GOAT 3D review: A familiar yet fun animated slam-dunk full of heart, humor, and rich visuals!

Directed by Tyree Dillihay, Sony Pictures' animated sports comedy GOAT scores big with its infectious energy, stellar voices, and underdog triumph!

Anthropomorphic movies have a charm of their own as those witty, relatable and imaginative adventures the cute looking, talking animals embark upon make even the simplest story feel magical and deep all at once. Hence, as Sony Pictures Animation seeks to strengthen its foothold in the US animated scene, they are rolling out GOAT- a sports comedy which delivers an underdog story that feels both familiar and thrillingly new-this week.

Implying both, the literal animal as the protagonist and the ‘Greatest of All Time’ abbreviation, commonly used to describe sports legends- GOAT, follows a ‘small’ goat named Will Harris (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin) as he chases his dream of playing roarball, a high-paced, full-contact version of basketball, alongside the league's established beasts. We are introduced to Will as a kid who is an ardent sports fan. His single mother, despite her limited resources, takes him to see the city’s roarball team the Thorns play at the local stadium. At the game Will gets a chance to watch his idol, Jett Fillmore, a champion panther dubbed by Gabrielle Union.

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Ten years after the prelude, we see Will as a grown-up who makes his ends meet by working as a delivery boy at a diner and is struggling to pay the rent of his apartment. He still dreams of making into the Vineland’s a roarball team but there’s also another problem. Despite his skills, the protagonist is too small in size for a sport that requires great physical strength and is traditionally played by sturdy animals like horses, rhinos, giraffes and big cats, resulting in constant mockery of his passion for the game. A heavily edited viral video of him outplaying Mane(Aaron Pierre), an arrogant stallion from the rival team lands him a place in the now run-down Thorns squad, ruffling feathers within the franchise and the sporting community. What follows next is a familiar yet funky tale of resilience, rivals turned into friends and redemption!

The biggest joys of the film lies in its visual landscape and the quirks of its characters. Immense detailing has been added to the homes, cafes, stadiums and other settings where the story unfolds. It’s not a spectacle like Zootopia, Lion King or the Jungle Book, but the 3D animation delivers that cool, stylized Sony vibe which blends technology with comic-book flair, making the world of GOAT full of textures, vibrancy and personality. I particularly loved how the match turfs changed from lush vine draped venues to bubbling magma to arctic ice depending on the city our faunal champions would play the matches in. Character arcs are on expected lines, but the characteristics handed to them brim with pure animation fun with a dash of ethology. We have Olivia (Nicola Coughlan), the ostrich, who buries her head in the mud to express her despair, the rhinoArchie (David Harbour) who is going out of his way to be a good dad, a flamboyant Modo (Nick Kroll), the team’s troublesome komodo dragon, and the legendary Jett who scratches furniture when something gets on her nerves to offer moments that deliver consistent chuckles. The film sticks to the template story of an underdog but the way it handles Will and Jett’s arcs and equation is admirable. Will doesn’t become the sporting ‘GOAT’ instantly, in fact his biggest contribution to the Thorns is his regrouping of the unit that is failing due to their egos and indifferences. The way he inspires a change of heart in his ideal Jett after a string of 'never meet your heroes' experiences is heartwarming as well. The sense of community, familial emotions and sporting spirit during the course of it all offer the film some solid emotional grounding that will make it resonate well across age groups. 

Besides, the rivalry between the players, the mind games before and after the matches, the social media trolling and the hype and profit chasing sporting administrations take a witty jibe at the modern sports culture. It holds a mirror to how this discipline has been turned into a battlefield of egos, viral moments, and big-money schemes by the people who run it. While every voice-actor does a fabulous job breathing life into their characters, Gabrielle Union’s vocal services for Jett standouts by a huge margin. The way she emotes Jett’s confidence as a champion, her vulnerabilities as an aging, trophyless player at the prestigious Claw tournament and the insecurities she feels with the inclusion of Will in the team, whom the franchise endorses as the next superstar is the most nuanced animation acting I’ve encountered lately. 

Overall, Tyree Dillihay’s GOAT is a family entertainer that scores big with its infectious energy, vibrant visuals and humor! 

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