a colorful, fast-paced animated sports film produced by Stephen Curry that turns roarball into a vivid underdog tale full of inventive courts and lively voice performances
Sony Pictures Animation’s GOAT turns the sports movie inside out — and into a world of animals playing a lightning-fast game called roarball.
At its heart GOAT is a familiar, satisfying underdog story. Will Harris (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin) is a scrappy teen goat whose size seems to be the only thing standing between him and his dream: playing for the Vineland Thorns and following in the footsteps of superstar Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union). A viral streetball clip — a one-on-one against Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre) — puts Will on the map and convinces team owner Florence Everson (Jenifer Lewis) to sign him, partly for ticket sales and partly because she sees what everyone else missed: heart.
Stephen Curry serves as an executive producer and contributes a voice role, lending real-world basketball credibility that shows up not just in a few authentic touches but in how the film thinks about spacing, playmaking and strategy. Tyree Dillahay directs with Adam Rosette as co-director, and the voice cast mixes comedy and gravitas: Nick Kroll’s Komodo dragon supplies quirks, Nicola Coughlan’s social-media–obsessed ostrich skewers modern celebrity, David Harbour’s softened rhino balances family obligations with team loyalties, and Patton Oswalt’s proboscis monkey coach functions more as a counselor than a clipboard-wielder. Even Wayne Knight pops up in a small, comic turn as Will’s beleaguered gerbil landlord.
More than a novelty sports premise, GOAT tries to marry big, kinetic set pieces with warm character work. Matches are staged like adventures through cartoon ecosystems — arenas morph from cavernous courts with falling stalactites to a molten “Inferno” court and a frozen Cryosphere lit by auroras — so each game feels like its own distinct challenge. The animation keeps faces and body language highly readable: micro-expressions sell the quieter moments while exaggerated movement sells the chaos of play. Cinematography and layered CGI give the action a choreography-like precision; the camera moves, the lighting shifts and the environment becomes an opponent as much as the rival team.
That visual inventiveness is the film’s chief asset. Designers prioritize clear silhouettes and high-contrast action so kids can follow the play, while background detail and clever framing reward repeated watches. Voice performances are used sparingly but effectively to ground emotional beats amid the visual rush — McLaughlin’s Will conveys a steady, believable ambition, Union gives the idol figure nuance, and Lewis brings the kind of brassy, theatrical energy that anchors the team’s off-court drama.
Narratively, GOAT mostly stays within the family-sports blueprint: an underdog joins a fractured team, internal tensions threaten cohesion, a mentor/mentee relationship deepens, and a climactic match pulls the threads together. Where it distinguishes itself is in the marriage of those beats to a high-concept setting and a roster of deliberately mismatched teammates whose personalities fuel both jokes and conflict. The film raises questions about exploitation versus opportunity — Will is partly a publicity play for the struggling Thorns — but keeps the tone light enough for younger viewers while still offering something for adults who recognize genre tropes.
Reactions are likely to divide along taste lines. Younger viewers and families will respond to the sensory bravado and the film’s heartfelt, simple arc. Some adults may find the nonstop energy a little draining or the humor broad. How it fares commercially will depend on marketing and whether audiences connect with the arena-as-ecosystem idea at scale.
Beyond the story, GOAT hints at shifting production priorities in animated sports films. Translating modern basketball concepts to a nonhuman cast required close collaboration between sports consultants, animators, choreographers and voice directors — a workflow that adds cost and complexity but can pay off in authenticity. If the arena-as-biome approach catches on, studios may standardize faster pipelines and bring sports experts into the process earlier to tighten scripts without sacrificing spectacle.
In short: GOAT is a visual knockout that plays safe narratively. It excels in design, worldbuilding and animated motion, and it delivers a warm, crowd-pleasing underdog tale. Those craving bold storytelling risks might wish for sharper surprises, but families and sports fans looking for an energetic, emotionally tidy ride will find a lot to like.