Goofy's Glider

One of the first Goofy cartoons. It has the How to format with the narrator describing Goofy's attempts at flight.

There is no other supporting character, it's just Goofy with his inept attempts to take off and stay up.

The attempts at flight are inventive with Goofy trying various methods to take off, be it catapulting up and he always comes unstuck.

The best vignette is when he does take off he flies upside down so the sky is beneath him and the ground above him.

As it's a cartoon short, it remains inventive without running out of puff, as Goofy lives up to his name.

This is another "how to" cartoon, telling us what we need to know to get a glider airborne. Goofy continues to be diligent and hapless and cause all kinds of problems for himself. That little glider hits walls, falls in the water, flips over, gets blown up, and on and on. And Goofy never wavers, but moves forward. Nothing very new. It slick and colorful and well done.

During the 1940s, 50s and 60s, the Disney folks made a ton of "how to" cartoons that starred Goofy. Some of them, such as GOOFY'S GLIDER, were great and some, the preachier ones from the later era, were less than great (I'm trying to be kind here--cut me some slack). Well, the granddaddy of them all also happens to be GOOFY'S GLIDER, as it was the first of this type film.

Like the other "how to" cartoons, this one features a narrator who talks about the best way to do things--at which time Goofy proceeds to do it completely wrong! Again and again, Goofy nearly kills himself by, as usual, not using what little brain he has. Seeing Goofy tumble from the sky and smash into the ground and THEN open his parachute is one of the many ways this indestructible goof entertains in this cute and not at all informative film.

If you see this and don't laugh, check your pulse--you might just be dead! It's funny, well animated and fun.

By the way, although Goofy and most characters have only four fingers (because it's easier to animate), in this one he briefly has five! One scene calls for him to count and he had five, but if you watch before and after in this same film he only has four! I guess he can grow and lose them as needed.

I do like Goofy, although I do have more of a soft spot for Mickey and Donald. I really like Goofy's Glider, it was one of my first Goofy cartoons and it is still one of the better ones to me. It is not exceptional story-wise, but it is animated beautifully, vibrant and fluid as animation should be, and the music is energetic and dynamic. The narration(in the how to format that features in a number of Goofy's cartoons) is cleverly written and thoughtfully delivered by John McLeish, and the sight gags and Goofy's antics(revolving around his clumsiness and doing everything wrong) evoke a lot of great chuckles.

All in all, a cartoon that is definitely worth watching. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Goofy tries to learn how to fly in his miniature airplane, with hilarious results. Plenty of slapstick hits and misses that will probably send you some chuckles, especially laughs to the little kids.

This short has a background narrator, which is not something I would prefer. For some reason, a narrator for a Disney cartoon makes the story sound a little dreary as it distracts from the action, slapstick fun and character concentration.

Overall, this cartoon is classic Goofy with all the clumsiness, trials and errors and comic relief.

Grade B-