Every so often, an animated film comes along that reminds you the genre is capable of doing something genuinely exciting. Sony Pictures Animation has been on a remarkable run with the Spider-Verse films set a new benchmark for what animation can look like, K-Pop Demon Hunters became one of the biggest animated movies of all time in just under a year, and now, with GOAT, the studio swings for the bleachers once again. The results are mixed, but they’re mixed in a way that ensures the kids and teens will love it while the adults will be mildly entertained.
GOAT is directed by Tyree Dillihay in his feature debut (with Adam Rosette co-directing), GOAT takes place in Vineland, one of the more inventive pieces of world-building in recent animated cinema. It is almost a dystopia, a crumbling animal kingdom draped in wild vines, where the infrastructure is cracked, and the gaps are filled with life. Think Zootopia’s world-building, but rougher around the edges, lived-in and lush in a way that feels almost hand-painted. The backgrounds are gorgeous in a nearly Impressionist way; in fact, some of them look like they could have been lifted from a Cézanne canvas and dropped into a hip-hop fever dream. From the chain-link Cage neighbourhood court to a stadium floor built over bubbling magma, GOAT is relentlessly inventive in its design, and that alone makes it worth seeing on the big screen.
At the centre of all of this is Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin, Stranger Things), a small Boer goat scraping by on diner deliveries and big dreams. In Vineland, the sport of choice is roarball – a brutal, co-ed, high-contact version of basketball played by rhinoceroses, horses, panthers and other apex animal athletes. For a “small” like Will, the Vineland social caste system says the pros aren’t for you. Naturally, a viral video of Will holding his own against a rival player sets off a chain of events that lands him a spot on the city’s team, the Thorns, and the film is off and running.
In terms of story, GOAT offers nothing you haven’t seen before. The reluctant underdog, the veteran superstar who’s past their prime, the ragtag team that needs a spark, it’s all here, and it hits every beat you’ll expect it to. If you’ve seen Space Jam, or any of a dozen other sports-fable films aimed at younger audiences, you’ll be one step ahead of the script at every turn. That is, undeniably, GOAT‘s biggest weakness: a narrative that plays it entirely safe.
But here’s the thing – it plays it safe with genuine style and warmth, and much of that is thanks to an extraordinary voice cast. Gabrielle Union is a flat-out revelation as Jett Fillmore, the Thorns’ veteran panther superstar. She commands every scene she’s in – all bluster and shade and swagger on the outside, with real vulnerability underneath. It is the kind of voice performance that sneaks up on you and earns its emotional payoff by the final whistle. McLaughlin, meanwhile, brings the same quick-witted empathy to Will that Shameik Moore brought to Miles Morales in the Spider-Verse films – it’s a vocal performance that grounds the film’s more outlandish flourishes. Nicola Coughlan’s ostrich, Olivia, who buries her entire head in the ground when overcome with despair, gets some of the film’s biggest laughs. Nick Kroll’s Komodo dragon Modo – Cookie Monster-on-fire energy, jaws perpetually drenched in saliva – is inspired chaos. Jenifer Lewis as the team’s warthog hustler-owner is reliably brilliant. Even Stephen Curry, making his voice-acting debut as the gentle giant giraffe Lenny Williamson, charms, and his character’s delicate cover of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” is one of the film’s sweetest moments.
The roarball sequences themselves are kinetic and thrilling, Dillihay clearly has a gift for spatial storytelling, and the variety of arenas (ice floors, magma pits, the buzzing Cage) keeps the action visually fresh throughout. Kris Bowers’ score gives it all an infectious energy.
It’s worth noting that GOAT is also admirably honest about what its protagonist can and cannot achieve. Will doesn’t become some unbeatable champion – he’s still small in a world of beasts. What he does is give his team back its soul. That’s a more nuanced message for a kids’ film than you might expect, and it lands genuinely well.
GOAT is not the greatest animated film of all time, and to be fair, it never really pretends to be. What it is, is a big-hearted, beautifully animated, crowd-pleasing sports fable with a sensational voice cast and a world that deserves to be explored further. Just don’t expect the screenplay to keep pace with the animation department.
GOAT is in Australian cinemas from March 12.
