Honesty, Understanding and Fatherhood: A Faith- Based Look at 'A Goofy Movie.'

Hi everyone, and welcome back to the Nightcrawler Experience!

Now that I've done my devotional to Grandma Elliott, I'll be returning to my series looking at certain Disney films.
 In this installment, I'll be taking a gander at the 1995 animated film 'A Goofy Movie.'

(Credit for this image goes to the user Valyrian Wildfire at the Disney wiki at https://disney.fandom.com/wiki/File:A_Goofy_Movie.png)

 It acts as kind of an extension to the animated TV series 'Goof Troop' which was on the air around the same time, and features most of that show's voice cast reprising their roles.

In this movie, good old Goofy (Voice of Bill Farmer) is starting to get worried that his teenage son Max (Voice of Jason Marsden) may be at risk of becoming a juvenile delinquent. His worries in that regard increase tenfold after Max gets in trouble for disrupting a school assembly to impress his crush Roxanne.
Figuring that a little father- son bonding time could help him and his son reconnect and get Max on the right track, Goofy forces Max into accompanying him on a fishing- trip vacation to Lake Destiny, Idaho, where his own father had apparently taken him on vacation once. Max goes along VERY reluctantly, both because of how embarrassed he is of his dad and because he had been hoping to take Roxanne to a party in which the highlight would be watching a Pay Per View broadcast of a live concert by the hit musician PowerLine. In trying to break the news to Roxanne in a way that'll make her less hurt about breaking their date, Max ends up lying to the girl and telling her that he and his dad were in fact heading to Los Angeles to actually attend the PowerLine concert in person.
The road trip starts on a pretty rough note, between Goofy dragging Max to an incredibly cringe- worthy roadside attraction, and them then having a dangerous camping experience in which they run into Bigfoot. Still, the father and son do bond through the latter of the two experiences, and Goofy decides to make Max the navigator on the trip, entrusting him with the map of their trip and where to make their stops along the way. Max sadly abuses this trust, altering their route so they'll instead go to Los Angeles for the concert so Roxanne won't realize he lied to her. When they at one point stay at the same motel where Goofy's neighbor/ frienemy Pete and his own rather neurotic son PJ (Max's best friend) are staying, Pete discovers what Max is really doing and informs Goofy of this as a way to subtly imply that his own methods of parenting are superior to Goofy's. It all leads to a tense confrontation between Goofy and Max, them being put in a life- threatening situation which ultimately brings about a reconciliation between the two and causes them to finally understand each other, then at last arriving at the PowerLine concert and making a big splash there.

There were a couple problems with 'A Goofy Movie,' I must admit. I felt the scene early on when Goofy takes Max on a disastrous detour to the roadside attraction "Lester's Possum Park" could have been greatly shortened or outright cut. It's not a funny or entertaining scene, all it does is worsen the divide between Goofy and Max, which didn't really need to be done as it was already established that they were rather estranged. In contrast, I feel in the climax of the film, Goofy and Max's arrival in Los Angeles and sneaking backstage into the PowerLine concert were REALLY rushed, and more could have been done in that regard (i.e. Showing the father and son's initial impressions of the city, and their discovering how to sneak past security and into the concert arena). The encounter with Bigfoot also feels a little unresolved, it seems as though the beast eventually just loses interest in them and leaves or something.

All that being said, 'A Goofy Movie' was tons of fun. Plenty of laughs, of course (Mostly slapstick and Goofy's usual antics), but a decent amount of heart, as well.
The characters returning from "Goof Troop" are mostly portrayed the same as they were on that show, with most of the voice actors reprising their roles other than Max. Jason Marsden does a decent job as the new voice of Max, truly making him sound like a rather awkward teenager and conveying all the appropriate emotions in all the right scenes, especially when it comes to anger and embarrassment. The real standout among the voice cast, though, is definitely Bill Farmer as the voice of Goofy. He's been pretty much Disney's go- to voice actor for Goofy ever since the late 80's, but I'd say this is easily his best work with it. Not only does he do an awesome job for the scenes when Goofy's his usual happy and slightly clueless self (His rendition of Goofy's famous yell will never fail to put a grin on your face), but we also see him conveying a surprising amount of emotion for the more serious scenes in which Goofy is angry or sad, especially as the movie nears its climax.

In addition to the established characters in 'A Goofy Movie,' there are some fun new characters who come in, as well. Roxanne could have maybe gotten some more development, but still is a likable character, and a good love interest for Max in a nice- girl- next- door kind of way. What's more, Max's spray- cheese- loving, surfer buddy Bobby (Voice of Pauly Shore, in one of his few generally well- liked roles), and Roxanne's talkative, overachieving friend Stacey both make for some pretty funny moments. Even PowerLine, who we only see a little of, comes across as a friendly and rather down- to- earth guy who handles the interruption of his concert extremely well under the circumstances. Lastly, even though they were only background characters, there's a group of nuns that we see popping up at various points along the road trip (i.e. Driving alongside Goofy and Max and singing along to "On the Open Road," stopping for breakfast at the same diner that the two of them stop at, and so on), and learning of their own trip's ultimate destination will definitely have you laughing.

The music for 'A Goofy Movie' was really cool, too. The opening song "After Today," in which Max excitedly heads to his last day of school with the intent of impressing Roxanne, with him and his classmates happily singing about their plans for the summer, was really fun and catchy, a perfect way to get your energy pumped and get excited for how the movie will go from there. The driving song "On the Open Road" was better than I had remembered it being, mainly for how well it balances multiple viewpoints and musical styles. We hear Goofy's optimism about the trip, Max's pessimism about it, and as other passing motorists join in, they each bring their own style to the song. The most memorable songs in the movie, though, are definitely the two PowerLine songs, "Stand Out" and especially "Eye to Eye." They each have a great Michael Jackson/ Prince feel to them, and practically scream 1990's, though not really in a dated sort of way (In fact, on a Youtube video for "Eye to Eye," one commenter got a LOT of upvotes for her comment "Attention 80's and 90's kids, please stand up for the National Anthem."). You'll definitely be humming "Eye to Eye" for a while afterwards.

So, while 'A Goofy Movie' is definitely not one of Disney's greatest masterpieces, it's still a very fun movie that kids and adults could both really like.


I can think of a couple Scriptural lessons that can be taken from 'A Goofy Movie.' The first concerns effective parenting, which is one of the main focal points of the movie in general. In the movie, we see two heavily contrasting philosophies on parenting through Goofy and Pete's respective treatment of their sons. Goofy is generally laidback and permissive of Max, while Pete is incredibly strict and demanding towards his own son PJ. Pete tries to encourage Goofy to be much harsher with Max, at one point telling him while bowling, "If you keep him under your thumb, he won't roll in the gutter." To emphasize this point, when his ball then knocks down all but one of the pins, Pete bellows for PJ to come up and knock over the final pin so it could be considered a strike. Goofy tries this approach a little with Max, but it doesn't work well. He and Max connect the most when he gives Max freedom and trust, even if Max does ultimately abuse that trust by altering the map.
The two contrasting views in parenting are especially prominent when Pete learns of Max's altering the map and tells Goofy about it in a motel hot tub. Refusing to believe it, Goofy says, "You know, maybe Max isn't all the things you think a son should be, but he loves me." Pete rather coldly responds, "MY son RESPECTS me."
The funny thing about this exchange is, even though Pete was shown to have won this little argument, that particular line of his was 100% wrong. He fails to realize that there is a BIG difference between respect and fear. PJ is shown to clearly be terrified of Pete and his temper, immediately obeying his every word not out of a son's healthy respect for his father, but purely out of fear of how Pete will react if anything goes wrong. If Pete carries on with this approach to parenting, PJ would likely grow up to be the kind of adult who deeply resents and distances himself from his father for this treatment. It definitely brings to mind Ephesians 3:21, which says "Fathers, do not provoke your children, lest they become discouraged." Godly parents are to provide guidance and at times discipline to their children and make sure they don't go astray, but not to let it cross the line from assertive discipline to sheer tyranny the way Pete does. Setting limits is an important part of parenting, but so are providing kids with enough freedom to grow, and making sure that kids know they are loved.
 Unlike Pete, Goofy DOES learn how to become a better father; He takes a much more active interest in his son's life and does all he can to be there for Max and help him grow into a good, responsible adult. Max starts taking Goofy's various suggestions and bits of advice more to heart through this approach, and their previously fragile relationship becomes a strong bond because of it. It ties into Proverbs 22:6, which says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."


I think another key theological message to be found in 'A Goofy Movie' relates to the themes of honesty and openness. Most of the conflicts that come about between Goofy and Max over the course of the movie are because of them not being open to each other. They don't reveal to each other their true motivations for what they do (Goofy bringing Max on the trip out of his fear of Max possibly becoming a delinquent who might end up in jail, and Max wanting to go to the party because he had a date lined up for it with a girl he was genuinely fond of and had been trying to impress for months) until near the end of the film, skirting around these issues and causing all kinds of problems for both of them in the process. If they had shared their respective concerns with each other early on, they would likely have avoided nearly all the troubles they faced over the course of the film. Psalm 119:130 sums this up well: "The unfolding of your words gives light; It imparts understanding to the simple."

These themes of honesty and openness are also shown through what unfolds with Max and Roxanne. Max's initial lie to Roxanne ended up putting him in a bad position in which his only options would be to either alter the map so they'd go to Los Angeles (Thereby betraying his father's trust), or admit to Roxanne that he lied to her (In which case she'd hate him and the rest of their friends likely would as well). Indeed, dishonesty and avoiding issues can similarly put all of us into similarly bad positions and lose- lose scenarios.
Colossians 3:9 puts it plainly, "Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices." Max ends up demonstrating this principle in the film's final scene, as even though he and his father were clearly seen on TV at the concert, he still tells Roxanne the whole truth about what happened, including confessing the lie he told her earlier.

So, that about wraps up 'A Goofy Movie,' a fun little ride of  a movie that imparts wonderful theological lessons about what good parenting looks like and the importance of honesty and understanding in our relationships.
 These messages are summed up well by the the refrain to the movie's song "Eye to Eye":
"If we listen to each other's hearts,
 we'll find we're never too far apart;
and maybe love is the reason why,
for the first time ever, we're seeing it eye to eye."

That's all for this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. There are still two more entries to go in my look at Disney films, so keep your eyes peeled for them. Until then, stay safe and healthy, and may God bless you all!

Tending to the Vulnerable, Gaining Wisdom, and Passing On in Peace.

Hello, everyone, and welcome to another edition of the Nightcrawler Experience!
I am putting my look at Disney movies on hold for a little bit, as something important has come up that I knew I needed to address as soon as possible.
This is a sad one for me, because I do it in memory of my grandmother, Janet Elliott, who passed away on the evening of May 28th at the age of 95. She had been my last remaining grandparent. It's sad, but I know it was her time: She's finally at peace, and reunited with my grandpa and others in Heaven.

(Here she is with Grandpa, in a picture taken shortly before his passing in 2009; I have no doubt the two are now together again in Heaven)

 Grandma's love and wisdom were such a strong force in my mother's side of the family ever since I could remember. Her smile at the sight of my family and I whenever she saw us always brought a matching one to my own face, and her soft, gentle voice always filled me with peace and contentment.
She was a brilliant genealogist who traced my mother's side of the family back over a thousand years (She once said my earliest known ancestor was a Viking warrior who lived in the tenth century AD), even before the advent of all the ancestry- type Internet sites that would come along in the last 10- 15 years or so, and uncovered links in our ancestry that I never could have imagined.
 She was a classy and sophisticated woman with a lot of appreciation for art, history and especially literature, driving home for us the importance of knowledge, both gaining it and then sharing it with others. It's why, when I spoke at her burial yesterday, I used a couple verses from Proverbs, as that whole book deals largely with the importance of wisdom and knowledge.

This last point about her is why this is going to be a strange entry on the Nightcrawler Experience. It deals with a movie that honestly does not hold much in the way of class and sophistication, and I doubt Grandma would have been much of a fan of it, yet as I rewatched it recently, it not only reminded me of Scriptural lessons, but also of her. So, I decided to look at it here in honor of her. That movie is known as 'Bubba Ho- Tep.'


(Credit for this image goes to the user Brian Kurtz at https://headhuntershorrorhouse.fandom.com/wiki/Bubba_Ho-Tep?file=Bubba_Ho-Tep.jpg)


It is a 2002 horror- comedy film (Though it is MUCH more of a comedy film than a horror film), starring one of my all- time favorite actors, Bruce Campbell, as well as the late Ossie Davis.
DISCLAIMER! This film is rated R, mainly for language. So, be aware before watching it or letting kids watch it!
The story takes place in a massively run- down and depressing Texas nursing home. Bruce Campbell plays a resident of the home who claims to be none other than Elvis Presley, apparently still alive all these decades after he had been believed dead. The explanation "Elvis" gives for this is that he had basically grown tired of fame and switched identities with an Elvis impersonator named Sebastian Haff, so it was really Sebastian Haff who had died of a heart attack that day in 1977, while the real Elvis comfortably faded into obscurity impersonating himself. Now, however, he is a fat old man stuck in this rathole of a nursing home, wondering how he could have gone from the King of Rock 'n Roll to his current miserable state. One of the few friends he has in the nursing home is a man named Jack (Ossie Davis), who has his own interesting claim on a famous identity: He claims to be John F. Kennedy. While the account "Elvis" gives of how he is still alive isn't TOO farfetched and could possibly be the truth, you definitely get the feeling that Jack is just kind of loopy (He claims that it's all one enormous conspiracy; When it's pointed out that he is black and John F. Kennedy was a white man, he responds, "That's how clever they are! They dyed me this color!").

Things start to get interesting when we learn that an ancient, cursed Egyptian mummy was stolen from a nearby museum by a couple guys. A freak storm suddenly kicked up as they made their getaway, causing the stolen bus that the thieves were using to go off a bridge and into a river near the nursing home, and the mummy eventually manages to come back to life and escape from the river, now clad in a cowboy hat and matching boots (Presumably taken from one of the dead thieves). It heads to the nursing home each night, and begins sustaining itself by sucking the souls from the elderly residents there (I'd rather not mention HOW the mummy does this, as it's not pleasant), killing them in the process. What's worse, we find out that those who die in this way don't get to go on to the afterlife or anything, as their souls are simply digested. Elvis and Jack eventually discover together what's happening, and realize that they're the only ones who can stop the mummy (Which Elvis at one point nicknames "Bubba Ho- Tep," due to the cowboy duds it wears) and thus save themselves and all their friends at the nursing home from meeting this horrible fate.


'Bubba Ho- Tep' does have a few problems, I'll admit. First up, they could have revealed more of the mummy's backstory. Elvis at one point reads a bit of the mummy's mind (Long story), causing us to see through a brief flashback that in life, he was a rather prominent Egyptian citizen, possibly the brother of a pharaoh, who for some reason was mummified alive and cursed; However, unlike Boris Karloff's Imhotep in 'The Mummy' (Or, for that matter, Arnold Vosloo's performance as the same character in the Brendan Fraser version of that film), we never learn why this particular ancient Egyptian received such a severe punishment. If the flashback scene were a bit longer, it could have revealed that. Also, we only really meet a couple of the other nursing home residents besides Elvis and Jack, and even then only briefly (Though I suppose that's somewhat understandable; Since most of the other people there clearly think Elvis and Jack are both nuts, it makes sense they wouldn't be terribly popular); Letting us get to know a couple more of them would help better drive home the urgency of the situation. A final minor issue I had with the film was that there's kind of a running joke centering around the fact that Elvis has an infected, probably- cancerous growth on a certain part of his anatomy (Fortunately, it's never seen; That fact apparently made Bruce Campbell feel much easier about accepting the role). It gets a little tiresome after a while.


Alright now, there's plenty to like about 'Bubba Ho- Tep.' First, there's how unique it is (And not just the fact that the heroes are apparently celebrities who are supposed to be dead). Since so many horror movies involve characters no older than 30 or so, seeing a horror film in which the heroes are elderly is quite refreshing. Speaking of which, the film does a good job of pointing out/ criticizing the attitude that so much of our society has toward the elderly, the way our culture views them as just unnecessary burdens dumped into nursing homes to die.
 The film perfectly fits the definition of a horror- comedy, as it has both scary moments (Particularly the way that, when the mummy is walking towards someone, all the lights near it either go out or burst, as if they cannot tolerate its evil presence), and incredibly funny moments (i.e. Many of Elvis's narrative monologues are hilarious).
     The mummy itself looks great, a brown rotted corpse in a cowboy hat and boots, with a slow walk and a few mystical powers (i.e. it phases itself through a locked door in one scene and teleports in another scene, as well as its aforementioned soul- sucking). Unlike mummies in other films, this mummy is largely silent; It only says two lines, growled out in ancient Egyptian with amusing hieroglyphic subtitles popping up to translate it. 
As for set designs, most of it takes place in the nursing home, which looks suitably dull and run- down, probably with a whole laundry list of health/ safety- code violations. I'd imagine that when elderly people are afraid that their kids might have them put in a nursing home, they envision it as being a lot like this one.
      The film's music is an interesting subject. It is mostly very well- done, taking generally the same melody but styling it several different ways, depending on what the mood is for each scene it's used in. There are times when it sounds creepy, times when it sounds rocking and fun, times when it sounds slow and inspirational, and so on. The music was all written and performed by Brian Tyler, doing every instrument. First he'd record himself playing the drums, then he'd record himself playing the guitar, and so on, and finally splice all the recordings together so it sounds like a full band doing it, and it sounds great.
      Last but not least, there's the performances. Bruce Campbell is hoestly magnificent as Elvis. He pulls off the accent perfectly, and goes on a full range of emotions throughout the movie. He starts out bitter and disgusted with himself and his present state, then obviously frightened when he learns that the mummy is real, and finally brave and stoic as he realizes the time has come for him to confront Bubba Ho- Tep and be the hero so many people viewed him as in his prime. He is also, as usual, incredibly funny, with one great line after another. I'd say it's easily one of Campbell's best performances.
 Ossie Davis turns in a good performance as Jack, aka "JFK." Even though, as I said, you get the feeling that he's probably just a crazy old man, he still comes across as quite intelligent on several topics, and is a very likable character with his own amounts of funny lines (i.e. Near the film's climax, when Elvis asks him what Marilyn Monroe was like, Jack responds, "That is classified information! Top secret! But, between you and me..... WOW!").
 A worthwhile supporting performance comes from Ella Joyce as Elvis's frustrated nurse. She comes across as a woman who has clearly put up with Elvis's rather rude behavior and the various other unpleasant duties of her job for a very long time and become grudgingly accepting of them if only for the sake of humoring him.
In short, 'Bubba Ho- Tep' is quite an entertaining movie, a great horror- comedy film worth a watch if you're into that genre. It's also currently available to watch for free on VUDU, if you have an account with that site (Which is free).



As for both Scriptural messages that can be taken from 'Bubba Ho- Tep,' and how I tie it to Grandma, the two are connected, as the Scriptural lessons I took from it can also remind me of her in certain ways.
First and foremost is the message shown on how important it is to properly treat and care for the elderly. This film is a subtle yet great indictment of the despicable apathy that so much of our society can have towards the elderly and infirm, viewing them as relics and burdens to be tossed into third- rate nursing homes to die alone and largely forgotten by those who profess to care about them. We see this early on in the film, as Elvis's roommate, "Bull," dies from an illness in one of the opening scenes. His adult daughter, Callie, comes by to clear out his things, and we see her rather callously tossing some of Bull's stuff into the trash, including even his Purple Heart medal that he apparently had been quite proud of (Fortunately, Elvis manages to save it, and keeps it with him at the climax of the film, as some "Good mojo" to help as he and Jack prepare to confront the mummy). During a brief conversation Elvis has with Callie, he notes that he had never seen her around the nursing home before, to which Callie cold- heartedly replies that she had only been there once before: When she first dropped her father off there. Bull had been there presumably for years, yet his own daughter never ONCE visited him or did anything for him during his time there.

 For how this connects to my grandma, it's because of the gratitude I have that my family and I WEREN'T like that towards her. We always stayed in touch with her and checked in on her well- being, frequently visited her, and did everything in our power to make her as comfortable as possible. When we had to put her in a home during her final weeks, even though the facility was on complete lockdown due to the COVID- 19 pandemic, one of my aunts would talk to her through the window of her (Grandma's) room! I am immensely grateful that I was able to call her four days before she passed, and she seemed to be in good spirits then. Even though Grandma's last few weeks on this Earth were not often enjoyable as her body broke down, she had the peace of knowing that her family dearly loved her, were thinking about her and praying for her, and did all they could for her.

We all as Christians are to similarly show compassion and respect towards the elderly. Even early on in the Bible, in Leviticus 19:32, one of God's commands for the people of Israel is "You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God; I am the Lord." So, God right away wanted His children to honor and respect the aged people among their numbers. In Psalm 19:32, it says "Do not cast me off in the time of old age; Forsake me not when my strength is spent." While the Psalmist is technically speaking to God with that exhortation, it can apply to people around him, as well. Lastly, there is a verse I've used a couple times in the past on this blog, but it still holds true: 1 Timothy 5:8 says "But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." We must look after all in our families, young or old, not toss them aside.



Another important Scriptural point to take from the movie relates to the importance of wisdom and knowledge. In spite of how eccentric the character Jack is, he is also a surprisingly intelligent, well- read person who even at his age has not grown tired of learning new things, and the library research he conducts relating to the mummy proves invaluable in helping him and Elvis to stop it. As for why this relates to Grandma, I'd say it's because she was a good deal like Jack in the film (Minus his delusions of grandeur, of course); As I said earlier, she was an incredibly intelligent and wise person, well- versed on a variety of topics, and eager to impart that knowledge to others so they can learn as well. She remained that way all her life, striving to learn more and help those close to her do the same. Indeed, the first things I think of whenever I think of Grandma are generally her wisdom and intelligence.

We should all seek to continue to read and learn more, the way Grandma always did, ESPECIALLY as Christians. Proverbs 1:5 points out that "A wise man will hear and increase understanding, and a man of understanding will attain wise counsel." Also, Proverbs 3:13 says "Happy is the man who gains wisdom, and the man who gains understanding." God would not have us be ignorant, but continue to grow and expand the incredible minds He has given us. Grandma understood that truth, and we all should do the same.



I'd say the final message to be taken from 'Bubba Ho- Tep' concerns how to leave this world in peace. In the very end of the movie, Elvis has destroyed Bubba Ho- Tep, kept his own soul intact, saved the others in the nursing home from falling victim to the foul creature, and it appears that he even managed to save some of the souls that the mummy had drained (As the mummy expires, we see what look like human souls flying out of it). However, he was mortally wounded in the process and knows his time has come. Before he dies, Elvis looks up into the night sky, and to the accompaniment of a soft yet incredibly beautiful and tranquil piano rendition of the film's theme music, he sees some of the stars move around to form Egyptian hieroglyphics that spell out a simple yet poignant phrase: "All is Well." The meaning to that is clear: With the cursed mummy destroyed and all the people in the nursing home and elsewhere now safe, harmony and balance have been restored, and Elvis can now die in peace knowing that he did the good work he set out to do.

This connects to Grandma, as I believe as she neared the end, she similarly had no fear or worry about death; She led a very long and full life, and more importantly, she knew Jesus, and thus knew that her death would not be the end, but a new beginning, so she was able to pass on with peace and ease in that knowledge. I wouldn't be surprised if her final thoughts were some variant on that phrase, "All is Well."
Indeed, for those of us who follow Christ, death is nothing to be afraid of. Jesus says in John 11:25- 26 that "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this?" Also, Revelation 14:13 says, "And I heard a voice from Heaven, saying, 'Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.' 'Blessed indeed,' says the Spirit, 'that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!'" For us who trust in Jesus, death means we can rest from the cares and worries and labors of this life, and experience an incredible, eternal new life in Heaven, peace in the best sense. Grandma is experiencing the truth of this firsthand at this moment.


So, that sums up my look at 'Bubba Ho- Tep,' and at the great life of Grandma Elliott. Rest in peace, Grandma, you've earned it a hundred times over.
That's the end of this edition of the Nightcrawler Experience. Keep an eye out for when I resume my look at Disney films, which will be very soon. Until then, take care, stay safe, and may God bless you all!