GOAT… so-called, because the lead, Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin – The Book of Clarence), is a goat, and he also wants to be the greatest at all time at Roarball, rather a slight mix of Basketball and American Football. Yes, all the originality in this one.
It’s a predictable underdog story – also bringing in the trope of fridging a relative, because his Mum has passed away – where he’s the first goat to have signed for the sport, and is only hired for the Thorns team since they’ve been losing recently, but is left on the bench for quite some time, until he’s given a chance and the powers that be realise that he’s actually good on it.
Unfortunately, apart from a moment where a cat popped up, who listens to the ‘music’ of other cats singing “meow meow meow” all the time, GOAT is a film with a mindless story and zero laughs, plus nothing but endless plot-free filler to honk up the overlong 100-minute running time.
As for the rest of the audio in this, it’s mostly terrible rap music, plus a godawful autotuned cover of Crowded House’s Don’t Dream It’s Over – which Shazam tells me is from Bryant Barnes – although a truncated version of the original does pop into the credits late on.
Meanwhile, the trailer has a version of Skee-Lo’s classic 1995 track, I Wish, about the man wanting to be a “baller” as well as taller… but that song doesn’t even feature in the movie.
The film is also made with CGI, but has a look of stop-motion animation – which is marginally pleasing – but would make a 3D version quite jarring, and since it would only be of use in the Roarball scenes, you get enough of the feel of the image’s depth in every 2D moment during that anyway.
At least Inside Out 2 put in the effort in the 3D animation stakes, although Zootopia 2 didn’t, and that took even more dosh!
GOAT is in cinemas from this Friday, but isn’t yet available to pre-order on Blu-ray or DVD. However, once announced, it will appear on the New DVD Blu-ray 3D and 4K releases UK list.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 100 minutes
Release date: February 13th 2026
Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1
Rating: 1/10
Directors: Tyree Dillihay, Adam Rosette
Producers: Stephen Curry, Erick Peyton, Michelle Raimo Kouyate, Adam Rosenberg, Rodney Rothman
Screenplay: Aaron Buchsbaum, Teddy Riley
Book: Chris Tougas (“Funky Dunks”)
Music: Kris Bowers
Voice cast:
Will Harris: Caleb McLaughlin
Jett Fillmore (Black Leopard): Gabrielle Union
Modo Olachenko: Nick Kroll
Olivia Burke: Nicola Coughlan
Archie Everhardt: David Harbour
Lenny Williamson (Giraffe): Stephen Curry
Florence Everson: Jenifer Lewis
Dennis (Coach): Patton Oswalt
Grizz: Jelly Roll
Louise Harris: Jennifer Hudson
Hannah: Sherry Cola
Daryl: Eduardo Franco
Chuck: Andrew Santino
Rusty: Bobby Lee
Carol: Ayesha Curry
Frank: Wayne Knight
Rosette: Dwyane Wade
Daskas: Kevin Love
Propp: Angel Reese
Kouyate: A’ja Wilson
Iggy: Andre Iguodala
Sneaky: Joe La Puma
Adi / Ari: VanVan
Gerald: Adam Pally
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.