The Goat, the Panther and the Basketball Player

Movie review by Diane Urbani de la Paz

“GOAT” is a hero’s journey, an underdog tale and an animated onslaught of animals playing roarball—that’s basketball with rugby overtones. It’s a flick for kids and for adults like me who want to be kids for a couple of hours. Coproduced by the fabulous Golden State Warriors point guard and philanthropist Stephen Curry, “GOAT” is not like a lot of animated fare. 

Our hooved hero is Will Harris, a slim young billy goat who dreams of becoming a great athlete—and who has the work ethic to match. Voiced by Caleb McLaughlin, he’s in awe of his team’s veteran star, a female—yes!— black panther named Jett Fillmore. She’s powerfully voiced by Gabrielle Union. 

Will’s world is a modest-income neighborhood where he’s having trouble paying his rent. We’re not in Kansas anymore, and that’s good. The hip-hop and pop soundtrack is a refreshing break from Disneyesque animated fare, taking us into the color-drenched streets with "Hooligang" by Joey Valence & Brae, Jelly Roll’s “I’m Good” and FLO’s "Mamacitas." 

Can Will, who is so much smaller physically than the other beasts on the court, rise up to roarball stardom? Could “GOAT” turn out to mean greatest of all time, for this diminutive kid? 

In this story inspired by Chris Tougas’ manuscript “Funky Dunks,” it’s a jungle out there. The other roarballers aren’t helping much. Will has only the spirit of his late Mom—who believed in him from the start—and his sense of community to buoy him forward. 

With “GOAT,” director Tyree Dillihay delivers a loud, pounding barrage of sound and fury: a large amount of everything all at once. Will’s landlord Frank (voiced by Wayne Knight) is a prairie dog with an ever-multiplying houseful of offspring. Jett is one formidable creature, with house-cat behaviors. Will and Jett’s opponent, Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre) is an Andalusian horse who is ugly and villainous. There’s Olivia the long-eyelashed ostrich (Nicola Coughlan) and Flo (Jenifer Lewis), the roarball team owner who is a well-groomed warthog. 

We also have a goateed giraffe named Lenny, voiced by Curry himself, and Carol, manager of the Whiskers Diner, played by his wife, Ayesha Curry. 

It may be tough to imagine it now, but Curry himself has experience with being the little, underestimated guy. As the legend goes, he was a 160-pound high school player who didn’t get the big scholarship offers. Relatively short at 6-foot-2, he played for North Carolina’s Davidson College. 

With the Warriors, Curry went on to be a four-time NBA champion, twice named the league’s most valuable player. He’s been an NBA All-Star 12 times, and picked up a gold medal playing hoops for the USA at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. The kid born in Akron, Ohio, and raised in Charlotte, N.C., is the emperor of the three-pointer, and considered one of the best shooters in the history of basketball. 

Meanwhile, the Currys are founders of the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation in Oakland, Calif., which is all about providing nutritious food, safe playgrounds and literacy programs for children. The athlete is also owner of Unanimous Media, the production company behind “GOAT.” 

In the movie, everything is over the top. The roarball games are spectacular to watch. There’s so much eye candy charging across the screen that I needed to go someplace quiet afterward. 

Yet with all of the ultramodern animation and the big posse of characters, it’s little Will’s development—and his resilience—that make the movie. This is a story about having a mother who is gone, but her love is not. That love, along with the kid’s community, imparts the strength for him to keep trying. So what if you are small? Go ahead and dream big.