Goat tells the story of a young kid, Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin), whose lifelong dream is to play roarball. However, professional roarballers are exclusively big animals, such as bears, elephants, horse, so that dream is pretty far-fetched. Despite this, he keeps practicing and ends up playing pickup ball again a pro named Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), where clips of this match goes viral. This video catches the eye of Florence “Flo” Everson (Jenifer Lewis), the owner of the local struggling pro team, where she recruits him to play to play for the Thorns, alongside his idol, a cocky black panther named Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union). Even though his dream came true, Will still has an uphill battle to get playing time and prove himself to help the overcome their issues to win the championship.
The best part about the Goat is the worldbuilding and art direction. The painterly art style is a pleasuring wonder to behold as you travel through places like Will’s hometown, a grungy, overgrown urban jungle. The animation is captivating and evokes the Spider-Verse style that Sony is so well known for at this point all completely. The action scenes during the roarball games are punched up to the max, making everything even the more immersive and colorful, which is cool and intense, but may overload the senses too much at times.
Instead of making this a traditional basketball story, the filmmakers create roarball, which is essentially basketball on steroids with twists. Each team’s roarball court is a unique environment—ice, lava, jungle—that changes during the course of the game. The Lava Court Magmas play atop of an active volcano that spurts magma and lavarock through the course of the game. The Shivers play on ice, which breaks midway through the game forming different icebergs that players have to jump on. These obstacles don’t affect the gameplay very much, as the players just fly through them; however, visually it’s very fun and dynamic to watch.
Take these over-the-top environments with the punchy animation, this movie is raucous, rambunctious, and visually chaotic. The soundtrack contributes to the bedlam as it’s filled to the brim with family-friendly rap music that never seems to break (the notable exception is the cover of “Don’t Dream It’s Over”—the best track in the film).
Will himself is a mediocre character who doesn’t have much of a growth arc. He’s phenomenal at roarball (through years of obvious practice) and he’s able to get on the team against all odds. His main adversary is Jett, whose ego and pride prevents her from accepting him or her teammates. Jett’s the all star of the show even though her body’s starting to exhibit some wear and tear after years in the league. Will is more a passive player in the story, as the plot happens to him, rather than him driving change.
Nearly all of the supporting characters and voice actors are great and perfectly cast. The misfit Thorns players—Archie the black rhino (David Harbour), Olivia (Nicola), Lenny the giraffe (Stephen Curry), and Modo the Komodo dragon (Nick Kroll)—interesting, quirky, and funny. The team’s coach, a proboscis monkey named Dennis voiced by Patton Oswalt is a hoot.
Goat is a loud, chaotic, fun time for the whole family, though it definitely will appear more to boys. The underdog story isn’t necessarily groundbreaking, but the art direction and animation are so phenomenal that you don’t want to miss seeing world in action. There’s a lot to take in and adults might find it a bit too overstimulating.
★★1/2
