Posted in: Kaitlyn Booth, Movies, Review, Sony | Tagged: Goat, steph curry

GOAT Review: A Well-Crafted, Beautifully Animated Film for Sports Fans

GOAT looks damn good as it hits every trope in the book and sticks the landing with animal precision. 

GOAT might be the most sports movie to ever sports movie on top of being another beautifully animated Sony Animation Film, but non-sports fans are likely going to feel shut out.

Directors: Tyree Dillihay and Adam Rosette
Summary: A small goat with big dreams gets a once-in-a-lifetime shot to join the pros and play roarball, a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world.

When the concept for GOAT dropped, it was during a time when Sony was getting a lot of flak for dumping KPop Demon Hunters on Netflix. Rightfully, some people were like, "Why was this worthy of a theatrical release while the other wasn't?" Despite the fact that KPop Demon Hunters went on to have mainstream appeal, now that GOAT has arrived, it is the more approachable of the two films. On its surface, this is a sports movie, and it's the same sports movie we've seen a million times. You could time the different beats and story points to within a second of each other, because we all know how this goes. That's going to sound like a criticism, but it's not, not really. There are some genres where following the book is expected, and this is one of those genres. It's the execution where the devil is in the details, and that's where GOAT was going to pass or fail.

We can all continue to thank Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse for its ongoing impact on every animated project released after. There is another timeline where GOAT exists, with some of the laziest, phoned-in animation you've ever seen. The movie itself is probably mediocre because it's hard to be bad if you're following the formula, but it's ugly as sin and made with zero love. However, it's very clear that the people involved with GOAT went above and beyond.

Look no further than Impact Frames featurette, where we see the team add a detail specifically linked to sports cards, much in the same way the Spider-Verse team added onomonopia and panels. You can tell a lot about a project by how much love people put into it. From the Impact Frames to all the small links in GOAT to sports culture and fandom, it's very clear that this was not a project phoned in in the slightest.

GOAT takes worldbuilding to the next level in a very Zootopia way. We aren't playing basketball; we're playing "roar ball," which has different rules, but we all know what the concept is. The movie doesn't take much, if any, time to try to explain the difference. It's enough to hear some details from announcers and to just watch the players play the game. It means the game is similar enough for us to follow while still unique to this world. Sometimes people make up completely different sports when building worlds, and while that isn't a bad idea, it also forces your audience to learn something new to follow along. That approach can get distracting and confusing.

GOAT does a good job of remaining familiar while doing something new. Once again, another example of how execution makes all the difference here. This difference is also felt in the writing and the script, where some of the more niche jokes and the way they apply the fact that this is another world with talking animals are excellent. The delivery from the various cast members is excellent, with Modo (Nick Kroll) being one of the standouts, and all the little details that go into the various Thornes' players are well done.

However, GOAT is a sports movie, and that's about it. If you're looking for anything resembling a B plot, then you're going to be looking somewhere else because there isn't one. That's not a bad thing, per se, and sports movies have massive appeal for a reason. There isn't anything else here for people who aren't into those tropes and this kind of story, aside from well-done animation and a good score. This isn't the film that's going to convert people who aren't generally into sports films into believers. This is feeding an audience a massive serving of their favorite meals without any consideration for people who might want something slightly different.

GOAT might be treading some seriously familiar waters with its story, but execution is everything when it comes to familiarity, and this execution is very well done. It's very clear that this is a project done by people who not only believe in it but also have deep knowledge and love for sports culture and the games themselves. Even if sports movies are not your thing, true artistic love and passion make all the difference in the world. GOAT looks damn good as it hits every trope in the book and sticks the landing with animal precision.

GOAT

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Review by Kaitlyn Booth

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8/10

GOAT might be the most sports movie to ever sports movie on top of being another beautifully animated Sony Animation Film, but non-sports fans are likely going to feel shut out.

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