Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: GOAT Is a Joyful Slam Dunk for Families

Every family season needs one film that sends everyone out smiling and arguing, happily, about who the real star was. This year that film is GOAT. Sony Pictures Animation and Columbia Pictures have made a bright, funny sports comedy about a very small goat with a very large dream, and audiences have taken it to their hearts. Premiered in Los Angeles on February 6, 2026 and released across the United States on February 13, timed for NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, it has grossed $195.3 million worldwide. That is not luck. That is word of mouth.

The hero is Will Harris, a teenage pygmy goat voiced with warmth and comic timing by Caleb McLaughlin. Will works in a diner, practices whenever he can, and idolizes Jett Fillmore, the black panther star of his hometown Vineland Thorns. The sport is roarball – a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact cousin of basketball, dominated by the fastest and fiercest animals in this all-animal world. Will is, by any sensible measure, too small for it. The film’s great joke, and its great heart, is that he refuses to accept that measure.

A cast that plays like a team

Gabrielle Union is superb as Jett Fillmore. She gives Jett real star power, a touch of weariness, and then, gradually, a generosity that makes the second half so satisfying. This is not a star cameo pasted onto an animated film. Union anchors it. Opposite her, Aaron Pierre brings swagger and bite as Mane Attraction, the Andalusian horse who leads the rival Lava Coast Magma and loves being the villain of someone else’s story.

Then there is Stephen Curry. Curry produced the film through Unanimous Media with Erick Peyton, and he makes his film debut voicing Lenny Williamson, a giraffe on the Thorns who also fancies himself a rapper. He is funny, relaxed and completely at home. Of course he is. Who better to understand a story about a player everyone underestimates? Curry’s presence never overwhelms the film. It lifts it, the way a good point guard lifts a team.

The bench is deep. Nicola Coughlan charms as ostrich Olivia Burke, David Harbour brings gruff affection to rhino Archie Everhardt, and Nick Kroll is a delight as Komodo dragon Modo Olachenko. Jenifer Lewis steals scenes as team owner Florence Everson, Patton Oswalt keeps the sideline lively as coach Dennis Cooper, and there is joyful support from Jelly Roll, Jennifer Hudson as Will’s mother Louise, Sherry Cola and Eduardo Franco. It is a cast you would happily listen to for another 100 minutes – which, happily, is exactly the film’s running time.

Directed with real bounce

Director Tyree Dillihay, with co-director Adam Rosette, keeps the pace quick without rushing the feelings. The screenplay by Aaron Buchsbaum and Teddy Riley, from a story by Nicolas Curcio and Peter Chiarelli and based on Funky Dunks by Chris Tougas, follows a classic underdog shape. You know where it is heading. You will not mind. The pleasure is in how it gets there – in the training beats, the locker-room doubts, the viral moment that changes Will’s life, and a final run that earns its cheers.

The animation, by Sony Pictures Imageworks, is the other headline. GOAT uses a bold, graphic style with a street-art energy, full of texture and color. Roarball sequences move with genuine snap. Players spin, crash and recover, and the camera stays clear enough for young viewers to follow every play. Composer Kris Bowers gives the action a warm, propulsive score that knows when to push and when to step back for a quiet line between Will and Jett.

Fans who enjoyed the big-hearted return of The Devil Wears Prada 2 will find the same crowd-pleasing confidence here, in a completely different key. And like the tender Sundance debut Bedford Park, GOAT understands that a small story, told sincerely, can travel a very long way.

Why the numbers tell a happy story

The commercial run backs up the affection. Made for a reported $80 to $90 million, GOAT opened to $35 million in the United States and Canada, the biggest opening for an original animated film since Elemental in 2023, then climbed to No. 1 in its second weekend. Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it 83 percent positive reviews, and audiences polled by CinemaScore gave it an A. Families do not hand out an A lightly. They give it when children ask to see a film again in the car on the way home.

There is action here that sits comfortably next to the tournament spectacle of Mortal Kombat II, but GOAT keeps its action warm and comic, rated PG for some rude humor and brief mild language. No one is too young for its central message, and no adult is too old to need it: smalls can ball.

Verdict

GOAT is a joyful, big-hearted winner. It has a star performance from McLaughlin, a commanding turn from Union, a natural and funny debut from Curry, and animation that makes every game feel like an event. Most of all, it believes in its hero without a wink or a shrug. Take the family. Take a friend who has been told they are too small, too late or too unlikely. This is the rare sports comedy that leaves the whole room feeling taller.

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