Studio: Walt Disney Productions
Distributor: Buena Vista Distribution
Produced by: Walt Disney
Short Synopsis
A narrator presents a scientific case study of "aquamania", an obsession with boats and boating. The subject is a perfectly ordinary man, Mr. X, played by Goofy. Every weekend Mr. X and his son hitch their motorboat to the car and join the crowds heading for the water, and the narrator observes his symptoms with clinical detachment. Out on the lake, Goofy is tangled up in a water-skiing race he never meant to enter. An unfortunate octopus becomes wrapped around his skis and ends up joining him in the race. The skiing takes him off course into a waterside amusement park, where Goofy, the octopus and the skis are carried up and around the track of a roller coaster, at full speed, in front of the horrified crowds. Somehow Goofy comes out the other side, still upright on his skis, and crosses the finishing line first, winning the race and the trophy without the faintest idea how.
Why It Matters
- The roller-coaster sequence, with Goofy and the octopus riding the track on water skis, is a superbly timed piece of escalating slapstick. The film combines the three things Goofy did best in his later career: sports, family life and the mock documentary.
- It was the last of the classic Goofy solo cartoons and the first Goofy short made with the xerographic process Disney had just used for One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which gives it a sketchier, more modern line. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film.
Notes and Trivia
- In his 1950s films Goofy often played an anonymous everyman, "Mr. X" or "George Geef", rather than himself.
- Kevin Corcoran, who voices Goofy's son, was a child star of Disney's live-action films.
- See also: The Olympic Champ (1942), One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961).