Sony Animation was always trying to catch up with the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks, struggling to create their own hits but finding the odd success with the likes of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Hotel Transylvania and Arthur Christmas, before they took a chance with the unique animation style that was seen in Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, which changed the landscape of animation. Studios were able to take risks on animation styles and be creative again. Sony Animation have leaned into this style and continued to have success with The Mitchells vs The Machines and KPop Demon Hunters, and suddenly become the most consistent animation studio in recent years.
GOAT is their latest film which tells the story of a small goat named Will (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin) who dreams of playing his favourite sport Roarball (like basketball but it’s contact). When he is approached to join his favourite team after a clip of his goes viral, he needs to inspire his team and his favourite player to turn their season around.
Despite other animation studios trying to copy the animation style that Sony Animation created for Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse, no other studio manages to do it as well as what Sony do. I’m typically one of Sony’s biggest haters, particularly with what they did with their cinematic universe of Spider-Man adjacent characters, or most of their live action projects which often feel easy and lazy. It’s wild that it’s completely opposite for their animation. They clearly are very aware that results in the animation industry take time, and just let the creatives be creative. Each frame of this film looks glorious and has a great balance of colour and style, in what must have been a fun universe to create.
Despite it bringing it showcasing unique animation, the story of the film feels very familiar. If you’ve seen sports films like Goal! or Space Jam, you’ll know exactly how this story is going to play out. It doesn’t bring a whole bunch new to that area, bringing across the standard story points you’d expect without doing anything overly fresh. That being said, it is still a fun watch, and I can imagine if you show this to kids, it could be the sort of film that they might latch onto and have good memories of as they grow older.
The voice cast is strong across the board. Caleb McLaughlin (best known for playing Lucas in Stranger Things) leads that cast as the main character, and does a really good job. The rest of the supporting cast is also as strong, and throws in a couple of bigger names in smaller roles.
Overall, I enjoyed GOAT a decent amount, even if it doesn’t reach the heights the studio has achieved at times in recent years because of the simple and predictable story. The film still has a lot of fun moments, a good message and fantastic animation, better than any other current animation studio. I’d love to see this film get a sequel and take it another direction, or explore other characters or sports in this world.
What did you think of GOAT?
GOAT is the final of reviews from my big cinema days last week, be sure to check out all of my other reviews in case you missed any. It’s only a couple more days until the Oscars, and I’ll be doing a post about them the day after, in order not to miss that follow me @floodersfilms or via the buttons below. And don’t forget to check out the Latest News tab to keep up to date with the last film news!
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