‘Goat’ review: A quick-witted, eye-popping riff on the sports movie formula
Goat is a massive leap forward in the visual aesthetics for Sony Pictures Animation that hits all the marks for a classic underdog sports story, even if it doesn’t reinvent the wheel.
While Pixar had long been considered insurmountable in the realm of American animated film studios, Sony Pictures Animation wasn’t even jockeying for second place. If DreamWorks and Illumination were at least successful at making memorable characters with genuine humour, Sony consistently put out lowest-common-denominator kids’ films that spoke down to their audience.
The Emoji Movie, The Angry Birds Movie, and the entirety of the Smurfs franchise, in particular, felt like cultural lows, but that perspective seemed to change when Sony released Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse to great success, prompting other studios to take note of the inventive visual style.
The takeaway from Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse wasn’t that it was worth resurrecting established intellectual property, as Sony did itself no favours with the Spider-Man spinoffs Madame Web, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter. Rather, the film had succeeded because it offered a fresh perspective from a creative team that was really passionate about the subject of superheroes.
This is also the navigating philosophy that makes Goat a relatively fun animated adventure. Produced by Steph Curry and made with the enthusiasm of admitted NBA superfans, the film is a fun use of anthropomorphic animals to iterate on the timeless formula of a sports film.
Goat takes place in a universe not unlike Zootopia or The Bad Guys, in which a diversity of animals live in a modern society, where different species correspond to social classes. The film’s protagonist is a young goat named Will Harris (voiced by Stranger Things actor Caleb McLaughlin), who has dreamed of being a professional ‘roarball’ player since he was a child; roarball is identical to basketball in nearly every way, other than the fact that it allows animals to use their inherent abilities.
Despite being told that he’s not fit for the sport and would be too small to play, Will plays a stretch match against a bully that goes viral, prompting the warthog owner, Flo (voiced by Jenifer Lewis), to sign him to her team, Vineland Thorns. Beyond fulfilling a childhood dream, participating in the sport allows Will to play alongside his childhood hero, Jett Filmore (voiced by Gabrielle Union), a black panther star player who is believed to be the greatest of all time.
Goat may be drawing from familiar territory with its underdog story, but it’s informed by the cultural point of view of a primarily Black creative team who have observed the transformation of basketball over the last several decades. The success of the Vineland Thorns not only gives Will, who has grown up in poverty, something to strive for but also provides hope to a city that is in desperate need of a win.
The team’s success is complicated by the ambitions of the different players; Will simply wants to be treated with a seat at the table, but Jett is seeking a victory that would validate her career after never touching the championship. The most interesting aspect of the film is the negotiations that are made by Flo, who has the ability to use the team as a profitable enterprise without showing any respect to its fans. Even if it’s metaphorical, the conversation about ownership that Goat engages with is among the most nuanced explorations of the tension within modern basketball, alongside Steven Soderbergh’s High Flying Bird.
The animation is quite eye-catching, as Goat finds a way to ensure that the exaggerated proportions and character idiosyncrasies are put to use during the actual games, which are fleshed out in a healthy amount of detail. While a mismatched team of different animals is a common trope within animated films, this one at least has the benefit of a stacked voice cast filled with actors who are actually funny.
David Harbour as the combustible rhino Archie and Nick Kroll as the eccentric komodo dragon Modo are both highlights. The wish fulfilment of Will’s character arc is also a fun entry point, and it validates the perspective of young fans in a way that shows a clear understanding of NBA culture.
The issues that Goat runs into are expected of a film of this nature, where the character arcs are very predictable, not all of the jokes hit, and the more serious moments about Will’s upbringing aren’t handled with the same artistic maturity as what would be seen in a Studio Ghibli or Pixar film. That being said, the film feels cut from the same cloth as the Spider-Verse films with its attention to detail, as it seems well-suited for both basketball fans and kids who simply want to see a fun comedy. If a film as entertaining as Goat can be considered a ‘lesser-tier’ animated film, then the medium is in a very healthy place.
