Despite having seen 111 new release movies in 2024, there were a frustrating amount of movies I wanted to see but did not get around to for some reason. I felt comfortable when completing my Worst Of and Best of lists that I had seen more than enough to do recommendations, but there were still a solid handful (or two) of flicks I still knew I needed to get around to.

In regards to today’s entry, it was my wife who put us off seeing this until I wore her down. You see, the trailer alone made her cry, and she did not want to watch Flow and have it make her breakdown in public. But after a few weeks of pressure–and a Golden Globes award for Best Animated Picture–she finally relented, and we had an afternoon date today to check it out. 

*Spoilers Ahead*

Flow could be primed for a big awards season even in a year where the animation categories are wildly stacked with competition from films such as The Wild Robot and Inside Out 2. To say nothing of other crowd favorites like Sonic The Hedgehog 3. 

Flow is the story of a wild cat getting caught up in a sudden flood in the valley in which it lives. As it tries desperately to escape the rising tide, it comes across a free-floating sailboat inhabited by a capybara. The two try to coexist as they navigate the strange new world around them.

As they make their way across the seascape, they encounter other new friends who board their ship. They end up joined by a bird, a golden retriever, and a lemur. They all learn to live together as they try to discover what life is for them now. Of course, I’ ‘m burying the lead on this one. Unlike other animated flicks, these animals are all realistic. They don’t speak; they don’t have human personalities. The critters have to survive and thrive just based on their own natural abilities… and instincts. 

TWO UPS AND TWO DOWNS

The animation is beautiful and it’s remarkable what we can do with animation these days between the Spider-Verse movies, Wild Robot, Weathering With You, and this film. Not that there is anything wrong with the old purely hand-drawn animation style of the Disney era and the past, but it’s wild to see what can be accomplished now.

Flow has an animated style that mixes a grittier realistic tone with a more classic animated look. It allows the movie to both look and feel comfortable while also creating an atmosphere of a movie that is unlike a lot of what you’ve seen before. It pairs so well with the lack of dialogue and the mood of the film. Impeccable artistic choices for this one.

The story is engaging, and the runtime FLIES by. It did not feel like I sat there for almost an hour and a half. When the film ended, I thought there should have been twenty minutes or so left. This 85-minute flick feels like it’s barely over an hour. That’s remarkable, especially in an era where so many movies somehow manage to feel longer than they are.

The reason for this is that the plot is so creative and intriguing that you are never bored. Even in the moments where the action does slow down, it goes back to the first Up in that everything is so beautiful you are still caught up in it. But aside from that, you as a viewer get so caught up in this cat and his friends’ adventures. Every time the cat falls or jumps off the ship, you feel the concern well up inside of you.

Perhaps, it’s the animal lover in me, but I was always into this tale, and I have a hard time imagining someone not being equally so. The critters in this are so lively and adorable, they pop off the screen and catch your imagination. 

There is a particularly confusing scene late in the movie where I had no idea what was going on, but it’s clear the movie takes a weird turn toward mysticism. I don’t want to get into too much spoiler territory, but there is a segment where the cat and one of his friends begin to fly upwards into the sky. It’s strange and the only moment in the flick where anything like that happens. If the movie had introduced several such elements of magical goings-on, I could write it off, but… nope. It’s just this one occurrence. 

The movie tries to have it both ways in that the animals act like animals; they are not anthropomorphized and they don’t talk. AND YET… they know how to steer a boat. It’s strange. At first, you think it is accidental; the cat and capybara are leaning on the rudder. That’s fine. But later on, you see the ship’s inhabitants intentionally using it to move the vessel where they want to go. It just feels a bit unusual because if they can actively control the boat, why not just have them talk to each other? 

OVERALL

The Downs on this entry are so ticky-tacky. I couldn’t even embellish them that much because I was really working hard to find things to ding this movie for. It’s one of the more charming movies I have seen in some time. If you love animals… if you like animation… hell, if you like quality movies in general, I can’t recommend this strongly enough. 

Four-and-a-half stars out of five