GOAT

“GOAT is a fresh, inclusive, and gorgeous option for families looking for their next watch.”

Title: GOAT (2026)
Directors: Tyree Dillihay 👨🏾🇺🇸 and Adam Rosette 👨🏼🇺🇸
Writers: Aaron Buchsbaum 👨🏼🇺🇸 and Teddy Riley 👨🏾🇺🇸 based on the book by Chris Tougas 👨🏼🇨🇦🇺🇸

Reviewed by Li 👩🏻🇺🇸

Technical: 4.5/5

Sony Pictures Animation comes through again. Bringing the freshest looks since Pixar changed animated film in the late 1990s, the production house behind K-Pop Demon Hunters (2025) delivers another fast-paced tale with breathtaking visuals. GOAT tells the story of Will, a “medium” animal who dreams of playing roarball alongside the “bigs”—panthers, polar bears, horses, ostriches, and more. As in any underdog tale, he’s hugely underestimated until a lucky break gives him the chance to prove himself.

Adequate as it is, however, the writing isn’t what sends GOAT to the top. Voice actors infuse the familiar dialogue with personality, and the art department deserves full accolades for designing a captivating world. Lush images recall detailed concept art from video games, rendered as moving paintings that pulse with life. Roarball courts are elemental-themed, but rather than simply conveying “ice” or “earth” through colors and components, the landscapes interact with roarball players: Stalactites drop from the ceiling; magma flows and bursts; and ice breaks into drifting floes as Will, team captain Jett (Gabrielle Union), and their teammates (and opponents) speed around creative hazards and dunk with swagger.

Gender: 3.75/5
Does it pass the Bechdel Test? YES

The cast is predominantly male, led by Will, but women play key, nonstereotypical roles. At its most visible, Jett captains the Thorns, the team that Will longs to play for (and eventually joins). She’s portrayed with depth—someone who wants to win the championship, once and for all, but who’s worried about being washed up as years go by without the trophy. It’s great that the film positions a female athlete as one of the coed league’s best players. Jett owns her powerful body, snarling on the court as her muscles bulge while she competes at the highest level. But she’s also vulnerable, with a small story arc in which she learns to accept help to achieve her goals. She’s also feminine when she wants to glam it up, showing versatility in how she presents as a female athlete.

In addition, one of the film’s main adversaries is the Thorns’ team owner, a warthog named Florence (Jenifer Lewis). Delightfully Machiavellian in her outlook, “Flo” wants to make money and live comfortably, even if it means throwing her team to the wolves. And in a smaller but also non-clichéd role, a Thorns player, ostrich Olivia (Nicola Coughlan), can be insecure and image-conscious, but she’s still a force on the court and gets plenty of scenes.

Race: 4.75/5

GOAT has plenty of Black representation both onscreen and off. For starters, it’s co-directed by Tyree Dillihay and co-written by Teddy Riley, both of whom are Black (alongside two white filmmakers). Black voice actors play main characters such as Will’s McLaughlin, Jett’s Union, and Flo’s Lewis, as well as Aaron Pierre, who voices the main on-court antagonist, horse Mane Attraction.

It’s also refreshing to see an animated film that isn’t adamantly “colorblind.” Sony Pictures Animation has historically done well on this front, infusing its Spider-Verse movies with Afro-Latino references and Queens, NY-inspired urbanity. K-Pop Demon Hunters celebrated its Korean roots with folkloric touches. Here, GOAT drips with street culture: Will hawks his beloved sneakers for rent money; characters play pick-up roarball in a local, well-loved court; and hairstyles are clearly Black-coded, such as Mane livestreaming as he gets his cornrows done.

While the casting is inclusive, though, and Black athlete Stephen Curry has attached his name to the project as producer (and voice actor for one of the Thorns players, a giraffe), the film was still written by white screenwriters and based on a novel by white author Chris Tougas. This isn’t to say the Black portrayals aren’t done well—they’re great. But when looking for original stories conceived by people of color, GOAT doesn’t quite pass that test.

Mediaversity Grade: B+ 4.33/5

GOAT is a fresh, inclusive, and gorgeous option for families looking for their next watch. On one hand, my 3-year-old didn’t like it, citing how scary the volcanic lava court was with its “steam” and “all the red” (my bad for taking him 😂). But the 5-year-old who also came with us said she wanted to watch it again. For a parent, that’s as much a seal of approval as any.

Like GOAT? Try these other titles featuring exciting, animated action.

*Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)*

Grade: BLiFebruary 12, 2026