★★½ (2½ out of 4)
Don’t groan when I say that “GOAT” is an animated basketball comedy about an actual goat (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin) who wants to be the Greatest of All Time at a hoops-like game known as roarball. Or do groan, why not? You’ll still have a blast watching an underdog sports story that follows the moldy template to a fault but scores high in fun.
McLaughlin, of “Stranger Things,” runs with the role of Will Harris, an anthropomorphic goat with dreams of balling with the biggies—panther, rhino, Komodo dragon, you name it—on his favorite team, The Thorns. The trouble is Will is a runt among giants, accustomed to being jeered instead of cheered.
The inclusivity messaging abut teamwork is laid on thick, but still worthwhile for immature audiences of all ages.
Stephen Curry, the four-time NBA champion, two-time MVP and Olympic gold medalist, can relate. That’s why he became a producer and voice actor on “GOAT,” reveling in the chance to stand up for the underestimated. "I was physically a late bloomer, undersized," said the 6’2” former point guard for the Golden State Warriors. “The movie is inspired by that underdog mentality that I’ve had my entire life. The idea of dreaming big, even when critics and doubters are around you—I still carry that mentality and want to prove myself every time I step on the court." In the movie, Curry dreams big as—wait for it— a giraffe.
Will gets his chance when a giant horse named Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), from a rival team, catches him practicing and challenges him to a one on one. Will doesn’t win but holds his own and a phone video of his skills quickly goes viral. The upshot is that Flo (Jenifer Lewis), the owner of the Thorns, signs up the kid as a media stunt that might help her declining team fill stadiums again. When it does, the team’s star attraction, a looming, preening panther named Jett Fillmore (terrific voicework here from Gabrielle Union), goes to war with Will and she is not, and I do mean not, a team player.
That rivalry sparks Will’s rise to the top as director Tyree Dillihay, working from a script by Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley, stresses Will’s interactions with a rainbow coalition of animals, from Olivia the delicate ostrich (Nicola Coughlan) to Archie the single dad rhinoceros (David Harbour) and Modo the scene-stealing Komodo dragon (Nick Kroll).
OK, the inclusivity messaging abut teamwork is laid on thick but still worthwhile for immature audiences of all ages. And the animation has a fluid vibrancy as the game locations swerve from lush jungle to frozen tundra. If you can’t figure out how this thing ends, watch the first five films in the “Rocky” franchise and report back to me in the morning. Cornball? You bet. But, damn, Steph Curry is right; rooting for the disenfranchised never goes out of style. Small can ball, and don’t you forget it.