Sony Pictures Animation is starting to settle into a pattern as their filmography continues to slowly increase in size of letting their beautiful house style that blends together hand drawn and CG animation do the heavy lifting over the narrative. The Steph Curry-produced GOAT fits into this box as snuggly as anything SPA has ever made. The only thing that distinguishes GOAT from other sports underdog stories is that the hero (Caleb McLaughlin) that's told he's too small, weak, etc. to play professional sports is a talking goat who dreams of being a professional roarball player (it's basically basketball with all animal players, a more liberal foul system and courts that look like Super Smash Brothers stages). Beyond that, the adults in the audience will have no trouble predicting everything that happens to Will as he gets to live out his dream of playing in the pros, clashes with the team's selfish, insecure aging veteran star player (Gabrielle Union) and helps a previous dysfunctional group of players rediscover the power of teamwork and their love of the game through his infectious spirit. This adhering to a predictable genre formula ends up being perfectly excusable as it executes the classic sports movie tropes skillfully enough and delivers consistently impressive visuals (the roarball games look particularly great) throughout. Plus, it pulls off the magic trick of using modern slang in an organic, non-cringey way and has the courtesy of acknowledging who the real villains in sports are: greedy owners who value their bottom lines over the culture of their locker room or the quality of the product their team is putting out there. Any parent that wants to get their kids out of the house for a couple of hours could pick a far more torturous activity than taking them to see GOAT.
Grade: B-
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