Hi! It’s Annie!
I think I’ve talked a lot by now about the extent to which I grew up with Disney. From the parks to watching all of the movies, my childhood was almost entirely Disney coded. What might be slightly weird about that to some but make complete sense to others is that ‘The Goofy Movie’ has always been one of my favorite films. I don’t exactly know what it is about the film, but the wholesome road trip movie between Goofy and his son Max has always held a special place in my heart. So because of this, ever since I was a kid, I have been all over any Disney media that features Max in it. Because Max is a very rare character to show up in anything. ‘Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas’ made very frequent appearances in my childhood as a Christmas film simply because Max was in it. So recently, because I have nothing better to do and a Disney+ account, I decided to re-watch one of the few movies that will ever feature Max and… I was a little confused. Roxanne was a character I loved in the original film; from her long red hair to adorable laugh. Of course Max had a crush on her! She has no shortage of fans when it comes to the ‘Goofy Movie’ crowd. So why was Max coming home from college to introduce his father to this girl we’d never met?
Mona is Roxanne? :
This theory started a long time ago and was by no means one that I came up with. If you do one quick google search after watching this movie, you’ll realize that Mona is voiced by none other than Kellie Martin. The same voice actress who voiced Roxanne in the original film. So why bring back Roxanne’s voice actress if you aren’t actually going to bring back Roxanne? The story goes that Roxanne was supposed to come back. Mona was originally supposed to be Roxanne. The movie was, unfortunately, on a tight budget and animating Roxanne’s long flowing red hair in the new animation style would have been infinitely more difficult than it had been originally as well as far more expensive. The animators were unwilling to show Roxanne without her signature look, so they scrapped her character in favor of a new one. Many people have been unaccepting of this and have said that Roxanne just died her hair and cut it short in college. A lot of people change their looks in college, right? Well, this still doesn’t make sense for a variety of reasons. Firstly, it wouldn’t make sense for Max to call her Mona. It also wouldn’t make sense for her to act like she just met Goofy for the first time when Roxanne had met Goofy before. On top of this, Roxanne very obviously has a beauty mark on her cheek in the first film. That wouldn’t just disappear. We have to start accepting that Mona is not Roxanne, even if they are voiced by the same actress.
‘House of Mouse’ and ‘Duck Tales’ :
Roxanne appears in an episode of ‘House of Mouse’ where Max is attempting to have a peaceful date with her that keeps getting interrupted. There are a few people who point to this episode as proof that Max continued to date Roxanne, but that does not prove that he dated her well into college. For all we know, and what is actually most probable, Max worked at the ‘House of Mouse’ during his first couple years of college as he was eighteen or nineteen during the events of the show. So he could have broken up with her very early into college. And Roxanne was not a constantly appearing character in the show, so he might not have been dating her throughout the show. Because of a more recent episode of the revamped ‘Duck Tales’, we also know that Max eventually took Roxanne to their High School prom. But that doesn’t prove that they dated much beyond that.
‘An Extremely Goofy Movie’ :
If you’ve ever watched the sequel to ‘A Goofy Movie’, you probably realized that Roxanne isn’t in that either. Most likely because it didn’t have much to do with her character. While Max isn’t shown to be dating anyone from college in that movie, he shows absolutely no indication that he is dating anyone at all. In fact, I barely think Max dated Roxanne for long while he was in college considering the way Max acts around other women in this movie. When a girl comes over to flirt with him he is very receptive and he also visibly checks out Beret Girl in the same scene. Max also lives on campus and doesn’t seem to leave a lot, so I have a feeling their relationship formed into something that was more long-distance which could have contributed to a break up.
Mona :
Mona doesn’t even act like Roxanne, and I wouldn’t want her to. The point of her is that she’s wonderfully weird, something we didn’t really get from Roxanne. And also, how realistic would it really be for Max to still be dating his High School girlfriend? Don’t get me wrong, I love Roxanne! But I don’t think Mona is a bad character or deserves for all the fans of ‘Goofy Movie’ to pretend like she doesn’t exist. Just remember, of the movie canon Roxanne only appears in the first film and she doesn’t get much. She appears in the beginning for a couple scenes and then at the very end. In the scene where Max has to tell her that he has to go on a road trip, she’s really un-understanding and even judges him for wanting to go such a long distance “just to see a concert”. A little judgmental if you ask me. Max was lying to her at the time though, so I’m not exactly sure how to view that situation. It would have been nice to see more of her, but she never had much to begin with. If you’re looking for a good female character in the Goofy Movie series, I would look to Beret Girl from the second film. She was a complete badass and I would love to see more of her! But either way, Mona isn’t bad or infinitely worse than Roxanne.
I love seeing Mona interact with both Goofy and Max and I always have. Mona seems like a very sweet character and I never disliked her, even when I was little. ‘Mickey’s Twice Upon A Christmas’ is really cheesy, but it’s cute. If you’re looking for something new and very adorable to watch this Christmas season and have a Disney+ account I would definitely recommend giving it a watch. Just make sure to enjoy, and maybe cut Mona some slack.
See you across the pond!
Sincerely, Annie
Oreos & Peanut Butter 