'GOAT' and 'The Muppet Show' Reviews: Where They Belong
Catch-up edition: an animated sports comedy; a show with beloved characters.
In Theaters: Finishing second among last weekend’s new releases, per Box Office Mojo, exceeding expectations, per The Numbers, Sony’s new animated comedy, GOAT, no doubt benefited especially from having Monday’s holiday included in its totals, with children attending along with their adult guardians, whose own interest may have been piqued by the NBA’s All-Star festivities this past Sunday, with a new format and new broadcast network, which combined to send the ratings soaring.
Speaking of a new format, GOAT was inspired by NBA star Stephen Curry; his production company closed a deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment and reportedly wanted to make something with an “underdog spirit,” and so the filmmakers came up with a narrative that mirrored Curry’s career as a relatively short player -- by modern NBA standards -- and the challenges and expectations he had to overcome.
Standing 6 feet and 2 inches, Curry is hardly short among non-professional athletes. Yet watching him in a game this season, it’s quite easy to lose track of him among all the other, taller players; what distinguishes him is his shooting ability and talent at elevating the play of his teammates by his passing and defense.
(Full disclosure: For what it’s worth, I skipped the early advance screening because I’m no longer obsessed by the modern NBA, and didn’t think I’d enjoy an animated movie about the sport. I attended an afternoon screening on Wednesday, and was the only person in attendance, so I’ll be interested in seeing if audiences will return this weekend.)
In any event, GOAT revolves around roarball and ROAR, not basketball and the NBA. Roarball is defined as “a high-intensity, co-ed, full-contact sport dominated by the fastest, fiercest animals in the world,” while, per the official site, “ROAR (Regionally Organized Animal Roarball) is a global league made of 6 teams that each represent a different biome. Each arena demands high-stakes play, with terrains and obstacles constantly evolving in-game, giving a whole new meaning to “homecourt advantage.”
As devoted sports fans know, GOAT is also an acronym for Greatest Of All Time. Director Tyree Dillihay and the film’s writers have fun with the acronym by making their protagonist a goat named Will (Caleb McLaughlin), with another character, a black leopard named Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union), as a candidate for the greatest player in league history, even though she has never won a league championship with her team, Vineland, which is also Will’s hometown.
Will has grown up idolizing the Vineland Thorns, especially Jett Fillmore, and dreams of becoming a professional player, but his size limitations meet with constant discouraging talk. His single mother, Louise Harris (Jennifer Hudson), always champions him, however, encouraging him in every way as a waitress in a diner, where she ekes out a living. Will’s fortunes have taken a tumble since he moved out on his own; his gerbil landlord (Wayne Knight) is chasing him for his rent due, since the landlord has (literally) hundreds of mouths to feed (his own family).
The Vineland team, owned by a warthog named Flo Everson (Jenifer Lewis), consists of just four players, besides Jett: Modo Olachenko (Nick Kroll), a komodo dragon; Olivia Burke (Nicola Coughlan), an ostrich; Lenny Williamson (Stephen Curry), a giraffe; and Archie Everhardt (David Harbour), a rhino. They are coached, nominally, by Dennis Cooper (Patton Oswalt). Knowing that her team is struggling and that her own career may be coming to an end after 20 years, Jett demands that owner Flo find her another player.
Flo settles upon Will, more as a publicity stunt than anything else, since Will is the first “small” animal to join the league. He came to her attention in a pickup game against two-time league champion horse Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre); even though Will got dusted in the game, it brought him instant notoriety, thanks to social media.
Will’s new teammates do not take to him kindly, though, and he struggles to get any playing time. Until something happens, and everything changes.
From there, much of the narrative is consumed by the roarball games themselves, which are inherently less interesting to me; mostly, it’s a lot of noise and movement, which is custom fit for children whose attention span is limited.
For adults, the clever touches -- for example, Stephen Curry as the voice of a giraffe -- as well as the call-outs for devoted sports fans -- see the film’s general narrative, the ‘bigs’ vs ‘smalls’ argument, the attitude and actions of rich owners -- may be sufficient to maintain interest.
(Full disclosure: I dozed off once. I failed to order coffee with my meal, so my bad. But I don’t think I missed anything substantial.)
Even though I am not in the target audience for GOAT, I can certainly see the appeal, and found that watching it was a satisfying experience. Your mileage may vary.
Now Streaming: I didn’t grow up watching the Muppets.
Our family’s television antenna blew off the house, as I recall, and so we relied upon set-top antennas, which could not pull in the UHF frequencies of Channel 28, the local PBS station in Los Angeles. So, my introduction to Jim Henson’s characters came, not on Sesame Street, but on the first season of Saturday Night Live, on which the Muppets behaved for an adult audience as part of The Lord of Gorch skits.
Following that, The Muppet Show debuted in September 1976 in the UK, and spread outward from there, establishing itself as a variety show, with a different guest star in each episode. The shows’ success led to a series of films, beginning with The Muppet Movie (1979), which I remember seeing and enjoying during its initial theatrical release. I have also watched and enjoyed (most of) the films that followed in its wake.
Earlier this month, The Muppets Show debuted on Disney Plus as a one-time special. (To be honest, I thought it was the first episode of a series, so it did gain my immediate attention.) Watching the special now, with special guest star Sabrina Carpenter, who started as an actress in a Disney TV show and, more recently, has shown a knack for skit comedy on Saturday Night Live, and also featuring guest stars Seth Rogen, one of the executive producers, and Maya Rudolph, was a completely enjoyable experience, though not transcendent, as it may be for people who watched Jim Henson’s original series back in the day.
Yet it’s the kind of concept that would certainly be welcome as a weekly series. Staying (nearly entirely) within family-friendly boundaries, the show features many, many muppets in the variety show format, freshening it up with sharp writing and a willingness to poke gentle fun at the characters.
Until Disney decides to wise up and bring the Muppets back on a more regular basis, this will have to do. It’s certainly worth watching, even if you were not a Muppets kid. [Disney Plus]