Sony’s "GOAT" Knows Ball

When it comes to hoops, who is the Greatest Of All Time? This is the question Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Features sought to ask with their newest feature, Tyree Dillihay's GOAT. Coming from a very hit-or-miss studio, GOAT is becoming an unexpected critical and commercial hero in American cinemas this week. With a star-studded cast ranging from Hollywood actors to NBA superstars, this film has officially captured America's attention. But is it truly a slam-dunk or just a Zootopia knockoff?

In the latest feature from Sony Pictures Animation, Stranger Things star Caleb McLaughlin plays Will, a Kid (as in baby goat) who dreams of making it big as a professional “roarball” player. As an animated film about an anthropomorphic animal society, GOAT checks many of the same boxes as December’s Zootopia 2. Thankfully, the film changes the formula just enough to feel unique. Lovers of Zootopia’s social commentary and deep world building will find those elements entirely lacking in the world of GOAT. For all intents and purposes, the world of the film is really just a heightened version of our own. Everyone seems to drive a Mercedes, and they all play Playstation 5 on their Sony TVs. Even the film’s featured sport, Roarball, is just basketball with some unique (and dangerous) court layouts. Despite our main character being both the first “small” (small animal) to play in a game dominated by “bigs” (big animals), as well as being an impoverished upstart, GOAT feels very little need to address these topics as anything more than obstacles to Will’s personal struggle to be a pro athlete. 

In terms of visuals, GOAT is nothing short of gorgeous. However, it does not stay consistently pristine. There is a noticeable decline in animation quality in the final game, accompanied by what I felt was an overuse of slow motion. This is not to say that this animation was bad, far from it, but the first few action sequences were so strong that any slight dip in quality became instantly apparent. The initial game against Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), this film’s analog for Lebron James (as well as its main villain) stood out as one of the most beautifully animated parts of the film. The games, while made interesting by the unique terrain and varied skills of Will’s new teammates, feel slightly less flashy than these other segments, although I’d chalk this up to my personal distaste for how often slow motion was used in these sequences.

I could go on about the script, themes, and tone, but the real spectacle here is the animation. Aside from the tonal difference, the film’s anthropomorphic animals are also a little more animalistic, for lack of a better word, than Disney’s offering. Quadrupeds like horses, panthers, and goats are often seen moving around on all fours, and not just in scenes that highlight their speed or strength like in Zootopia. Alongside this, the clothing and hairstyles in GOAT felt like a major step up from Zootopia in terms of variety and detail. Despite my expectation that our main characters would spend almost the whole movie in basketball jerseys, there was a surprising variety of clothing and outfits worn throughout, aided, of course, by the superb animation work from the team responsible for the Spiderverse films.

As far as story and performances go, GOAT is serviceable, but isn’t exactly reinventing the wheel. If you have seen just about any basketball movie you probably already know the film’s whole plot. A young upstart athlete from a poor background joins the team headed by their aging childhood idol. Although the young blood and the old guard clash, they eventually realize that teamwork makes the dream work, and after a nadir where it seems like the team might break up, they come back together for one last shot at the championship. It’s nothing new, but it’s presented in a novel enough way to not come off as tired. I’m almost certain that Space Jam meets Zootopia was the comparison used when pitching this film.

Not much of the voice acting stood out to me in particular with this film. Mclaughlin’s performance as Will is a little understated for an animated feature, but he was at no point unbelievable or seemingly phoning it in. Nick Kroll’s role as Modo, Will’s wacky Komodo dragon teammate, is perhaps the film’s most unique performance, although I personally found much of the comic relief written for his character to be very hit or miss. 

This brings me to the last, and perhaps most surprising, element of this film - the humor. A big problem in today’s corporate filmmaking landscape is that when trying to write humor for kid’s films, writers are asked to attempt to imitate Gen Z/Alpha's “meme humor.” Most projects do not do this well, and come off as out-of-touch and cringeworthy. GOAT sidesteps this issue by not even attempting to imitate youth humor, but instead just putting it in the film without modification. There is a wii sports bowling reference, a recreation of the “shooting stars” viral meme trend from 2017, as well as an edited photo of Will as a “gigachad” posted to in-universe social media. While the editors are definitely showing their age with the meme selections it still feels authentic in its depiction of youth internet culture, and got a handful of chuckles out of me throughout.

Regardless whether an ancient 25 year old like me thinks that GOAT was cool, the film is sure to have young viewers enthralled. Whether they’re basketball fans, animation fans, or just kids looking to have fun at the movies, the youngster in your life is almost certain to appreciate GOAT, and I would suggest giving it a shot for any adults as well. While it’s certainly no Shrek, some of the elements and gags having to do with poverty or the word “Cloaca” were definitely aimed to shoot over the heads of the little ones in the audience.

While it may not actually be the Greatest of All Time, the creators of GOAT should be proud that their film has earned itself a place on the list of “children’s movies that you might actually want to watch with your kid” for years to come.