“Goat” is a fast-paced, entertaining story about determination, community, and personal growth. With beautifully styled animation and a celebrity stacked cast, this movie is on its way to becoming a classic.

Fans appear to agree. “It was a great movie in my opinion,” said Fernando Gonzales-Martinez, a student at Edmonds College. “Highly recommend, it’s funny.” He isn’t the only one with this view; the film’s opening weekend took in $47.8 million worldwide.

The film starts off strong, beginning with Will as a little kid accompanying his mom to go see the new posters of Jett Fillmore, voiced by Gabrielle Union, the best roarball player in the league, who also happens to be a woman. This was a refreshing take on the usual ‘never meet your heroes’ type of sports underdog story that hasn’t been done in a while, at least not in children’s media. It was also interesting to see a fictional world where professional sports are not separated by gender but rather by species size.

As a movie aimed at children that is nonetheless viewed by teens and adults, it stayed consistent with continuing the meaningful underlying messages.

Will Harris is also a great role model. He is kind, respectful, hard working, and determined to follow his dreams. His two biggest influences in life are his mother and Jett Fillmore, and despite being down on his luck more often than not, he never stoops to bitterness. He continues to pursue his dream of becoming a professional roarball player regardless of the fact that “Smalls can’t ball.” He maintains his sense of self and chases down his dream with admirable persistence.

This movie handles its characters’ personalities and design well. They were sometimes archetypal but still interesting. Will is optimistic, hard working, and friendly. Jett as the beginning oppositional force, for at least the first half, is angry and secretly self conscious; she’s terrified of failure and she ultimately thinks too much of herself.

The roarball team is a diverse set of personalities: a rhino who’s a single dad trying to be a gentle parent; an anxious, approval-addicted ostrich; a giraffe who dreams of being a rapper, who is voiced by real life NBA player Steph Curry; and a very strange lizard. This eclectic mix, as well as the many memorable side characters, such as the bantering rival announcers, made for interesting in-between scenes throughout the film.

The beginning conflict is also the usual sort of one sided rivalry in this kind of underdog team story, which worked well for the film. Jett Fillmore was the original G.O.A.T, but she’s aging. And with a literal goat who is also an amazing player on her team, can she even think of herself that way anymore? Jett gets in her own head about her success, and Will’s ever present youthful positivity is not helping. Until it does help, of course.

The animators didn’t just do well with the character design, the world building and art style were also incredible and very intricate. Similar to Sony Animation’s continuing Spiderverse series, “Goat” has a wonderfully stylized animation with detailed, textured character looks and blurred painting-like backgrounds. As animals, their world is more connected to nature, which was a thoughtful design to include that really made their environment stand out. There are vines growing over buildings, moss and trees everywhere, and the game roarball itself is enhanced by the difficulties of overcoming elemental challenges like fire, ice, and dangerous stalactites falling on the court.

The film also had a great soundtrack, most notably Bryant Barnes’ cover of “Don’t Dream It’s Over” by Crowded House, which played during one of the more emotional scenes. Angel Reese, WNBA player for the Chicago Sky and A’ja Wilson who plays for the Las Vegas Aces also voiced side characters in the film, adding to its already famous cast list.

One aspect of the story that could have been fleshed out more was Will’s relationship with his mother. As the support behind his personal narrative and eagerness to follow his dream of becoming a professional roarball player, she was not mentioned very much. It seemed like maybe they were saving the conversation about her for the heart to heart scenes to keep it impactful, however it would have been nice to see her mentioned more often throughout the movie.

In all, this was a great movie. It had a predictable but still interesting plot, good characterization, well timed humor, and enduring messages of optimism, hope, and love of the community. “Goat” encourages you to reach for the stars, pursue your goals no matter how difficult or unachievable they may seem, to dream big.