This goat can sure eat cans and shoot hoops.

We all know that GOAT means “Greatest of All Time.” So I guess the assumption made by Sony Picture Animation was: “Why not make an animated feature about a goat who wants to be the GOAT, and call it “GOAT?”

Now, “Space Jam” has been criticized by some critics as commercialism, while its sequel subtitled “A New Legacy” was indulged in IPs. So, we might be concerned that “GOAT” would be indulging in the slang and I was concerned myself, considering how much I hated “Space Jam: A New Legacy.” But “GOAT” turns out to be the better version-a basketball movie with cartoon characters who aren’t treated as labels and have personalities of their own.

Channeling in on the success of the “Spider-Verse” movies and “KPop Demon Hunters,” “GOAT” is given stylized animation and a soundtrack with artists-very few I’ve heard of before (and Jelly Roll is one of the soundtrack contributors and voice actors here). Inside the animation is a “Zootopia” inspired world, and our GOAT Will Harris (voiced by Caleb McLaughlin) is inspired by Stephen Curry’s underdog story (and the basketball star also produced this).

Will lives in the animal city “Vineland City,” in a rainforest like downtown urban area, where he struggles to pay his rent, makes deliveries from the local diner, and plays roarball (basketball) at the local park, only to be insulted by this: “Smalls Can’t Ball!” But through it all, he’s inspired by his dead mother (voiced by Jennifer Hudson), who believes that he can change the game.

One day, he challenges the arrogant horse player Mane Attraction (voiced by Aaron Pierre) to a roarball match and he almost beats him, but ends up losing. However, his best friends-the capybara Daryl (voiced by Eduardo Franco) and the aardwolf Hannah (voiced by Sherry Cola)-manage to make a social media spectacle out of it, and impresses Flo (voiced by Jenifer Lewis), the greedy warthog owner of the basketball team-the Vineland Thorns. They were once successful thanks to the panther GOAT Jett Filmore (voiced by Gabrielle Union), and now their recent losing streak could be cured by Will’s playing.

I guess it’s an unwritten rule that the star of the team has to be cynical about the new young player. In fact, she’s appalled that the answer to team’s problems is a goat. It would also be an another unwritten rule that he would have to sit out for most of the games, because of his size and their cynicism. And I guess it would be another unwritten rule that he’s able to rise to the occasion in one of the games, and earns the respect of the other players. They consist of the rhino dad Archie Everhardt (voiced by David Harbour), the fire-breathing Komodo dragon Modo Olachenko (voiced by Nick Kroll), the social media obsessed ostrich Olivia Burke (voiced by Nicola Coughlan), and the self-conscious giraffe Lenny Williamson (voiced by Steph himself). And their coach is the proboscis monkey Dennis Cooper (voiced by Patton Oswalt), who is looking for a chance to lead his team to victory.

“GOAT” is also the latest attempt to channel on the success of the “Zootopia” movies after the “Sing” and “The Bad Guys” franchises. And while they can’t top the first “Zootopia’s” standards, they still have a lot of energy, attitude, and high spirits. Maybe there can be too much energy in the story, but we’re still able to see the heart inside the main two GOATS, and I am, of course, talking about both Will and the panther Jett. It would be inevitable that this is another movie where the young athlete’s dream idol would seem antagonistic after the awful and confusing “Him,” but this panther has her vulnerabilities and never confuses you. We can acknowledge that her stress regards how the media views her.

I like how each roarball stadium matches an animal’s environment and instincts, and I’m told the sport also combines basketball with rugby and soccer. And the colors of those environments blend real well. Sometimes, you get fire and sometimes, you get ice, and other times, you get falling rock spikes.

“GOAT” isn’t the GOAT of all animated anthropomorphic animal movies, but it sure can dunk, and it will inspire youngsters to follow their dreams. Just make sure your kids don’t start eating cans.