A Goofy Movie came to theaters on April 7, 1995, and we’re celebrating the beloved animated film’s 30th anniversary by highlighting our favorite moments characters, scenes, and more.
The uptight, humorless, unpopular school principal is a well-established stock figure who often plays an important role in coming-of-age stories. From Back to the Future‘s Mr. Strickland to The Breakfast Club‘s Richard Vernon, those obstinate authoritative figureheads present relatable obstacles for young and old alike. But some fictional educators cross the line from “difficult to deal with” to “problematic.” And in rare cases, they’re downright dangerous. That’s the only way to describe A Goofy Movie‘s one true villain, Principal Mazur, a man who never should have been allowed to work with children.
Not every student body will love their high school principal, but being a hardass educator doesn’t mean you can’t still be good at your job. Unfortunately for Spoonerville High, Principal Mazur was definitely the former and not the latter. Even when he was right he was wrong, like when he told his students not to “waste” their summer vacation. “Summer Learning Loss” is a very real thing! How he conveyed that message was gross, though. The quick-to-anger, stuffy, joyless principal told a bunch of kids—on the last day of school no less!— “visiting friends” was pointless.
No wonder they didn’t like him. Yet that shortsighted “advice” paled in comparison to what made Mazur worse than reckless and the only true source of evil in an otherwise sweet film. He showed his incompetence and disqualified himself as an educator with the asinine way he lied to Mr. Goof about his son Max.
During the last day of school, Max broke up Mazur’s assembly with an unsanctioned musical performance of a Powerline song. Everyone loved it! Except for Mazur. Now, Max did did cross the line big time. (That’s the last time we’ll give Mazur any props, we promise.) Students can’t go around hijacking assemblies and performing elaborate, unsanctioned musical routines. They certainly can’t use cables to swing themselves high into the air, either. Educators have to keep their kids safe, often from themselves. Max and his friends clearly broke about a million school rules while putting both themselves and expensive school property in danger, something that had to be addressed.
You can state exactly what Max did without exaggeration and it’s bad enough. (Even if “that Goofy kid” totally nailed that routine!) What you can’t do, as a human let alone a principal, is what Mazur did when he called Goofy. The transcript of that conversation is truly heinous. It’s full of lies. It’s also both racist and cruel considering the intelligence of Max’s dad. Seriously, look at this phone call!
“Ah, yes. Mr. Goof. This is Principal Mazur. I’m calling in regard to your son Maximilian.
“Max? Oh, my gosh! Is he hurt?”
“No, Mr. Goof. He’s in trouble!”
“Trouble? What kind of trouble?”
“Dressed like a gang member…”
“Gang member”
“….your son caused the entire student body to break into a riotous frenzy!”
“Riot? Couldn’t be my…”
“If I were you, Mr. Goof, I’d seriously reevaluate the way you’re raising your child before he ends up in the electric chair!“
While appalling on their own, these words in print can’t convey is the unhinged frenzy in which Mazur—sitting in a dark room alone—delivers this malarkey to a poor, simple, single-dad. He accuses a good kid lip-synching a song to a criminal who rallied his classmates into violent rebellion. And this act was apparently so evil Mazur believes it portends Max is going to end up on death row.
Would Mazur have said this to Pete about his son P.J.? Maybe not, because Pete would have been far more incredulous than poor Goofy. But that makes it even worse. Mazur took advantage of Mr. Goof, whose parenting he insulted despite Max being an awesome son. Principal Mazur’s lies weren’t just wicked words, either. What he said was literally dangerous! Max almost died because of them! I mean, you saw Goofy’s driving, right? It’s a miracle the Goof boys made it home alive from their road trip.
Principal Mazur was an irredeemable monster. He’s A Goofy Movie‘s greatest villain. And that’s exactly why, even though he never, ever, ever should have been allowed around kids, like all of the “best” worst principals in pop culture we’re glad he was on the job. There wouldn’t have been a movie without him.
Mikey Walsh is a staff writer at Nerdist with strong feelings about Summer Learning Loss. You can follow him on Bluesky at @burgermike. And also anywhere someone is ranking the Targaryen kings.
Content shared from nerdist.com.