‘GOAT’ Review: Bleeding-edge visual spectacle on steroids with little else to bleat about

The classic underdog proving-a-point story in a sports film is a running trope in Hollywood that has kinda found love in waves across generations and mediums (everything from “The Mighty Ducks” to “Ted Lasso”). The latest one, “GOAT” comes courtesy the same animation studio that gave us “KPop Demon Hunters” and the “Spider-Man: Spider-Verse” series of films.

And that in itself should tell you what to expect visually. This hyper-stylised, almost hand-drawn, kinetic storytelling via impact frames along with use of a flurry of camera angles, is all thanks to the low attention span era we live in. We got a taste of this with the “Spider-Verse” films. It's the sort of thing you'd expect if you imagine a comic-book come to life on screen with little to no loss in impact in transition.

But what works for “Spider-Verse,” doesn't for “GOAT,” which is a one-liner masquerading as a feature-length animation film. It’s nothing you haven’t heard or seen before. An underdog (or an unlikely hero with talent/heart) brought into a ragtag past-prime team on a losing streak seeking top-shelf honors is a premise visited all too often, both in animation and live action. Add to that the predictable trope of an MVP [Most Valuable Player] looking for that big win/second wind (in “GOAT”’s case, Gabrielle Union’s black panther Jett Filmore) and you have to wonder why the writing team needed two people (Aaron Buchsbaum, Teddy Riley). 

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That oft-quoted saying, “Never meet your heroes,” comes home to roost in “GOAT,” an animation film about a ‘small’ goat, Will Harris (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin), with ‘medium’ dreams of making it ‘big’ in roarball, a fictionalized co-ed sport that borrows heavily from basketball. In “GOAT”’s Vineland saga, the sport of roarball originated there, but the home team, the Thorns, have never won the top prize, ‘The Claw’. Will’s hero Jett realizes she desperately needs a win, but is also acutely aware that she needs to carry the team every single time, despite roarball being a team sport.

Even as she regularly rattles on about a new sixth player to partner with, team owner Florence ‘Flo’ Everson (Jenifer Lewis) has no interest in the matter and just to shut Jett up, signs up Will after an open challenge between him and towering stallion and roarball self-proclaimed G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre) of rival team Magma, goes viral.  Initially, she has no interest in mentoring the rookie. Will meets the team – ostrich influencer Olivia Burke (Nicola Coughlan), rhyme-riffing giraffe Lenny Williamson (Stephen Curry), doting dad rhino Archie Everhardt (David Harbour), weird fire-breathing komodo dragon Modo Olachenko (Nick Kroll) and clipboard-clutching proboscis monkey coach Dennis Cooper (Patton Oswalt) and that's when the film moves several paces. 

You’d think that with that all-star voice cast, it would be half the job done. And you wouldn't be wrong. But world-building is an expansive process and that vision just isn't there. Making “GOAT” a little more than a fancy showreel and less of a potential franchise-initiating starting point. For that, you need to build an audience, a fandom and this surface-skimming genre outing is kinda confused about where it wants to land. Children might lap it up, but move on the next new thing. And children “of all ages” would find plenty to nitpick about this film.

It's surprising that a two-time Emmy-nominated is in the captain's chair (Tyree Dillihay) and yet, this film doesn't feel like an outright slam-dunk. To someone who has watched "Space Jam," the argument to build a fictional game around the sport of basketball's culture, style, fashion and music, seems a little unnecessary. While I didn't mind (in fact, loved it) the character design, the out-there settings and the zany transitions, all that seems to pale once you begin to look beyond. In fact, some of the film's best moments come when you least expect them: a throwaway line, a train hurtling through the night even as Will crashes at a friend's place or even a presser where the rookie and MVP trade barbs. And never really at the most obvious high-points.

It all comes down to the message scrawled on Will's kicks: Dream Big. The messaging is on point, the story that's supposed to lead you there, isn't. Visually, it's a spectacle on steroids, no question about it. Story-wise, it leaves you with a hollow craving.