By Dan Skip Allen

“Goat” is a popular phrasing to use regarding someone who is considered the G-reatest, O-f, A-ll, T- ime. So an animated film from Sony and Columbia TriStar about a Goat, yes, the animal, trying to become the greatest Roarball player of all time, this world’s version of basketball, is a bit meta if you ask me. It’s on the nose, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a good film, because on the contrary, it is a good movie. That isn’t the only meta idea in this animated film. There are many concepts that will be familiar to viewers who go to see this sports oriented film.

Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin) is a young goat who lives in a town called Vineland. He idolizes a Black Panther named Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union), who plays a sport called “roarball”. She is a great player but hasn’t brought this world’s version of the championship “the claw” home for his her team and city. This young goat is a bit small, and his dreams of becoming a great athlete are cut short. He settles for being a delivery man for a local diner until an opportunity comes his way. He hears that a great “roarball” player, Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), is shooting around at his local pickup ball court. He goes to the court to play against him and ends up making a viral moment. This gets him noticed by the owner of the local team, “The Thorns” Florence Everson (Jenifer Lewis). She gives him a roster spot on the team as the sixth man. This doesn’t exactly go over very well with Jett Fillmore.

Any fan of basketball will probably love this animated movie. It is basically a love letter to the sport of basketball even though in the movie it’s called “roarball”. There are numerous NBA superstars who do voice-overs for characters in the film. First and foremost is Stephon Curry as Lenny Williamson, a giraffe who is trying to get over the cliche of just being tall but not considered good at his sport. Curry was fine in his role. His wife, Ayesha, is in the film as well. Also, in the movie is Dwayne Wade, who voices a Cape Buffalo named Rosette and Angel Reese, who voices Propp, a polar bear. For not being actors, they all did a good job as their respective characters, but they aren’t the only big named celebrities that voice characters in this film.

Jelly Roll does double duty in this movie. He voices a grizzly bear who plays ball on the pickup ball court who picks on the young goat before he gets the call up to the big leagues. He also has a song in the film credits called “I’m Good” about resilience and overcoming odds. The song is on the film’s soundtrack, which releases the same time as the movie on February 13th. Jelly Roll is good in his first acting role. He was easily recognizable to me, who listens to his music on a regular basis. I love how he has branched out into different things besides writing and singing songs. First wrestling now this. Who knows what he’ll try next?

A number of other notable actors and comedians who voice characters in the movie are David Harbour as Archie Everhardt, a rhino, Patton Oswalt as Dennis an arangotang, Jennifer Hudson as Louise Harris the mother of Will Harris, who passes on off screen, but inspires her son to go on to become who he was destined to be. Nick Kroll, Eduardo Santo, and Andrew Santino also voice anamorphic animal characters in the movie. The entire voice cast assembled by the director and casting director do a great job. It’s another Stranger Things cast member that steals the show. Caleb McLaughlin is amazing in this role. He took the ball, pun intended, and ran with it. If it weren’t for him, it wouldn’t be such a fantastic animated film.

The animation style in this movie is the painted style once again. Similar in feel to The Wild Robot and Puss N Boots The Last Wish. This particular style lends itself to various color tones. This film was very bright and had a lot of natural land and natural colors. These represented the nature the movie was going for on its aesthetic. The animals were brought to life in an interesting way I hadn’t seen before. This was technically the studio that made the Spider man Across and Beyond the Spiderverse films, but it looks different. I’m glad the studio didn’t copy that style because that’s a singular vision in those movies. They should stand alone. The animation is part of what makes this film so enjoyable for me. It jumped off the screen.

“Goat” was a fun take on a sports movie. It’s an inspiring story of never giving up your dream no matter the odds. The voice is one of the best I’ve heard in months. With McLaughlin as the standout. The animation style is very gorgeous, and I loved the mixture of colors and the overall look of the animation. Hopefully, a lot of kids and families will see this film and take the message at its core to heart. It’s something we need in today’s society. As a basketball fan, I really enjoyed this movie. 

4 stars