GOAT

Rated PG • Theaters

Basketball legend Stephen Curry serves as a producer and one of the voice actors in Sony’s new animated feature GOAT, a movie loosely inspired by Curry’s role in revolutionizing the NBA. But don’t underestimate this film as a little vanity project for a sports star. GOAT delivers.

In a land where anthropomorphized animals rule, Will Harris (Caleb McLaughlin) is a small teenage goat, who dreams of playing the animal world’s most popular sport, roarball, which is essentially basketball played on a volatile court. The problem is the sport is dominated by massive animals like rhinos, bears, and horses. No one but Will believes he’s big enough. As they say, “Small can’t ball.”

Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union) is a black panther who plays for the Vineland Thorns. Most consider her the GOAT (greatest of all time), but she’s never won a championship. She’s on the hunt for the last accolade that’s eluded her, when a publicity stunt by the owner puts Will on Jett’s team. Jett is not amused.

Little Will, like little Steph who’s only 6-foot-2, changes the game with his uncanny ability to hit insanely deep shots, but don’t expect GOAT to upend the sports genre. This movie hits all the familiar beats: The little guy gets his big shot, the team he ends up on is full of misfits, the leader begins as an antagonist but comes around after seeing how the new kid can bring everyone together.

It’s a story we’ve seen over and over, yet GOAT pulls it off with such style and emotion that everything feels fresh. Moreover, the impressionistic animation Sony used in this film is absolutely beautiful.

Sorry, Space Jam fans, GOAT might be the greatest animated basketball movie of all time.