Reel Reviews | Flow

by Charles Kirkland Jr.

A motley but irresistible crew of animals band together for an unforgettable adventure in a watery
world created by animator and filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis in Flow.

When a devastating flood comes through and destroys his home, one cat tries his best to survive.
Teaming up with a capybara, a lemur, a bird, and a dog to navigate a sailboat through treacherous
currents in search of dry land, the cat and his allies must rely on trust, courage, and wits to survive the
perils of their now newly aquatic waterscape.

From Award-winning filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis, Flow is a thrilling animated spectacle that is a profound
meditation on the fragility of the environment and the spirit of friendship and community. There are no
voice actors because there are no spoken words but the story is written By Zilbalodis and Matiss Kaza.

The animation in this movie is very different from most recent styles. It is clear that the animation in
this movie is computer generated but it does not have the detail that is seen in animation from studios
like Pixar and DreamWorks. The rendering is slower and much less polished. It is a perfectly simpler
style that suits the story being told. The movie feels like a National Geographic nature tale told through
the graphics of an old Playstation game.

The most incredible aspect of this movie is the authenticity of the movie. In any other animated movie
featuring animals, animators feel the need to give the animals the ability to talk and reason like human
beings. Zilbalodis avoids this temptation and creates a film that features animals being animals. Besides
the uncanny ability of the protagonists being able to know how to work a rudder, everything that the
animals do in this movie are the things that animals do. When hungry, they search for food. When
curious (as a cat should be), they investigate. The cat licks himself and coughs up a ball of fur. There are
no words spoken at all through the film but the cat purrs and meows. The other animals grunt and
moan like animals do.

Rated PG for intense sequences of peril, Flow is a phenomenally animated wonder. It displays the
power of working together despite various backgrounds. At a time like this, it has the perfect message
not just for children but all of us adults trying to survive the political flood under which we are
inundated.

Flow can be seen on limited release in theaters on November 22, 2024.

Grade: A

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