“GOAT” follows Will Harris, played by Caleb McLaughlin (“Stranger Things,” “Concrete Cowboy”), a young goat who dreams of one day playing professional “Roarball” (a stand in for basketball), despite the sport only consisting of traditionally “big” animals, like jaguars, giraffes, horses, and rhinos. After a chance encounter at his local court, Will finds himself recruited to the failing Vineland Thorns by their manager Flo, played by Jenifer Lewis (“Poetic Justice,” “Think Like a Man”). Lead by their proboscis monkey coach Dennis, played by Patton Oswalt (“Ratatouille,” “The King of Queens”), the team, consisting of superstar jaguar Jett, played by Gabrielle Union (“Being Mary Jane,” “Bring It On”), shy ostrich Olivia, played by Nicola Coughlan (“Derry Girls,” “Bridgerton”), single father rhino Archie, played by David Harbour (“Stranger Things,” “Black Widow”), musician giraffe Lenny, played by Stephen Curry, and oddball Komodo dragon Modo, played by Nick Kroll (“Big Mouth,” “Kroll Show”), attempt to use Will’s skills and small stature to win the season against their rival team the Lava Coast Magma, led by Andalusian horse named Mane, played by Aaron Pierre (“Mufasa: The Lion King,” “Krypton”).
If nothing else “GOAT” continues Sony Pictures Animation’s tradition of delivering unique and medium bending animation on even the smallest of details. Fur and cloth blend and smooth together as basketballs fly across the screen. The sense of scale in comparing the largest of animals to the tiniest is impressive, and the colors of everything pop in a fabulous way. While not as abstract as “Spider-Verse” or hand crafted as “The Mitchells vs. The Machines,” this is an aesthetic that proves engaging and gorgeous, lifting up the more generic elements of the film as a result.
The animation is slick, but the pacing is quick, arguably too quick. Director Tyree Dillihay (“Bob’s Burgers,” “Good Times (2024)”) and writers Aaron Buchsbaum (“Fairfax”), Teddy Riley (“Fairfax”), Nicolas Curcio, and Peter Chiarelli (“Cray Rich Asians,” “The Proposal”) inject the film with a fair number of sports and underdog movie cliches. If you’ve seen any sort of sports film in the last four decades, you’ll likely see exactly where the plot is going, but it gets there fast, with nary a moment for a break. That is to the film’s detriment when it gets to the third act, as emotional moments and arcs pass by and resolve in the blink of an eye. It sometimes even feels as though scenes are missing, not for plot holes or context, but simply because the pace is so blistering. Kris Bowers’ (“Secret Invasion,” “The Wild Robot”) electric score helps match the quick pace and high energy to a much better result, with a musical identity that merges the animalistic nature of the world and the sport. Even for how jam packed it is, the heart at its center is so big and beating that it arguably would dwarf even the largest animals in the cast. It’s messy but genuine, one of the best ways to be messy.
That vocal cast does a lot to smooth that over, both lifting the cliches up and smoothing the pacing out. McLaughlin is an energetic and believably adorable protagonist, and his banter with Union is great. Union herself turns in a remarkably good performance, nailing the handful of nuances that Jett has to make her more than just a spoiled all-star. Pierre is a deliciously evil antagonist, making him easy to hate and wonderfully entertaining anytime he’s trading blows and balls with McLaughlin. The rest of the cast leans heavily into the bombastical and cartoony nature of their characters to great effect. Lewis gets a lot of mileage out of playing into the slimy team owner archetype, Oswalt shows why he’s a fantastic character voice actor, Harbour keeps stretching outside of his “Stranger Things” grizzled type cast, and Kroll keeps doing whatever weird voices pop into his head. Curry is the only one who stands out, as his normal speaking voice is noticeable amongst all the other traditional actors.
If you’re looking for a family friendly sports film, “GOAT” will deliver exactly that. It tracks in the same cliches that every other film of the genre does, delivering a story that’s enlivened by its setting rather than transformed by it. The talented vocal cast and animation style will certainly do a lot of heavy lifting, and the pace is definitely quick enough for the younger viewers of nowadays. It isn’t a slam dunk, but the heart is big enough to make it seem like one, and it’s still another in the win column for Sony and arguably the most stylish Hollywood animation studio working today. 3.5/5
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