Animation has come a long way from the days of Steamboat Willie and early Disney films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, and Cinderella. Many studios have popped up in the last 80 or so years, but also various styles of animation have revolutionized the genre. Flow is a little indie foreign film from France, but the animation might as well have been from a big animation studio because it’s some of the best animation I’ve seen all year bar none. That includes Pixar, DreamWorks, and Disney. That’s how gorgeous this film looked. It’s a Surefire Oscar contender in the Animated Feature category.

Flow follows a jet-black cat with golden yellow eyes as it tries to survive a pack of barking dogs, among them a friendly golden retriever, and a tall Crane, and befriends a lemur, and a capybara. After a devastating flood almost kills them, they all end up on a boat together. They realize they need each other to survive. They put their differences aside and work together to keep the boat afloat and find food.

Besides the amazing animation, this film has something about it that you wouldn’t expect.  Most animated films with animals have voice actors who portray the animal, such as most recently The Wild Robot, for example. This one, though, doesn’t have any voices playing the animals. The animals make their usual sounds like meowing,  barking, and caring.  In fact, the only other sound in the movie, besides water flowing, is an amazing score by Gints Gilbalotis, the writer/director, and Rihards Zalupe. That is one of the best I’ve heard all year, bar none.

As this movie takes place mainly on water, the water is a main ingredient in the look of the film. This is some of the most realistic water in animated movies I’ve ever seen. It even gives real water in live-action films a run for their money. That’s how real the water looks in this movie. Even the underwater sequences and fish look very authentic and very real. I felt like I was on this float floating along with these animals. That’s how real it felt to me watching the film.

Part of what attracted me to this movie was the reactions coming out of the Festival De Cannes last summer. People were raving about the animation and story, for that matter. I, on the other hand, was interested in the main character, or rather cat, that was featured in the poster and trailer. I have a cat that looks identical to the cat featured in this movie. It’s uncanny how similar they look. I know there are thousands of black cats with golden eyes. I was just drawn to this cat in the film. I couldn’t help but wonder if this could really happen if my cat could survive like this one did. It had some amazing survival instincts, that’s for sure. And one skill I didn’t know cats had. I won’t spoil what that is, though. This film made me love my own cat that much more, though. Hopefully, others who see it will feel the same way I did while watching it.

Part of the story in this movie was fascinating to me. As a big proponent of the environment, I was thrown aback by the flooding or rising water in the film. The locations that weren’t flooded were interesting to me. I thought I recognized the locations, but I’m not totally sure. Something suspicious told me this was taking place hundreds of years ago, but I’m not sure. I definitely thought this was taking place in  Central or South America, though. Based on the structures that were shown, I’m not totally sure, though. It’s just speculation on my part, but I hope people try to figure these things out on their own while watching this film.

Flow is a breathtakingly gorgeous movie with incredibly detailed animated animals, a lot of realistic water, and lush green wilderness. The main characters all have their own very interesting personalities, but the main character, the black cat with golden eyes, is the main reason to see this film. This animal is mesmerizing to follow along with. I found myself genuinely caring about its every move and decision. I was worried about it quite a bit. This is one of the best-animated films I’ve seen all year. It has a style and realness I rarely see in animated films outside of Pixar, Disney, or DreamWorks. For a little indie film, this is an achievement on a level I can’t quite describe. I hope it’s in the five for animated features come next year’s Academy Awards. It’s that good.

5 stars

Dan Skip Allen