GOAT, 2026.
Directed by Tyree Dillihay and Adam Rosette.
Featuring the voice talents of Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Jenifer Lewis, David Harbour, Nick Kroll, Nicola Coughlan, Patton Oswalt, Stephen Curry, Aaron Pierre, Jennifer Hudson, Wayne Knight, Jelly Roll, Ayesha Curry, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Sherry Cola, Eduardo Franco, A’ja Wilson, Angel Reese, Joe La Puma, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Love, Van Van, and Dwyane Wade.
SYNOPSIS:
A small goat with big dreams gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball, a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world.
Professional athletes stepping their toes into the film industry isn’t necessarily uncommon, but given how authentic director Tyree Dillihay’s (and co-director Adam Rosette) GOAT is to the sports industry, it is a shock that NBA star and producer Stephen Curry isn’t one of the writers here (the animated feature is also based on the book Funky Dunks by Chris Tougas). The heart of the story, which is centered on the sports league ROAR (Regionally Organized Animal Roarball), where large talking animals play an aggressive style of stylized basketball with each team’s location coming with a unique, environmentally dynamic court (stalactites fall from the ceiling in one arena, the ice floor cracks beneath another, and so on and so forth), essentially amounts to worthwhile messaging for children that one star is not enough to make a championship caliber team successful and that a little thing called teamwork is vital. To be honest, after watching the Philadelphia Eagles play football this past season, maybe some adult athletes, like Wide Receiver AJ Brown, also need to see the film.
That aspect is deployed in the form of a rather straightforward, clichéd, underdog sports story in that 10 year veteran black leopard Jett Fillmore (voiced by Gabrielle Union), who has never let her team to a Claw (the equivalent of becoming world champions in this league), needs to set aside selfishness and a league-wide prejudice against smaller animals joining the sport, so that working together with newcomer goat Will (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin), who has idolized her since he was a child and his mom (voiced by Jennifer Hudson) took him to his first live game, to bring out the best of their abilities. It is also about the necessity of a fading superstar recognizing when a part of their game is past its prime and when to pass that torch and spotlight on, while accepting that there are still ways to crucially help the team in a secondary role.
What helps much of the familiarity go down easier is that GOAT is packed with details and plotting that existing real sports, as if the filmmakers are intending and succeeding at making commentary on everything from ball-hogging divas (as already mentioned) unofficially taking over the head-coaching role to the corporate greed that runs rampant from cheap owners concerned more with further lining their pockets rather than winning (a role that could have gone to Jerry Reinsdorf in the same vein as which Kevin O’Leary recently basically played himself in Marty Supreme).
From scene to scene, there is more on this film’s mind than the expected animal-related visual gags and puns mostly targeting children (although there are some good running bits in here for adults as well, such as a commentating pair where one can’t help but spend the majority of the broadcast trash-talking his counterpart), as if these filmmakers are getting every frustration they want about sports industries off their chest. The only thing missing is a gambling subplot. Then again, one supposes that there is something that could technically qualify here toward the end.
Again, that’s not to overlook that the major plot beats are nothing new, and the film does occasionally drag before the team ventures out on the road. Each game comes with a unique arena with specific environmental challenges to overcome. The characters and games themselves are often dazzlingly animated with a focus on color and style. Speaking of which, Will (who does actually say “where there is a will, there is a way” at one point, too much cringe) and Jett are joined by a misfit squad of distinct personalities ranging from enigmatic lizards to social-media obsessed ostriches to a giraffe played by Stephen Curry himself and more (the less said about Jelly Roll’s presence is for the better).
GOAT is more than charming enough for kids with a lesson on teamwork, and has some surprisingly sharp insights into the sports industry as a whole for adults. Aside from the false advertising that the real GOAT, Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams, is nowhere to be found in a movie called GOAT, this one is mostly all net for Sony. It’s not GOATed but a winner nonetheless.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
