

1941-"Baggage Buster", "The Art of Skiing", "The Art of Self-Defense"

1942-"How to Play Baseball", "The Olympic Champ", "How to Swim", "How to Fish"

1943-"Victory Vehicles" (Could have been released under the delayed "Wartime Cartoons" Disney Treasures collection)

1944-"How to Be a Sailor", "How to Play Golf", "How to Play Football"

1945-"Tiger Trouble", "African Diary", "Californy er Bust", "Hockey Homicide"

1946-"A Knight for a Day", "Double Dribble"

1947-"Foul Hunting"

1948-"They're Off", "The Big Wash"

1949-"Tennis Racquet", "Goofy Gymnastics"

1950-"Motor Mania", "Hold That Pose"

1951-"Lion Down", "Home Made Home", "Cold War", "Tomorrow We Diet", "Get Rich Quick", "Fathers Are People", "No Smoking"

1952-"Father's Lion", "Hello Aloha", "Man's Best Friend", "Two Gun Goofy", "Teachers Are People", "Two Weeks Vacation", "How to Be a Detective"

1953-"Father's Day Off", "For Whom the Bulls Toil", "Father's Weekend", "How to Dance", "How to Sleep" (the last of the "How-to" series made for the big screen)

1961-"Aquamania"

Though this collection is "The Complete Goofy", it would have been nice to include the two cartoons Goofy did with Donald Duck ("No Sail" and "Crazy with the Heat") in 1945 and '47, respectively (probably saved for a later Donald Duck collection in the DT series). Also, "How to Ride a Horse" and "El Gaucho Goofy" (taken from "The Reluctant Dragon" and "Saludos Amigos", respectively) were re-released in an animated short format in the 1950's, but are obviously unnecessary to include in this collection. Goofy also appeared in "Freewayphobia" and "Freewayphobia #2" (both in 1965) which also appears to not be included here (probably because these were educational films produced extensively during this time by the Disney company).

Many of the above-mentioned Goofy shorts contained controversial scenes that have been removed and/or altered by the Disney company in recent years. This collection is promising that they will all be uncut--so let's hope they will be seen the way they were originally seen if only for the historical context. Last year's "Mickey Mouse in Living Color" and "Silly Symphonies" collections lived up to that promise, though the "Disneyland USA" set had some perplexing cuts.

This collection is one of three exciting, new releases this December in the second wave of the continuing Disney Treasures series (and extremely limited edition--125,000 appearing to be made instead of the 150,000 last year). There were supposed to be four releases again this year, but the intended fourth (Disney Wartime Cartoons) was delayed for reasons--as of this writing--unexplained by host/compiler of the DT series, Leonard Maltin.

The other two releases for this year: "Mickey Mouse in Black and White", and "Behind the Scenes at the Disney Studio."

Be Wary Buyers
This is an excellent product as the other reviews suggest, but be wary of purchasing from the second hand sellers...They are overcharging for a product still available through the Disney Video club...I just purchased my brand new dvd for 29.95 from the club, February 2006. Yes, you have to join, but at least you will have product to equal the high price...100 dollars can buy you 3 other vids...I shake my head at this.

Disappointing Menu Options
I enjoy the content of this DVD a great deal. Unfortunately, this DVD set leaves off a valuable option available on last year's MICKEY MOUSE IN COLOR and SILLY SYMPHONY compilations--the ability to "view all" with a single command on the menu. Instead, viewers will have to manually choose each cartoon, one at a time. I hope that Disney will reconsider in determining the playback options in future short feature compilations.