Story time! While I never even heard of the first Goofy movie, I actually had this on VHS back when I was most likely 5 and watched it regularly, and boy howdy this movie may have have left an impact on me I'm only just now rediscovering. The story I feel is somewhat better and somewhat worse than the last, with Max heading to college and pretty soon after Goofy has to go back to school for a better chance of employment (You remember when college meant something?), and then they get embroiled in the X Games which is a whole other ass story and...I'm split. The last movie was very much Max's film despite the title but here the focus is split between our two leads and their subsequent college lives, and while I do understand both characters have stories to finish I do wish it could have focused on just one. I honestly adored Goofy's story in this movie, from that almost akin to a death in the family loss when your kid goes to college which honestly kinda cut me deep and it did even more so when I was younger even if I was too young to fully comprehend why, to him finding a girlfriend, to him being able to let Max be his own individual, that's a pretty friggin' strong story all by itself! Whereas with Max I almost feel like all the character growth from last movie got thrown into the incinerator and we're back to square one, with him wanting nothing to do with his dad and just wants to compete at the X Games which leans a little too close to character assassination for me personally, and there's just nothing even slightly interesting going on in his story. Hell I was having more fun seeing PJ get this sassy hipster girlfriend and their background relationship more than Max's story. The voice acting is still just as good even on a direct to video production, Bill still has such a wide range of emotions to play with and interesting dynamics to keep it entertaining, Jason leans heavier into the young adult angst and cockiness which fits the story even if it isn't that engaging. Bebe Neuwirth I feel is criminally underused as Sylvia, Goofy has a girlfriend and why the fuck are people not talking about that? This dorky ass, nerdy, redhaired librarian is such a sweet presence and the relationship feels real although I'm screaming to the heavens for it to be expanded upon in the still 82 minute runtime. They vastly deserved more on screen time together and for a Disney animated movie, that could have broke all new ground. Jeff Bennett was pulling overtime on this production with three characters including our main antagonist Brad, who my God is he hateable for such a stock jock character so props to him on that! The animation quality has dipped a notch as is common with direct to video material but it's far far from bad, with pretty solid use of color, rather fluid animation for a budget, and can have some scale to it when needed. This damn soundtrack though, holy shit! How is it that the cheaper movie has a better soundtrack than the theatrical film, with Pat Benatar, John Avila, Carmen Carter, and the friggin' Partridge Family?? And it's not covers either, it is flat out the song! We get a Saturday Night Fever dance sequence for crying out loud! So I guess my love for disco started at a young age. You see what I mean? Some aspects are maybe a little too good and some are just average at best! It's fairly aggravating I must say. Which does make me understand why absolutely no one brings up this movie, it makes the first movie seem almost hallowed but the good stuff shines bright even amidst all the other stuff. I still was super happy to revisit this movie which I probably haven't seen in 20 years and though it didn't hold entirely up I can still recommend it. 2.5 stars, 6.5/10!
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