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Plot

In a world of anthropomorphic animals, on his birthday, young goat Will Harris aspires to be like his idol, black panther Jett Fillmore, a roarball player for his homeland Vineland's Thorns.

Ten years later, the Thorns have not yet won all season, with Jett asking team owner, warthog Florence "Flo" Everson, to do whatever she can to complete and make the team by finding a sixth player. Meanwhile, a young adult Will, now working at a diner and practicing roarball, is struggling to pay his apartment rent to his landlord gerbil Frank. After earning money from selling his prized sneakers, Will faces off against an Andalusian horse named Mane Attraction, the lead player for the Lava Coast Magma, by betting the money. Though he has an early lead, Will loses, ends up evicted, and moves in with his friends capybara Daryl and aardwolf Hannah.

The next morning, a video of Will "breaking" Mane's ankles goes viral. At work, Will is signed onto the Thorns by Flo. When Jett finds out, she is enraged and mocks Will during a press conference. Will is introduced by proboscis monkey coach Dennis Cooper to the team: Indian rhinoceros Archie Everhardt, giraffe Lenny Williamson, Komodo dragon Modo Olachenko, and ostrich Olivia Burke. Will is placed on the bench for a few games, but when Jett has a technical foul, she is forced to sit out. Will is subbed in and scores a winning point, gaining the Thorns their first win and the respect of his other teammates. While filming a promotional video, Jett is angered and leaves the shoot, but Will comforts her, and takes her to the diner he used to work at. There, Jett sees that the city supports her, and Will reminds Jett of his mother Louise's ambitions for him to play roarball prior to her death. Carol, the owner of the diner, makes Jett promise to bring home the Claw, the roarball championship trophy, for Vineland. That night, Jett goes on a livestream with Mane and defends her team, allowing Dennis to coach them. After this, the Thorns go on a winning streak and make it to the playoffs.

At a party just before the semi-final, Flo tells Jett that she has sold the Thorns to Sunken City to make herself a profit, and that everyone will be cut off and Jett will never win the Claw. Will overhears this, but Jett forces him to keep quiet. The team starts off poorly, however, and in the final quarter, despite Jett's objections, Will tells them what he overheard. The team is upset and shocked, and Jett starts hogging the ball as they resume play. Although the Thorns win, they quit due to Jett's selfishness. Before the finals, Jett apologizes to Will for her actions and tearfully admits her fear of losing her legacy. With his help, the pair gets the team back together and they face off against the Magma at Lava Coast.

During the game, Mane causes Jett to get a possibly career-ending injury on her leg, and she is forced to walk on crutches. When she gets back out on the court, she is applauded and sits on the bench while watching the rest of the team play. During the final quarter, Archie gets an ejection after defending Will from Mane. Jett decides to step back in, and Dennis gives them a new play. Jett distracts the Magma and passes the ball to Will, who makes the winning shot. As they celebrate, Mane's hair gets burned away, while Flo is chased off the field by Archie's twin daughters, Adi and Ari.

Back in Vineland, the Thorns celebrate with the well earned Claw, where Modo reveals that he won ownership of the team in a game of Uno, much to everyone's surprise and allows the Thorns to stay in Vineland.

Voice cast

Caleb McLaughlin as Will Harris, a teenage American Pygmy goat who dreams of becoming a professional roarball player

Luke Cimity as young Will Harris

Gabrielle Union as Jett Fillmore, a famous all-star black panther roarball player, known as the "Face of the Thorns", who is Will's idol

Aaron Pierre as Mane Attraction, an arrogant Andalusian horse and member of the Lava Coast Magma team who is the MVP of the league

Nicola Coughlan as Olivia Burke, an ostrich roarball player and member of the Thorns who is known to bury her head in things after she was posterized by Mane

David Harbour as Archie Everhardt, an Indian rhinoceros roarball player, enforcer of the Thorns, and the single father of his twin daughters

Zul Ariffin voices Archie in the Malaysian theatrical release of the film.

Nick Kroll as Modo Olachenko, a Komodo dragon roarball player with different piercings and member of the Thorns

Stephen Curry as Lenny Williamson, a giraffe roarball player, aspiring rapper, and member of the Thorns

Jenifer Lewis as Florence "Flo" Everson, a sleazy warthog and owner of the Vineland Thorns

Patton Oswalt as Dennis Cooper, a proboscis monkey and the Thorns' coach

Jelly Roll as Grizz, a brutish grizzly bear roarball player who hogs the "Cage" from Will

Jennifer Hudson as Louise Harris, Will's late mother and former diner waitress

Sherry Cola as Hannah, an aardwolf who is Will's friend

Eduardo Franco as Daryl, a capybara who is Will's friend and Hannah's roommate

Andrew Santino and Bobby Lee as Chuck and Rusty, a musk ox and egyptian fruit bat duo who are roarball commentators

Wayne Knight as Frank, a gerbil who is Will's pestering but understanding landlord

Ayesha Curry as Carol, a llama who is owner of Whisker's Diner in which Will's mother worked

VanVan as Adi and Ari, Archie's twin daughters

Rayaan Khan as Theo, a gerbil who is also a good friend of Will and one of Frank's sons

Adam Pally as Gerald, a nine-banded armadillo and Whisker's Diner patron who stopped cheering for the Thorns until Will started to turn the team around

Angel Reese as:

Propp, a polar bear roarball player for the Shivers

Dawson, another polar bear roarball player for the Shivers

Joe La Puma as Sneaky, a White-headed vulture shoe shop owner that Will tried to pawn some shoes to

Erin Andrews as a game announcer

Andre Iguodala as Iggy, a plains zebra roarball referee

Mike Breen as a Vineland cheetah reporter

A'ja Wilson as Kouyate, an American alligator roarball player for the Shadows

Kevin Love as Daskas, a gorilla roarball player for the Shadows

Dwyane Wade as Rosette, a bull roarball player for the Shadows

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 82% of 91 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 6.4/10. The website's consensus reads: "Sporting a terrific voice cast, nifty animation, and a solid moral for youngsters, GOAT plays a familiar game with enough style and finesse to come close to the greats." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Mark Kennedy from the Associated Press praised its visuals while simultaneously criticizing its writing as "lazy, thin" and "tiresome in its overly familiar redemption arc". Brandon Yu from the New York Times wrote, "it's a story with few surprises and mostly rudimentary emotional concepts, but is enlivened by artwork with colorful texture and a dynamic animation style." Eric Goldman of IGN gave it a more favorable review, writing, "where Goat truly shines and stands out is in its animation" and "has a lot of fun with the idea that these characters truly are animals".

John Nugent of Empire gave it a 2 out of 5 rating, saying, "Lovely visuals, but this is a rare miss from Sony Pictures Animation. Watch KPop Demon Hunters again, instead." Owen Gleiberman of Variety called it "a vibrant surprise. It's a highly original and rousing animated feature -- a sports fable with a hip-hop vibe and an off-kilter cosmology."

Cath Clarke of The Guardian panned the film as "loud, chaotic, and unlovable," likening its "algorithmically generated" feel to "AI slop" and concluding that the "underdog plot" ultimately "lacks heart and soul." Nell Minow of RogerEbert.com found its "underdog" narrative and character designs to be "generic," yet she offered a more favorable review, praising the "vibrant" artwork and "immersive and entrancing" world-building as being "more imaginative than the characters and story."

Frank Scheck of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a mixed review, calling it "better-looking than it is written" while praising its "wildly imaginative visuals" and strong voice cast despite a predictable plot and "relentless" pacing. William Bibbiani of TheWrap gave it a more favorable review, calling it "visually stimulating" and a "genuinely well-told" story that succeeds as a "wholesome" and "subtly progressive" family film. Pete Hammond of Deadline also lauded the film as an "imaginative and game-changing winner," specifically praising the "visually stunning" animation and a script "full of wit and heart" that successfully "rewrites the rules" for the genre.

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