Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker has returned for another animated movie adventure, and in the previous movie, we travelled back to Featherbeard in search of a mysterious groundhog, but today, we are heading to Vineland in the modern era for our next animated movie adventure: GOAT!
GOAT centres on Will (Caleb McLaughlin), a small goat who dreams of becoming a professional Roarball (a more extreme version of basketball) player despite his small stature, in a sport full of players larger and fiercer than him. Then, after a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity presents him with the chance to play in a failing Roarball team, including playing alongside his idol Jett (Gabrielle Union) as, to take his career and the sport of Roarball into new heights.
Considering it has been a long time since Sony Pictures Animation releases their animated movie into theatres (and their first original theatrical animated movie since technically Wish Dragon in China back in 2021), it is exciting that one of the rising stars of mainstream theatrical animation is once again returning to the big screen, especially given the rising success of K-Pop Demon Hunters from last year. Is GOAT yet another top-tier animated movie on top of their already impressive catalogue of top-quality animated movies?
If you are ready, let’s ready to jungle!
Key Information
- Director: Tyree Dillihay
- Animation Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
- Country of Origin: United States
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 17 February 2026 (in Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
Story and Characters
It has been almost 3 years since we saw a Sony Pictures Animation in movie theatres with Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and GOAT did not reach the same heights as that movie, mostly due to the flaws in the writing, though that should not take away from how exciting the writing is.
Talking about the flaws first, considering we are getting more sports underdog movies and series, there is some genre fatigue that is easily noticeable within GOAT. This movie followed similar beats to the formula and some of the pacing can be too fast and exciting for certain moviegoers, especially for those not used to high-intensity sports, such as basketball which is the direct influence for Roarball, the fictional basketball-based game. With that said, those are not heavy deal-breakers for most moviegoers because the strengths within this movie outweigh the movie’s issues.
First off, the world-building within GOAT is very immersive, so you are getting deep into the world around GOAT and Roarball itself. This makes the movie so engaging to its audience, especially once it ramps up the pace in the second half . The comedy (minus that one fart joke, but that’s about it) is effortlessly hilarious, especially when taking advantage of the characters and the environments to create some action humour.
Secondly, the characters are a lot of fun! The focus is on Will, who is the main hero of the story, and sure, his characteristics are quite similar to other similar heroes in sports movies, but his energy and charisma shine through as the movie progresses. However, as the movie shifts a bit more to his idol Jett, you also get to understand her a lot more, especially her motivations, making a strong chemistry between both leads that pays off in the third act.
That also did not detract from the other characters, who are great too. There are way too many amazing characters to focus on, whether it is the main villain in rival Roarball star Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierce), the Thorns’ negligent owner in Flo (Jenifer Lewis) and of course, Modo (Nick Kroll) because he is an icon. While GOAT presents a story we had seen before, the execution of the writing is what matters and despite some issues I have regarding it, the writing and characters are entertaining and well-developed enough for me to ignore the issues within that.
Animation
One of Sony Pictures Animation’s best contributions to the animation industry is mastering the stylisation of CG animation with 2018’s Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Since then, this amazing animation studio continues to further improve on this animation style with future animated movies, and the same can be said for the overall animation quality in GOAT.
One thing I love about Sony Pictures Animation is that even though they utilise the Spiderverse-style of animation in most of their movies, every animation style are very distinct from each other because stylised CG is an easier animation technique to be more creative over photorealistic CG animation. That is showcased to the fullest potential in GOAT.
Considering GOAT is more sports-themed, that means the Roarball sequences need to be on point and indeed, if the world-building in the writing is great, the animation takes the world-building to a whole different ball game (pun intended)! The environment animation in the world of GOAT is literally an urban jungle rich in vibrancy and also contrast within the different lands. From the underground streets to the Roarball stadiums, everything regarding the background animation perfectly encapsulates what GOAT is about, and you can also apply that to the distinct and well-rendered character designs too.
The action, however, is what takes the animation in this movie to new heights, as there is a clear inspiration from competitive team sports, including basketball, which is the direct inspiration for the fictional sport of Roarball. The movie provides more action and intensity with its Roarball sequences that feel very dynamic and in-your-face. It feels like getting courtside seats at a Roarball game, and it really shows with inspiration from the Slam Dunk anime series (especially with The First Slam Dunk, which I recommend if you are new to Slam Dunk in general).
What also separates GOAT from other talking animal animated movies in general is how this movie takes animal instincts and characteristics to the fullest potential. There is a wide variety of character designs, but each one of them was used deliberately when needed. Given how small Will is compared to the rest of his teammates, his small stature plays well to the animation where with each play he makes, the animation ramps up to the max. In fact, I would not be surprised if the animators take cues from the intense and gritty action sequences in Spycies (which I definitely need to cover in length some day) because the way both movies convey action is very similar. I think it goes without saying that the animation is the main highlight of GOAT, and this movie is why so many animated movies adopt this stylised CG approach. It is such a versatile animation style that allows for creativity compared to photorealistic CG animation, which is harder to execute well. I have honestly no issues with the animation whatsoever.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
The soundtrack went hard with it bringing hip-hop to the mix to provide a more authentic feel to the vibes in GOAT, including K-Pop band Cortis, who provided “Mention Me” in the GOAT soundtrack. It is unexpected to see a K-Pop song in the soundtrack, but once I listened to the track, I could understand why Cortis was invited to provide a track for the soundtrack, because they understood the assignment.
In terms of the marketing, I actually have to make a hot take: I feel the marketing team is quite smart with how much they wanted to provide in this movie, not revealing too much of its plot but providing just enough to tease the moviegoers in. Their tie-in commercials with other brands also resulted in increased awareness for this movie, which explains the strong box office numbers for GOAT. Honestly, considering the lack of marketing in some of the past mainstream animated movies, it felt great to see a mainstream animated movie with such an extensive marketing campaign.
As for my level of enjoyment, despite my gripes with some of its flaws, I had a blast watching the entire movie unfold. GOAT is the type of animated movie that would easily appeal to me, especially given I covered a lot of talking animal animated movies. Needless to say, I was clenching my entire body during its most exciting moments, and that was why I honestly had nothing negative regarding my experience with GOAT.
Conclusion
Well, I am happy to report that GOAT delivers on its promise as a fun sports underdog movie showcasing the best of Sony Pictures Animation. Despite its glaring flaws, that did not take away the sheer excitement and emotional connection with the power of competitive sports, the exciting and virtually perfect animation sequences, and a fun and varied soundtrack.
This movie might not have set the world alight as compared to the very best that Sony Pictures Animation has to offer, but it nevertheless shows why we need animated movies, especially the top-tier ones, into movie theatres because with how successful this movie is getting, maybe other animation studios need to follow suit and improve their animation quality to bring better quality animated movies into the movie theatres that they deserve to be seen in.
Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure, and before you take a sigh of relief, I got bad news: we still got one more talking animal animated movie to talk about, but before we go into the specifics of Pond Rules, it is time we re-visit a certain talking animal animated movie that is anything but your usual talking animal animated movie. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
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