Short Film Saturday: Aquamania (1961)

This Goofy short is notable for a few reasons. The least of which is that this was another chapter in the series of shorts that saw Goofy take up recreational activities or sports with predictably disastrous and hilarious consequences. More interestingly than that is that later in Goofy’s filmography he became increasingly more human, compared to his embryonic state he was positively urbane at this point, such that he became a suburban father later on, and this short features his son, Junior. Interestingly, when Goofy saw a revival in the 1990s in the film A Goofy Movie and the subsequent television series Goof Troop, Junior was supplanted by an older more modern rendition of his son named Max. Seeing as how much time has passed it’d be interesting to see Disney either reintroduce Junior parallel, along side or in place of Max. I think the first possibility could be the most interesting. Sophistication in audiences has taken another step forward and alternate realities, or plot-lines are easier to sell now. It’d be neat to see, as I perpetually dislike characters getting eschewed prematurely. Regardless, this short still stands and it’s quite funny.

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