Beautifully emotional, understated animation. Flow is the sort of animation we need more of.

A household cat is forced to leave home as the world floods around them. So begins a boat-bound adventure with a group of unlikely friends.

Directed and co-written by Latvian Gints Zilbalodis, starring the vocal talents of Miut, the orange pet cat of sound designer Gurwal Coïc-Gallas. As well as the real sounds of other animals. The film is front-loaded with a lot of studio support, funding, and company logos. This is likely due to the film’s independent background.
Flow technically released in 2024, but after winning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, it received more cinema releases. Honestly, if you have to choose between this and Disney’s live action Snow White… The choice is obvious.

If it wasn’t apparent already, the film is not your standard “animal animation” movie. There’s no voice actors, no dialogue or internal monologues. Just the chirps, mrrps, and meows of Miut, a very genuine cat. This might put off some audiences expecting an experience even like Ghibli’s mainstream productions. But no, Flow is all about the vibes.

The film is quite beautiful. Although the graphical fidelity is not on par with the likes of Dreamworks or Pixar. The entire movie was made in Blender, which is 3D software so readily available even I have it; the fact this even exists is a complete marvel. So graphically, no, the cat and the dog don’t emote as seamlessly as they do in Puss in Boots. But the film’s strengths are in its graceful and subtle animation. Attention to details. The pacing and the – dare I say – flow of the film are excellent. This isn’t the jarring, jangling of keys in front of children. This is a dream-like experience that has plenty of joy and dread within it. All that said, the water effects are startlingly good.

It is a very easy film to get into as well. An animal knowing how to steer a boat is perhaps the biggest hurdle for audiences. It starts very intensely, with our curious but lonely cat being chased by a pack of dogs. But the cat has greater scare than that; a massive flood of water. As the water level rises impossibly, threatening the cat’s comfortable lifestyle, an adventure with strangers is calling. We go on an adventure of thrills, joyful silliness, and dread. One minute we will be fearing for this little moggy’s life, then the next we will be laughing at their familiar pet-like antics and mannerisms.

It is a story about many things. The audience is left to perceive what they want from it. It is about growth earned from adversity. It is about hope. We see adorable characters bond together despite their differences; using their own talents together to solve problems. It is also about societal norms that have negative effects on individuals. Misunderstandings and the friendships that ride them out.

Animation isn’t so much about how many hairs you can render on a character. Or how many bloom effects you can have. Generally animation is about evoking feelings and telling stories. Flow is definitely a kind of animation that we need more of. Thoughtful, cute, meandering, scary, with just enough subtext to keep you wondering. Are these just animal characters, or are they perhaps representing something more?

So yeah, definitely glad I went to see this rather than Snow White this week. If you have a chance to see it on the big screen, you should. If not, watch at home without your phone on and just vibe with it.