GOAT is a superlative animated film. Its alternate world is created in great detail as are the animal characters. The movie’s many themes about teamwork, dealing with setbacks, and how to treat others are sure to resonate with both children and adults.

Will Harris (all names are voice: Caleb McLaughlin as an adult, Luke Cimity as a child), a goat, is taken to see the stadium where the Vineland Thorns play in ROAR (Regionally Organized Animal Roarball). They are his favorite team and his favorite player is Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union), a black panther who is the star of the team. To Will’s surprise, his mother (Jennifer Hudson) has purchased tickets to the game.

Ten years later, Will’s mother has passed on. He is renting a room from Frank (Wayne Knight), a gerbil who has many children. Will is behind on rent and is warned that he will be evicted if he does not pay.

Will always has a basketball with him. He delivers takeout at the diner where his Mom used to work. His best friends are Hannah (Sherry Cola), an aardwolf, and Daryl (Eduardo Franco), a capybara.

Since Will is a “Small,” and so unlikely to play in ROARball since it is dominated by “Bigs,” he has developed excellent moves and scoring techniques, including a high arc shot to get over the Bigs.

The Vineland Thorns are having a terrible season, caused by having no players who can support Jett. She goes to the owner, Flo Everson (Jenifer Lewis), a warthog, and asks her to trade for someone to help her.

In the meantime, Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), an Andulusian horse, is taking all comers at the Cage, a local practice hangout. Mane is the league MVP. Will uses his rent money to get Mane to play a Small. In the ensuing competition, Will starts strong and hurts Mane’s ankles. But then Mane bounces back to take Will’s money. Will is evicted and moves in with Daryl and Hannah.

Hannah doctors the video feeds to make Will look like a hero and Mane look like a fool. This comes to the attention of Flo, who decides to sign Will as a gimmick to give her more leverage to sell the team.

While Will and his friends are super-excited at this turn of events, this is not the case for Jett, who feels betrayed by Flo. The other members of the Thorns include Modo (Nick Kroll), a crazy Komodo Dragon; Lenny (Stephen Curry, yes, the basketball player), a giraffe; Archie (David Harbour), a rhino with demonic twin girls, and Olivia (Nicola Coughlan), an ostrich who suffers from low self-esteem. Their coach (in name only, since Jett runs the team play) is Dennis (Patton Oswalt), a proboscis monkey.

When Will’s first game arrives, he is not put in the lineup by Jett. This continues over several games, all of which the Thorns lose. Finally, he gets into a game when Jett has a technical foul, and wins the game for the Thorns.

At a publicity shoot that Flo has commissioned to play off the team’s victory, Jett becomes furious and leaves the set. Will follows and guides her through the unfamiliar streets and sometimes mean crowds to the diner. Inside, the diner is a shrine to Jett and the Thorns. Jett is humbled; will she now accept Will as an equal on the team?

GOAT is truly an enjoyable film. It starts a little slowly with the troubles and tribulations that Will faces, but earns its move to a more engaging and complicated storyline by the end. The script is based on, from what my research revealed, an unpublished book, “Funky Dunks,” by children’s author Chris Tougas.

One of the best assets of this film is the world that has been created. The city of Vineland is portrayed in great detail, from the small cars driven by rodents to the trash in the streets. It has a very urban feel.

ROARball itself has its own unique characteristics that add to the quality of the picture. Each arena can morph into geological features unique to the locale. For example, one surface becomes an ice rink. Another has volcanic obstacles. The games are exciting and dynamic as a result.

I was intrigued by the design of the ROARball. It is a circular ball, but it has indentations. These presumably are for gripping purposes for claws, talons, and beaks. Yet Will practices for ROARball using a traditional basketball. This anomaly was never explained, but I came to accept it as a given.

The animal figures are fluid and exaggerated as needed to create a tapestry of color and shapes to accompany the unique personalities. This is especially true with the Thorns teammates. I enjoyed the comedy provided when Jett, a large black panther, grooms herself. A highlight is Modo, who just seems deranged half the time.

The plot’s themes appealed to me because they are not all “be happy and things will work out” tropes. Whether it is relationships or winning a ROARball game, it is clear that work is necessary to achieve these goals. They do not magically occur. Since this is a children’s film, it is important to deliver a realistic way to be and act in the world. As such, the somewhat predictable (although there are twists) conclusion feels earned.

The soundtrack throughout is excellent. I was amused when Jett listened to a “meow” song in frustration.

This is the best animated film, in terms of composition, I have seen since Flow, the Academy Award winner for animated feature film in 2024. GOAT is a film that can be enjoyed by all ages, although very young children might be scared of some of the Bigs, ROARball play, or just bored by extensive dialogue scenes. But for ages six and above, I highly recommend this feature.

Four and a half out of five stars

GOAT is an original action-comedy set in an all-animal world. The story follows Will, a small goat with big dreams who gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball – a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world. Will’s new teammates aren’t thrilled about having a little goat on their roster, but Will is determined to revolutionize the sport and prove once and for all that “smalls can ball!”

Cast: Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Stephen Curry, Nicola Coughlan, Nick Kroll, David Harbour, Jenifer Lewis, Aaron Pierre, Patton Oswalt, Andrew Santino, Bobby Lee, Eduardo Franco, Sherry Cola, Jelly Roll, Jennifer Hudson
Directed by: Tyree Dillihay
Co-Directed by: Adam Rosette
Screen Story by: Nicolas Curcio and Peter Chiarelli
Screenplay by: Aaron Buchsbaum & Teddy Riley