A better title for this film might be “G.O.A.T and GOAT,” because it is about two athletes in an all-animal world. One is a panther named Jett (Gabrielle Union), a Greatest-of-All-Time superstar who is struggling with a losing team called the Vineland Thorns, and the other is Will (Caleb McLaughlin), a young fan and aspiring superstar who is an actual goat. Vibrant artwork and a dynamic camera are more memorable than the generic character designs, not to mention the familiar storyline about doing what it takes to achieve your dreams. 

After the Columbia Pictures statue logo spins a basketball, we first see Will as a kid (in both senses of the word). He is speechless with joy when his adored mother surprises him with tickets to see Jett play. The game is Roarball, an animal version of basketball, with two teams competing to get the ball to go through the hoop. 

Ten years later, Will is living alone, doing deliveries at the café where his mother was a waitress. A video of Will shooting baskets against Jett’s greatest rival, an arrogant, trash-talking stallion named Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), goes viral, and Will gets an offer from the owner of the Thorns, husky-voiced diva Flo (Jenifer Lewis). But she says, “It is my job to bend the truth” and warns that she’s playing the long game. It’s not clear how her game is scored.

The players are male and female and of different species, but all of the species are very large, and the large athletes look down, literally and figuratively, on the smaller species, which they call “the littles” and jeer, “Small can’t ball.”  They are determined not to let Will be a part of Jett’s team, which a fiery Komodo dragon named Modo (Nick Kroll), a growling rhino named Archie (David Harbour), a nervous ostrich named Olivia (“Bridgerton’s” Nicola Coughlan), and a rapping giraffe named Lenny, played by the film’s producer and in the running to be a basketball GOAT himself, Stephan Curry). 

It’s not really a team. The players barely communicate with each other, especially Jett, who plays as though she’s the only one on the court, ignoring the teammates she calls “head cases and has-beens.” In a press conference, she talks about what she – not the team – has to do to win. Anxiety about getting too old to play has made her feel isolated and desperate to prove herself. Yes, there will be a lesson about passing the ball. The prospect of bringing home the championship trophy called the Claw seems impossible. It is up to Will to show the Thorns how to work together and believe in themselves.

Though it makes an effort to be timely with references to crypto ads and viral memes, the story is still a basic underdog sports team story. They even sample the classic “Space Jam” sports theme from 2 Unlimited. The dragon fawns over a decorated egg. The ostrich carries around sound to bury her head. The owner is selfish and untrustworthy. Union, Lewis, and Patton Oswalt, as the mostly-overlooked coach, provide the most heft to the thinly imagined characters. 

While much computer animation is hyper-real, with spectacular sunlit sparkles on water and wonderfully tactile textures, Vineland and the various sports venues are almost impasto, as though the paint was thickly applied, yet it never feels impressionistic or sketched in. The film’s world is immersive and entrancing, especially as we see the Thorns visit the highly varied venues of the play-offs, each a different biome, from the jungle of the home court in Vineland to the final game on a volcano. The camerawork is energetic, especially during the games. It’s not a good sign when we find ourselves admiring the background art more than what is happening in front of it, but it is more imaginative than the characters and story.