GOAT – Review

Cert – PG, Run-time – 1 hour 40 minutes, Directors – Tyree Dillihay, Adam Rossette

Goat, Will (Caleb McLaughlin) has dreams of becoming a professional roarball player, when the opportunity arrives he’s instantly doubted, especially by the team’s long-time star player (Gabrielle Union).

If there was ever any doubt, although I doubt there ever was, that Sony Animation’s recent hits such as KPop Demon Hunters and the Spider-Verse films worked because of their now-influential animation styles GOAT shows that that’s certainly not the case. Unfortunately, that’s because GOAT, while being a visual entertainment, is an incredibly by-the-numbers sporting feature.

Growing up wishing to join roarball (a game just like basketball but taking part in video-game-like shifting arenas inspired by different environments) team the Thorns, Will (Caleb McLaughlin) goes viral after an altercation with towering professional player Mane (Aaron Pierre). Despite, as a goat, being branded as ‘small’ by players, commentators and almost everyone online Will uses the push of his friends and the diner he worked at before being signed as a player to keep going. It’s something he needs to use as he doesn’t appear to have much of a personality of his own to see things through, beyond those which are borrowed from endless underdog characters that have come before him.

The main drive of the narrative comes less from him and more those around him. Particularly the Thorns’ star player of 15 years Jett (Gabrielle Union), who takes against Will and sees his signing as a mockery to the already failing team, for which she comes across as the only good player. From there you can piece together the basis of the narrative, and it largely hits the clichés and conventions one after the other. While watchable it only really scratches the surface of being so, watchable largely in terms of I sat and watched it happen with very little response otherwise. Never properly interested or engaged.

The animation throughout is certainly lively and further shows the top quality visuals that Sony have continued with since Into The Spider-Verse, but it, and the scattering of chuckles here and there; largely from fellow Thorns players such as Nick Kroll’s Modo, isn’t enough to get past the overfamiliarity that weighs down the narrative. Things pick up in the third act roarball match which has less obtrusive convention at play thanks to how caught up in the sporting action the film, and animation, becomes. It’s just a shame that this isn’t the case for everything that comes beforehand which fails to be anything but harmless viewing as it just sort of happens in front of you with no real impact. Much more muted than the rapturous reaction the fans and match crowds seen throughout are shown to give.

Despite strong animation, the overfamiliar underdog story at the centre of GOAT and its personality lacking main character stop it from raising above watchable-on-surface yet likely forgettable viewing.