You’ve seen a sports show like GOAT before, just not this vividly animated and full of walking talking animals with Gen-Z attitudes.

GOAT, an animated Sony Animation produced-sports comedy starring anthropomorphic animals who can play basketball (called Roarball here), is also funded by NBA pro player Stephen Curry. So of course the film is going to be a safe narrative project: Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin) is a fast-talking quick-witted aspiring Roarball player who is clearly small compared to the bigger Roarball players. He is clearly good, but all others entrenched in the sport don’t think that way as the phrase “small can’t ball” is deep in every players and crowd’s mind.

After getting internet meme fame by almost besting top literal stallion player Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre) in a Roarball money match, Will gets recruited to be a wild card and sixth player for the home team Vineland Thorns. The team has seen better days as its ageing star Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union) has yet to let go of her past glories, not even giving Will a chance. But like I said earlier, this is an all-ages safe bet story, so of course the team eventually warm up to Will and co., opening up their minds and working as a team.

And just like tepid late 90s sports flicks, there is a “liar’s reveal” bit that forces unnecessary conflict to turn the team dynamic upside its head, with the whole issue resolved unrealistically and super-quick, capped off with the expected final battle against the team spearheaded by the aforementioned Mane. In a literal hell’s pit with rising rocks and whatnot that screams “final video game level”.

At the very least, the voice actors are having fun with the standard roles they’re given. McLaughlin’s Will has the expected but much-needed energy and optimism needed to balance out the jaded vocals of Union’s Jett. Nick Kroll also has fun playing eccentric Roarball player Modo, while Patton Oswalt adds much-needed balance with comedy and drillwork as the monkey coach Dennis Cooper. Malaysian action star Zul Ariffin, in his first international voice acting role, does a good job playing the pretty defensive rhino player Archie Everhardt with the right amount of deep intonations and inflections.

All in all, GOAT is just following the standard underdog sports drama-comedy formula, but more on the “comedy” and visual gags. It’s sorely relying on its visuals, art style, and basketball matches in a plethora of elemental courts to carry it all the way to a slam dunk, and it just coasts along fine as a result.

It’s an all-ages film through and through and should keep the young ones entertained. Just don’t go into it for something groundbreaking and mind-blowing; just good old-fashioned Mighty Ducks-esque late 90s sports show but with furries.

Final Score: 60/100