GOAT

A brief history of High-Concept films. 

Those are films that can easily be summed up in one sentence. For a few examples, Alien was pitched as “Jaws in Space;” Airplane was pitched as “Animal House on a Plane;” the new animated movie GOAT can be pitched as “A goat wants to be the GOAT.”

Let’s see if I can elaborate on GOAT.

Our main goat, Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin), wants to play roarball, which is this film’s version of basketball. He’s a lot smaller than the average player, so he’s often told that “smalls can’t ball.”  One day, he bets his rent money roarballing with superstar Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre) of Lava Coast Magma. Although Will loses the match, and his apartment, that he “broke” Mane’s “ankles” (translation: made him lose balance) is enough to get him signed to his home team, the Vineland Thorns.

He’s soon introduced to the team: phone-addicted ostrich Olivia (Nicola Coughlan), eccentric komodo dragon Modo (Nick Kroll), single dad rhino Archie (David Harbour), aspiring rapper giraffe Lenny (Stephen Curry, who’s also producing), and his favorite baller, black panther Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union). They're a dysfunctional bunch of misfits, but they start moving up the ranks once Will starts to play. They soon reach the playoffs for the sport's greatest trophy - The Claw. But the team's manager, Flo the boar (Jenifer Lewis), might have something up her hooves.

I'm kind of curious how this compares to its source material, Funky Dunks by Chris Tougas, but it's not available anywhere. So, instead I'll evaluate the screen story we have, which was written by Aaron Buchsbaum, Teddy Riley, Nicolas Curcio and Peter Chiarelli. It's a pretty okay story, with a likable protagonist with an understandable dream. It becomes more poignant when we realize that his mom, Louise (Jennifer Hudson), whom we saw in the prologue, died during the time-skip. Yeah, the audience's sympathy definitely in Will's court.

But I gravitated more towards the Thorns. They’re a lovable bunch of losers, who have enough quirks and insecurities to help them stand out. Amongst the bunch, I can highlight Modo and Jett as the MVPs. Modo's a delight, and he even gives us a legitimately surprising twist at the end. While Jett the player can get arrogant, it's difficult to hate her once we know her neurotic personality off the court. Not only that, but it's quite easy to empathize with her as she faces her aging body. She and Will have pretty good chemistry, especially when he shows her around the diner where he works. Although she alienates her crew midway through, they're all too happy to join her for the finals. It's kind of quick, but it makes some sense. 

Amongst the cast, we also have Dennis (Patton Oswalt), who's supposed to be the team's coach. He's mostly ignored, even pranked, but he's still a pretty good guy. The aptly-named Grizz (Jelly Roll), meanwhile, starts off the movie as a bully on the community roarball court. He gets better, mostly off screen, which is kind of confusing. Frank (Wayne Knight), Will's initial gerbil landlord, may be cranky, but he's also a good guy. Daryl & Hannah (Eduardo Franco & Sherry Cola), Will's best buds, are just as quirky as the Thorns. Finally, we have Flo, who's quite a smooth villain.

Its animated world sees 3D animals on seemingly painted backgrounds. Yes, they were actually computerized too, but the aesthetics are quite convincing. What makes these characters unique is that, at times, they'll slip into real-world animal quirks, which makes for some entertaining gags (Mane gallops like a horse; Will's pupils dilate like an actual goat's, and he even goes myotonic). Some of the best environments are the roarball arenas, which sees the players balling across lava pits, tundras and jungles. The games are exciting, even if they're a bit overwhelming, and are accentuated nicely by Kris Bowers's energetic score. 

Any other issues? Well, it's about the viral video that leads Flo to Will. Sure, he's shown breaking Mane's ankles, but he still ends up losing the exhibition match. I thought that would've come up later on, but that never becomes a thing. Am I reading into it too much? Then again, maybe the point was that everyone realized that the "champ" could be defeated. If so, that's admirable. I also thought Mane was in cahoots with Flo, especially with how particularly unsportsmanlike he and the Magma were in the last game. But that's not the case.

GOAT isn't a game changer, but it's still entertaining. Its quirky sense of humor elevates it beyond a run-of-the-mill sports movie, especially with that last twist. There were some obvious jokes that I didn't catch the first time. You'll have to see them for yourself, along with the rest of the movie. I think I said enough.