Directed By Tyree Dillhay and Adam Rosette
Starring – Caleb McLaughlin, Gabrielle Union, Nick Kroll
The Plot – A small goat (McLaughlin) 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.
Rated PG for some rude humor and brief mild adult language
POSITIVES
Underdog sports movies were such a stable of the 90’s that we seemingly received a new one almost weekly, and while “GOAT” undeniably contains many of the same creative cliches to its formulaic outline that made so many of those genre films feel interchangeable with one another, there’s a real artistic merit and underlining heart to the movie’s material that helps it overcome some of its situational shortcomings, making this a doubling of dynamic debuts for Tyree Dillhay and screenwriters Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley, who lavishly bring this fantastically imaginative world to life. From the very opening frame, the movie captures your attention with Sony Animation Studio’s signature brand of 3D computer-generated animation techniques, offering such an expressively unique and infectious series of character illustrations and stadium spectacle that feed seamlessly into Dillhay’s chaotic direction, in turn offering a palpably maintained energy and appealing infectiousness that makes the in-game sequences transpire with the kind of velocity and intensity that ratchets the danger and athleticism, respectively, within this universal game. Likewise, the script from Buchsbaum and Riley definitely strikes with an air of familiarity to its construct, but even the underdog narrative of the little goat that could is merely table dressing for the deeper delve within the many fascinatingly insightful avenues of exploration within the game, where NBA superstar, movie producer, and voice actor, Steph Curry, offers a firm grasp on the ins and outs of everything from toxic fandom, to media manipulation, to even mortality, in ways that proves this movie has plenty of knowledge and life lessons to convey to its youthful audience. While the film definitely begins from Will’s perspective of struggling with life, with only his passion for the game to drive him to fame, it eventually expands the scope to include the entire team, seemingly as a correspondence to the movie’s second act concerning itself with the irreplaceable value of team work, and while this might feel like it eventually becomes Union’s movie, with more of the talking points aimed towards her aging superstar veteran, Jett Filmore, in reality it’s actually fleshing each of them out respectively in ways that grant a deeper sense of significance to what they bring to both the team and the movie, allowing for some star-studded turns in the expanse of this highly gifted ensemble that energetically bring each of these characters to life. McLaughlin is undeniably the stand out as Will, evoking so much more emotional dexterity than his time on “Stranger Things”, in ways that breed a dreamer’s innocence to the candidness of his portrayal. McLaughlin is confident without coming across as arrogantly cocky, earning ample empathetic endearment that has us legitimately investing in his overnight success, especially with the character humbled by the untimely loss of his mother, somewhere during the ten year transition that begins the movie. Gabrielle Union also radiates as this bigger than life superstar who is forced to confront her own toxicity that is almost entirely responsible for the movie’s detrimental history, articulating a humbled transformation that emotionally has her feeling like two completely different characters under one portrayal, in turn appraising stoic stature and smoothly silky charisma to the turn that effortlessly makes the character, for better or worse, feel like a product of its own spotlighted environment, with just as much to learn about the game as her shortly-stacked teammate. Aside from the meaningful direction, insightful writing, and the standout performances, I also found much of the movie’s tonal impulses to effectively transition without feeling improper or telegraphed with the progression of the storytelling, allowing not only for solid laughs spawned from the media outlets that players use to trash their competition, but also a humbling of heart in the stinging subplot of Will’s grief that helps maintain control over so much of this movie’s spontaneous silliness. While comedy obviously maintains an overwhelming majority of Dillhay’s firm grasp in direction, the underlining drama sneaks up on the audience throughout a third act that conjures a lot of stakes and internalized compassion to the characters, and with some meaningful messages pertaining to the importance of team work, as well never giving up on your dreams, the movie packs the kind of genuine inspiration that allows it to be every bit entertaining as it is educational to those youthful audiences, without ever coming close to anything too sweetly saccharine to take away from its athletic atmosphere
NEGATIVES
As previously conveyed, “GOAT” follows a very formulaically predictable outline that has it feeling like any underdog sports movie that you’ve seen over the last forty years, and while that won’t necessarily be a problem for audience members seeking comfort food in cinema, those of us seeking originality might definitely demand more, especially with so many of the story’s beats practically checking off the virtual checklist of preconceived expectations that often make these movies feel like reheated leftovers of what was initially served. Corrupt team owner, aging veteran, misfits turned champions, and an antagonizing opposing team are just a few of the familiar instincts that this movie unsubtly unloads at the audience’s interpretation, without anything even remotely resembling creative deviation to the exploration of these characters, allowing more of the movie’s in-game dramatic beats to grind to a screeching halt, on account of never attaining the elements of uncertainty that value these pocketed conflicts, in turn offering little in the way of surprises or unforeseen expectations to a movie that you’ve definitely seen, even before actually seeing it. The movie also shamelessly revels in the kind of unnecessary product placement that is most recently making a comeback with contemporary cinema, with the storytelling halting itself directly in its tracks to continuously zero in on a Mercedes Benz vehicle that cleverly and conveniently finds its way into frame. Mercedes isn’t the only shilling solicitor of its products in this movie, but it is undoubtedly the most desperate offender, with as many as four different instances of their logo finding a centered framing to the visuals depiction, and while these unsubtle impulses might serve as a contextual result of the gifts that come with the life of an athlete, I feel like one time would’ve been enough to candidly get the intention of the shallow point across, but instead this feels like an 80 million dollar commercial for Mercedes and Under Armour that relentlessly distracts and detracts in the vital moments of Will’s rise to stardom, implementing an outsider’s influence to the escapism of cinema that feels depraved for childlike audiences. Finally, while the film barely clocks in at 95 minutes of a runtime, it manages to maintain the air of its consistency for almost the entirety of its finished product, that is until the third act abruptly breezes through a litany of meticulously built plot threads towards an unfulfilling resolution that feels unnaturally brisk when compared to the patience conjured with the rest of the movie. As expected, the movie does come down to one final game between our band of misfits and the hated antagonists, and not only are the game halves divided into two sequences channeling music montages to summarize everything that we should be experiencing in real time, but it also slings through a barrage of developments post-game that feel like an afterthought within their spontaneously enacted deliveries, leaving the film’s final twenty minutes feeling like it ran out of time, budget, or patience during the vital moments that leave the longest lasting impression of everything previously before it.
OVERALL
“GOAT” is a slam dunk celebration of visual mastery so artistically enamoring that it helps take the sting away from an abruptly rushed climax and by-the-numbers screenplay reflective of every genre offering that came before it. Despite its glaring flaws, this underdog story stands on four legs as a result of its energetic ensemble and dizzyingly frantic atmosphere, conjuring up enough sugary sincerity for kids to smoothly digest an ingrained message, even if it lacks the profound punch of other animal-led animated movies that flesh out a deeper sense of symbolism within its social commentary.
My Grade: 7.2 or B-