Goat Review

Sony Pictures has shaken up the world of animation with the Spider-Verse films, The Mitchells vs. the Machines, and KPop Demon Hunters. They now explore the world of animal basketball with Goat.

Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin) is a young goat who dreams of playing professional Roarball despite his small stature. He gets an opportunity to play for his hometown team, the Vineland Thorns, after going viral playing against the arrogant league MVP Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre). However, the Thorns’ star player, Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union), is sceptical that Will can help her obtain the coveted Gold Claw.

Goat was met with some online ridicule when the trailer was released. People questioned Sony’s logic because they decided to release Goat in cinemas, while KPop Demon Hunters was sold to Netflix, as the studio feared it would flop. Goat doesn’t match the heights of the Spider-Verse films or KPop Demon Hunters, but it was still an entertaining family film.

Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse revolutionised animated films, and it was partly due to its animation style. Sony’s following animated film copied Into the Spider-Verse’s animation style, and films like Puss in Boots: The Last Wish and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem were influenced by it. Goat was a fantastic-looking film, especially during the Roarball sequences. They were exciting and kinetic as the massive players faced off against each other in dangerous arenas. Goat took Sony’s action animation style and put it into a sporting context.

Goat comes in the wake of two animal-themed series from rival studios: Zootopia and Sing. Goat sits in the middle of those series. The Zootopia films were examinations of racism, prejudice, and power structures, whilst Sing’s goal was pure entertainment. Goat aimed to be an entertaining sports film, whilst also having some emotional and social relevance. Will was underestimated because he was small, and players were hulking beasts. Will was brought into the team for cynical money-making reasons, but he ended up becoming an inspiration for small animals.

The world of Goat was inspired by Zootopia. The environments were extreme, like a tropical city covered in vines, an Arctic city, and a basketball arena in a volcano. Like Zootopia, the animals in Goat had different requirements, like Will’s landlord (Wayne Knight) being a gerbil, so he only needed a small house and car. The humour was based on animal stereotypes, like goats fainting, cats hating water, and an ostrich putting her head in the sand.

Goat had lovely animation and world-building, but it was a typical sports movie. Goat brought back memories of F1 since that was also a by-the-numbers sports movie, and that film has earned an Oscar nomination for Best Film. Will was underestimated because of his size and needed to win over the star player. Will’s presence improved the team because he was a positive influence as well as his playing ability. The team was a bunch of misfits: there was Olivia Burke (Nicola Coughlan), a top draft pick who became neurotic because she never fulfilled her potential, Archie Everhardt (David Harbour) was an old enforcer whose main concern was looking after his daughters, and Modo (Nick Kroll) was the best character in the film because he was the Thorns’ equivalent of Dennis Rodman. There was also a little bit of Major League since the owner of the team didn’t care about the sport and was just looking to profit in some way. There was even a little of the Futurama episode, “A Leela of Her Own,” where a player was drafted as a novelty, although there was a major difference: Will was good at his sport.

Even though Goat was a predictable film, it did have some nice character moments. Jett wanted to win the Golden Claw to prove she was the Greatest of All Time, but she came to realise how important the trophy was for the fans, so she set out to win for them.  Any sports fan can relate to this moment.

Goat does compete against some other animated basketball films. The most obvious comparisons would be with the Space Jam films. Those films were made as vehicles for Michael Jordan and LeBron James, respectively, and Goat’s marketing made a point that it was produced by Golden State Warriors legend Stephen Curry. All these films had extreme versions of the sport: I even thought of “I Believe I Can Fly” during the basketball sequences. The other major animated basketball was The First Slam Dunk. Will did share some characteristics with the main character in the anime film since they were small and carried emotional baggage. However, The First Slam Dunk was more emotional and original than Goat.

Considering Sony’s recent animated successes, Goat does pale in comparison. The animation was top-notch, but the rest of the film was simply decent.