GOAT

image for GOAT

Short takes

Not suitable under 6; parental guidance to 7 (scary scenes, violence, coarse language)

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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for GOAT
  • a review of GOAT completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 9 March 2026.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 6 Not suitable due to scary scenes, violence and coarse language.
Children aged 6–7 Parental guidance recommended due to scary scenes, violence and coarse language.
Children aged 8 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: GOAT
Classification: PG
Consumer advice lines: Mild crude humour, animated violence and coarse language
Length: 100 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Will Harris (voice of Caleb McLaughlin) has been a huge fan of roarball since he was a young kid and idolises Jett Fillmore (Gabrielle Union), a panther who plays for the Vineland Thorns. Will lost his mum when he was young but he always remembers her telling him to ‘dream big’. As a grown goat, Will works in a diner but struggles to pay his rent. He is eventually kicked out of his apartment and has to sell his prized basketball sneakers in order to survive. One day, while practising shooting goals, a large Andalusian horse, known as Mane Attraction (Aaron Pierre), challenges Will to a game. While Will loses the match, a video of him facing-off against Mane goes viral, drawing the attention of the Thorns’ manager Flo (Jenifer Lewis).

Will is signed up to the Thorns, much to the great annoyance of Jett who sees him as much too small to be playing in the high league. Will is left on the bench for the first couple of matches but when Jett is taken off the court, Will goes in to play. He proves himself capable against the big guys, and the Thorns win the match. The Thorns continue on to the final round but they have to face Mane Attraction and his team, the Lava Coast Magma, to win the coveted roarball trophy, the Claw.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Basketball; Animated action; Celebrity sport stars; Loss of a parent.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • There is a lot of on-court violence, with players pushing, shoving etc and with some injuries occurring, including broken ankles.
  • The players are all very large and threatening. They throw intimidating insults.
  • Will gets crushed between a water buffalo and an elephant.
  • Liquid explodes on a character’s face.
  • A large, brutish, grizzly bear threatens Will and orders him off the court.
  • A viral video of the playoff between Will and Mane shows Mane being flushed down a toilet and tossed into a rubbish bin.
  • Flo and Jett have a huge row over Will. Jett grows really big and threatens Flo, who sprays her with water.
  • The finals games are played in arenas that are filled with danger. One is an ice cave played on a frozen ocean that cracks under pressure, another is a swampland with stalagmites and stalactites which drop from the ceiling onto the playing field – one of which chops a mascot in half, though the animals inside are unharmed. Another game is played in a volcanic arena surrounded by fire and fire drops from the ceiling onto Mane, singeing his hair.
  • Jett knocks Will through ice and he falls into water.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children under the age of five, including the following:

  • Many of the characters are large and scary. Jett is a panther with yellow eyes who gets angry with Will and roars at him. One time, she approaches stealthily with just her yellow eyes showing. Mane is a large Andalusian horse who is boastful and intimidating. He has dark eyes and laughs at Will. There are large grizzly bears, a huge gorilla, a rhino and a Komodo dragon who drips gooey stuff from its mouth.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes and scary visual images, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged five to eight, including the following:

  • Will’s landlord comes to collect the rent but Will has no money. He threatens him with eviction.
  • Will returns home one night to find his belongings on the street. He looks through the window and the new tenant screams.
  • A cockroach crawls up Will’s arm, which frightens him.
  • Will is woken up in the night by a train roaring past the house.
  • Will nearly gets hit by a bus.
  • Jett threatens to eat Will.
  • A character tells Will that playing for the Thorns could be fatal.
  • A Komodo dragon places its mouth over Will’s head.
  • The Komodo dragon sheds its skin, which covers Will’s face.
  • Dennis the coach, grows really large and yells at the team.
  • Jett is seen on crutches.

Aged eight to thirteeninfo

Children aged eight to thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic threats and dangers, violence or threat of violence and / or stories in which children are hurt or threatened.

In addition to the above-mentioned violent scenes, there are some scenes in this movie that could scare or disturb children aged eight to thirteen, including the following:

  • Will remembers his Mum with sadness and tells Jett all about her.

Thirteen and overinfo

Children over the age of thirteen are most likely to be frightened by realistic physical harm or threats, molestation or sexual assault and / or threats from aliens or the occult.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

The following products are displayed or used in this movie:

  • Doordash
  • Mercedes-Benz
  • PlayStation 5
  • UNO cards
  • Characters wear Under Armour sneakers and branded clothing.

Sexual references

There are some sexual references in this movie, including:

  • A kiss-cam shows several couples kissing including 2 rabbits, 2 giraffes and 2 parrots.
  • Will’s landlord’s house is full to the brim with baby gerbils. His wife can be heard saying, “I’m pregnant again”.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • A couple of times players are showing the top of their butts.

Use of substances

There is some use of substances in this movie, including:

  • Flo is seen drinking a cocktail.
  • A bar is having ‘happy hour’.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Butt
  • Hogwash
  • Get off my cloaca
  • “Smalls don’t ball”.

In a nutshell

GOAT is an animated sports action/comedy movie based around American basketball and about not being afraid to ‘dream big’. The movie has a lot of good messages but some of the animal characters are very large, threatening and scary. The fast moving and rough play on the court also make it unsuitable for young children. Best suited to ages 8 and over.

The main messages from this movie are to follow your dreams; and that even small people can make a difference.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Teamwork as opposed to personal glory
  • Courage
  • Believing in yourself
  • Determination
  • Resilience.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children attitudes and behaviours, and their real-life consequences, such as:

  • The obsession with social media and getting good reviews – one of the characters is constantly on their phone.
  • The cult of celebrity worship and the need for young people to have heroes but to know that heroes are still human and can make mistakes too.