The 2025 Oscar® winner for Best Animated Film is nothing less than stunning. Telling the story of a cat whose home has been drowned in a flood, this Latvian film is about friendship and working together to survive.
Directed by Gints Zilbalodis, this film swept away the hearts of many. The film opens on a cat living in a world devoid of humans, and a great flood forces the cat to live on a boat with an array of other animals.
Several design aspects of this film were incredible, specifically the sound, animation, and visual design.
Sound designer Gurwal Coïc-Gallas used real animal sounds for the film, visiting zoos to record the voices. Except for the capybara, a baby camel’s voice was used instead, all the characters in the film are voiced by their respective animals. The score, which was composed by director Zilbalodis, is also worth mentioning.
The entire film was animated with Blender, a free animation software tool. This gives the film an almost video game feel to it, and it does not feel like a big studio project. You can see the attention to detail in the film, from the animal’s movement to the architecture and the water animation.
Zilbalodis, in an interview with Francesco Siddi for Blender, said, “deciding to use only four characters and a handful of locations can lead to stronger creative choices.” The main group of animals is composed of a cat, capybara, dog, lemur, and a secretary bird. They only travel to a handful of locations, and they ultimately end up right where they started. This is where the beauty of the film lies: with the relationships and personality of its characters.
Overall, I rate this film 5/5. I would highly recommend this film, especially as a feel-good movie. Flow (2024) is available to stream on Max and to purchase on AppleTV.
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