The film begins 10 years before the present. In a world of anthropomorphic animals, a young goat named Will Harris is being taken to a sporting event by his mother. It is a game called roarball, which is similar to basketball. Will roots for this talented black panther player, Jett Fillmore.

A decade later, Will is now living on his own and working at a local diner. His mother died sometime before.

He also has to pay his apartment’s rent. He is reminded by his hamster landlord and his many children.

Meanwhile, Jett is desperate for a 6^th player on the Thorns roarball team. She goes to the owner, who is a pampered female Warthog called Flo and tries to talk to her. But it doesn’t go well.

Will goes to a local roarball court to play—only for some bigger creatures to kick him out because he’s puny, including this tough horse, Mane Attraction. If that’s not bad enough, he is almost out of time to pay his rent. He sells some sneakers to get money. But it’s not enough.

Will ends up losing his apartment and staying with his friends, Hannah the aardwolf and Daryl the capybara. He is upset about losing not only his home, but also to Mane Attraction.

Hannah and Daryl try to cheer him up by programming fake videos of him beating Mane Attraction, such as flushing him down the toilet. The clips end up going viral.

This prompts Flo to get Will to play for the Thorns, although she actually has an evil plan for him… secretly. She pretends to be nice to him and gives him contracts to sign in order to join the team.

But this shocks and displeases Jett. She even mocks Will during an interview.

Later, though, Will is officially part of the Thorns. He meets all his teammates and a monkey called Coach Dennis Cooper, even though he’s not really a coach.

At some point, the games begin. Will is sitting on the bench for the first few, however—until Jett does something against the rules. Then Will takes her place and miraculously gets the Thorns to win for the first time in a decade.

During a promotional video, Jett gets upset and leaves. But then Will comforts her and even takes her to the diner he works at. Everyone is excited to see her.

Will also offers Jett something that belonged to her from a display case—and for free. She gladly accepts it.

Shortly after, Dennis even gets to become the coach for the Thorns—for real this time. They also get to go to the playoffs and stay in a fancy hotel, where they do crazy things.

However, Will ends up overhearing Flo’s real plan for the Thorns. She has sold the team for money and everyone will be cut, including Jett, who was actually supposed to retire.

Will tells Jett about this. But she demands that he does not inform anybody else on the team until after the playoffs.

The playoffs happen, and Jett constantly reminds Will to keep quiet about Flo’s plan several times. But during one round, while competing against Mane, Jett ends up injuring herself. She is likely unable to play ever again.

Now it’s just Will and the other members, none of whom are nearly as strong as Jett. Can they still win, though?

This movie drew me in from the beginning to the end. One of the reasons was because of the humor—I laughed several times throughout it.

That being said, I will admit that the pacing felt slow at times. The movie is only a little more than an hour and a half long. But it felt longer.

Yet there were still lots of strengths. A big one is the concept. I admire the idea of an animal typically considered small or puny competing against bigger and stronger creatures to be creative. It led to lots of twists and turns. It also reminded me of Disney’s Zootopia. Of course, there were changes.

I also found it interesting that a goat would be considered weak and delicate. Goats are not small and can be quite mighty.

Another strength I applaud is using black actors to voice Will, his mom, and Mane Attraction. This is an important step for inclusion in media. Even though Will is a goat, and likely doesn’t technically have a race, I appreciate how they gave the role to someone of minority race. His name is Caleb McLaughlin.

Will, himself, was likable, as was his mother, friends, and teammates. I also had a good time disliking Mane Attraction. He was a jerk.

But the worldbuilding was done well, even though I can’t tell the difference between roarball and basketball. Maybe once this movie comes on streaming platforms, I’ll rewatch it and find some differences.

Overall, I enjoyed Goat. It was a good movie with competition, action, and lots of humor.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars.