Review: 'Goat' puts a vibrant spin on classic sports-movie tropes, with an underdog goat trying to prove he can play with the big animals
Animated movies about animals are fun, and so are underdog sports stories — so getting both tropes at once, as the sports-minded animal movie “Goat” does, turns out to be more enjoyable than the trailers would have you believe.
Will Harris (voiced by “Stranger Things” star Caleb McLaughlin) has dreamed all of his young life of playing professional roarball — which looks a lot like basketball, and is played by large muscular animals. Will’s dream is a little more specific, as he wants to play for his hometown squad, the Vineland Thorns, alongside their star player, a panther named Jett Fillmore (voiced by Gabrielle Union).
The main obstacle to Will’s roarball dreams is that he’s a goat — and smaller animals have never played in the pros in roarball. Will aims to prove himself, accepting an all-comers street ball challenge from the league’s biggest showboat, a horse named Mane Attraction (voiced by Aaron Pierre). When the footage goes viral, it catches the attention the Thorns’ owner, Flo Everson (voiced by Jenifer Lewis), who signs Will to a contract.
Of course there’s a catch — an obvious one to anyone who’s ever seen the 1989 baseball comedy “Major League.” And, like in that movie, everything hinges on whether this bunch of misfit athletes can come together and win the championship for Vineland. (By the way, basketball star Stephen Curry is one of the movie’s producers, so it’s no coincidence that Vineland evokes thoughts of the Golden State Warriors’ former home of Oakland.)
Thankfully, the parents of the target audience for “Goat” weren’t alive yet in 1989, so who’s going to tell the kids in the seats that this vibrantly animated, excitingly paced cartoon is made from recycled material? They’re going to have fun, so who am I to spoil their good time?
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‘Goat’
★★★
Opens Friday, February 13, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for some rude humor and brief mild language. Running time: 100 minutes.