The Music Behind Not Just A Goof
In the backdrop of the Disney renaissance, an experiment in feature film animation was unfolding. The question at hand by executives at the time was whether a lower-budget animated movie could compete with its higher-budget counterparts. Could a much more smaller staffed and under-funded crew of filmmakers create something that could rival the likes of The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and other Disney tent-poles of the time? Few who grew up with the A Goofy Movie have ever heard about this story, but Not Just A Goof is here to tell it.
First day of interviewing Kevin Lima
The Beginning
One day, long-time friends and filmmakers Christopher Ninness and Eric Kimelton called me and expressed how they wanted to tell the story of A Goofy Movie and its unlikely fandom that still celebrates it as a cult classic film today. I was all in. As a kid in the early '90s, it was a magical time for cinema and music, and A Goofy Movie was among the greats in those formative years.
Since this was going to be a purely indie effort, our entire crew, consisting of just three people, set out to meet the creators of A Goofy Movie and hear the story straight from the source.
Our interviews with Kevin Lima and the rest of the crew was a surreal experience. The experiences and wisdom they freely shared is something that the three of us still hold very close. As we learned more about how the film came to be, the metaphorical lens widened as we realized this story was much bigger in terms of scope, complexity and nuance than we had previously thought.
The Score
Even before we had shot our first interview, I knew I wanted the score for Not Just A Goof to capture that '90s soundtrack feel. Composers like John Williams, Alan Menken, Bruce Broughton, Alan Silvestri, Michael Kamen, and, of course, Carter Burwell and Don Davis were at the top of their game, creating incredible soundtracks that would define the '90s. If Not Just A Goof was going to be a love letter to the films that shaped us, then the music had to be as well.
For me, the themes of the score had to capture the wide spectrum of emotions that one is inevitably faced during the creation of art. This emotional range is palpable throughout the film. Murphy’s law, a frequent friend of the crew, keeps the audiences emotions guessing at what’s around the corner.
The “Creation” theme was an attempt to musically capture the feeling of excitement, urgency, joy, and surrealism that the filmmakers experienced when given such a huge opportunity at Disney. This theme was going to have many embodiments throughout the film, from brazenly energetic to introspectively tender. Fully embracing some of my favorite scores of the ‘90s, the melody is heavily rooted in lydian for its sense of innocence and wonder which dances with a call and response structure that never quite resolves before modulating away from the original key.
Creation Theme
Another theme that came early on in the writing process was what I called the “Living Animation Theme.” I wanted to capture the delicate nature of working with animation. As I watched footage of the Goofy movie team crafting what would one day be the movie we know and love, I was very captivated by the small, masterful movement of their drawing. The animator’s pages flipping back and forth as we wait with anticipation for the birth of just a few frames of animation.
Living Animation Theme
One of the most important themes for the film was the “Father-Son” theme. The dynamic of the relationship between Goofy and Max throughout the original movie echoes thematically throughout our story on many levels. From Kevin and his father, to Chris and his father, to the original film itself perhaps parenting us as children when we needed it most. I wanted to encapsulate the idea that being a good father or a good son isn’t always an easy road, filled with many ups and downs. Note the literal up and down arcs of the melodic structure as well as the 3/4 time signature to give it a sense of romanticism and maybe even understanding.
Father-Son Theme
Eric, Chris, and Cameron
"The Goofy Movie," for my generation, served as a paragon of storytelling. It somehow perfectly captured the essence of parent-child relationships and distilled it into something extremely memorable and, even more importantly, relatable. Our hope with “Not Just A Goof” is to commemorate A Goofy Movie’s true underdog effort to create art for art’s sake and recognize it’s rightful designation as a Disney classic.
The Not Just A Goof (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is available for digital download here in the store here at CameronChambers.com and will also be available on your favorite streaming service April 11th.