Disney's Strange World Would Make An Ideal Double Feature With A Goofy Movie

Walt Disney Animation has a long history of presenting stories about adventures. The House of Mouse has taken its audience on adventures into the woods, under the sea, almost there, just around the riverbend, and into the unknown. Thanks to Pete Docter and Bob Peterson's "Up," Disney fans have been saying, "Adventure is out there!" which has become an unofficial motto for most of Disney's most beloved tales. Now, "Strange World," which is currently in theaters, is continuing the adventure. Sharing the recognizable vibes of newsreels and pulp novels, it would make sense to pair the latest film from Walt Disney Animation with the acclaimed Pixar classic for a double feature. However, the Clade Family's journey to save Avalonia has more in common with a different revered Disney movie: "A Goofy Movie."

Released in 1995, the film directed by Kevin Lima (who would later become known for his work on "Tarzan" and "Enchanted") was meant to be a sequel to the popular animated series "Goof Troop," which featured Goofy as a single dad and introduced his son Max. Due to being a residual project of the exiting chairman Jeffrey Katzenberg, the studio viewed its release as a contractual obligation. After a lackluster release with mixed reviews and a non-Hollywood premiere, it received a second life on home media and found its audience. Now, in addition to adding depth to Goofy beyond his wild, cartoonish antics, "A Goofy Movie" is viewed as a bonafide classic along with the other films of the Disney Renaissance.

"Strange World" seems to be getting the same treatment. With very little pomp and circumstance around the Thanksgiving weekend release, this warm, eco-conscious tale seems like it'll be appreciated more as time goes on, but the real reason that these movies pair so well together is the way they treat father and son relationships.

There are a lot of lessons from "Strange World" and "A Goofy Movie" that can be utilized in our day-to-day lives. For example, Dennis Quaid's character Jaeger Clade serves as an example of how to embrace change in your older years from retirement and beyond in "Strange World." As for "A Goofy Movie," there's also the evergreen reminder that while you may think that lying about yourself makes you look cool, it's not great to build the foundation of your budding relationship on a lie. But the main conversation that these two movies are having is about how fathers and sons should communicate better.

For generations, it was taboo for men to express their feelings, and if they did, they weren't "real men." In reality, this mentality was creating a crop of emotionally stunted people living with pent-up aggression or resentment towards each other even though things could be worked out by simply communicating with each other. In both movies, Goofy and Searcher Clade as fathers recognize that they need to do something about this. For Goofy, he takes his son on a misguided cross-country road trip without consulting Max's plans or desires. For Searcher, he falsely assumes that Ethan will unquestionably take after him as a farmer rather than after his own adventurer father because they're more open with their relationship. And in Jaeger's case, he does the exact same thing as Searcher, except when things come to a head with his son after constant passive aggression toward each other, he storms off and is presumed dead for 25 years. Though they both meant well and things ultimately worked out in the end, talking to their respective sons could have led to less strained experiences in the long run.

Angry and annoyed by their fathers' actions, Max, Searcher, and Ethan all expressed at various points that they didn't want to be like their dads. Each of them got their moment to make amends though. For Ethan, it really was as simple as a conversation, but for the other two, it took pivotal moments to get the job done.

While defending the Venture from the various creatures that were attacking them, in "Strange World," Searcher and Jaeger used Pando pods as projectile weapons. However, the younger Clade never learned how to throw properly. As if they were playing catch in their backyard, the patriarch of the Clade clan went over the steps and patiently showed his son the proper form. Picking things up quickly, the father and son (along with Lucy Liu's Callisto Mal) defended the ship and its inhabitants. But more importantly, it was the start of this duo learning to work together and get along.

Similarly, while they're preparing for the main event at Lake Destiny, Idaho, in "A Goofy Movie," Goofy wants to teach Max about the Perfect Cast, a tried and true method for catching fish passed down from father to son in the Goof family. The initial lesson resulted in a run-in with Big Foot and more animosity, but it sunk in enough for Max to use the technique to save his father later on after they went over a waterfall. Of course, they both famously use it again in the film's climax when they're on stage with Powerline, but that's just the cherry on top.

By sharing these moments with their sons, Jaeger and Goofy were able to penetrate the hard shells that were keeping them out of Searcher and Max's lives. It also opened the sons up to the possibility of letting their dads in more.

The pantheon of Disney films is filled with tales about families of all shapes and sizes, and they all frequently have elements in common. However, there aren't too many Disney films about spontaneous family road trips featuring well-meaning dads, sons looking to forge their own paths, and the wild stops along the way that help them realize that they're not so different. "Strange World" and "A Goofy Movie" are thematically on the same page, and even though they're not both musicals, a double feature made up of these two movies is music to my ears.

"Strange World" is now playing in theaters and "A Goofy Movie" can be found on Disney+.