Stars Gabrielle Union, Caleb McLaughlin, and Patton Oswalt share the film’s most powerful messages for families.
On the heels of last year’s wildly successful KPop Demon Hunters, Sony Pictures Animation is bringing its signature eye-popping artistry to a brand new animated flick: GOAT, arriving in theaters on February 13, 2026.
Produced by NBA star Stephen Curry (who also lends his voice to Lenny the giraffe) and directed by Tyree Dillihay (Bob’s Burgers), the 3D CGI family film follows the journey of Will Harris, voiced by Stranger Things’ Caleb McLaughlin, a small goat who has always dreamed of being the first “small” to play professional roarball.
The ROAR league is a wildly competitive, surrealistic twist on basketball where a co-ed menagerie of “bigs” dominate the court. When the diminutive but determined goat gets a crack at joining his home team, the Vineland Thorns, he faces adversity — including from the veteran star player he’s idolized his whole life, Jett Filmore, who’s voiced by Gabrielle Union.
In addition to taking audiences on a rollicking ride that celebrates the intersection of pop culture, music, fashion, and basketball (for example, Joe La Puma’s Sneaky, a vulture shoe shop owner, is excited to get his claws on “Fillmore 4″s, Jett’s signature kicks), the new film also serves as a celebration of underdogs — something that the cast is eager for parents and kids to discuss.
“I feel that a lot of people feel like they’re the underdog, and seeing this on the big screen makes you feel like you’re not alone, [and it’s important to push] past those doubts in your mind,” McLaughlin tells Parents. “I feel that Will is relatable in that way. And then even Jett is an underdog in her story, and where she’s at in her life. She’s the GOAT in Will’s eyes, but she doesn’t feel like that at the time. Will reminds her [that she’s] great.”
In Sony’s production notes, Dillihay shares what he loves the most about the film, which currently boasts an 85% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes: “‘GOAT’ is a generation-defining underdog story. Great sports movies are emotional, inspirational, and transcendent. They inspire people to want to strive to be great. I love that about our story. But it’s also funny. This idea of rhinos, polar bears and this tiny goat-with their oversized bling, tunnel walks and signature sneakers-dribbling, dunking or setting picks made me laugh out loud from the beginning.”
All of the cast members who Parents spoke with felt connected to their characters in unique ways. For instance, Will’s “ambition and his drive to be great” resonated with McLaughlin, as well as “his humble beginnings, his foundation, the love from his mom, his family, people around him, and not allowing other people to tell him how to be and limiting himself and having confidence in who he is.”
In playing Jett, Union, a mom to 7-year-old Kaavia, who she shares with former NBA player husband Dwayne Wade, appreciated the journey of having to learn “how to be a different kind of leader.”
“She’s used to being the best and that being enough, and ‘Everyone just get behind me’ or ‘Hop on my back, and I’ll carry us,'” she reflects. “And as she’s gotten older, people start to question, ‘Is she still the GOAT?’ [and] she starts to question herself and that vulnerability. That manifests itself in to lashing out against the young talent. Throughout the course of her journey, she has to learn how to lead differently.”
Meanwhile, Patton Oswalt, who voices Thorns’ coach, Dennis, enjoyed the fact that the proboscis monkey is a “really funny, kind of sad sack, heartfelt character — the authority figure who has zero authority,” which he says he always finds fun to play. “I think we’ve all been in that spot in our lives, like, ‘I’m supposed to be running this thing, and no one’s listening to me,'” he notes. “That’s a very real comedic thing.”
He also connected with Dennis’s experience of “I really love this art form, I really love this sport, it doesn’t really love me back,” Oswalt says. “That is something a lot of people deal with on a personal, existential level,” says the comedian.
In addition to empowering underdogs, GOAT illustrates how confidence and owning your sense of self can make a world of difference when it comes to pursuing an ambitious goal. That was something that Oswalt says he especially appreciates about the film.
“Will is a small, and in this world, it’s the talls who play roarball, naturally, because the net’s high, and he doesn’t change anything about himself to play on their level,” notes Oswalt. “He makes them play on his. He takes a moment and he says, ‘Wait a minute. Are there advantages to being small in this game that no one has thought of?’ And he sees them, and he starts using them, and that’s a really important message. Whatever it is you need to do what you want to do, it’s already in you. You don’t need to switch up what you’re doing or be who you aren’t to succeed in what you’re doing. You bring your own thing, and you change the game to your level.”
