Flow (2024)

Dir: Gints Zilbalodis

This reflective journey of survival and friendship is beautifully realised thanks some innovative animation and truly astonishing visuals

Ever since their doors opened almost one hundred years ago, Disney Animation Studios have almost single-handedly dominated the animated movie market. The beloved studio of creative animators has continued to innovate and adapt as the industry and technology has advanced over the decades, which still sees them dominate the box office well into the 21st Century. The family-friendly accessibility of the medium has always proven to be profitable, with three of the four highest grossing movies of 2024 being animated, two of these films having come from Disney themselves. Between them, long-awaited sequels “Moana 2” and “Inside 2” grossed a staggering $2.5 billion worldwide last year, further cementing Disney’s place at the top of the animation pyramid.

Other large animations studios that have challenged Disney over the years, such as Dreamworks and Studio Ghibli, have also recorded impressive numbers, but the juggernaut that is Disney has proven too powerful, with Dreamworks ultimately deciding to close their internal animation studio this past year.

Where the tide has started to shift though in recent years, is regarding the critical response and audience reaction to Disney’s more recent projects. While Disney and Pixar have continued to do well financially for the most part, they have seen a number of their releases bomb at the box office. Films that have struggled financially in recent years, such as “Lightyear”, “Strange World” and “Turning Red”, have failed to recapture the magic synonymous with the Disney brand, which has seen the studio miss out on the past two Academy Awards for Animated Feature. These recent recipients, “Pinocchio” (Netflix) and “The Boy and the Heron” (Ghibli), have proven that there are better animated motion pictures in the current market outside of Disney, a trend that may continue as we approach the upcoming 97th Academy Awards.

While it may be too early to call a winner, it is currently looking like a two horse race for the coveted Oscar statuettes, between Dreamworks’ swan song “The Wild Robot” and independent, Latvian animation “Flow”. Despite having the odds heavily stacked against it, “the small, low budget “Flow” recently was awarded the Golden Globe for animation, the first real recognition a Latvian film has ever recieved from a major award body. The animation’s director and animator, Gints Zilbalodis, has claimed he was inspired by the works of French filmmaker Jacques Tati, in what is a soft adaptation of his own short story “Aqua” from 2012.

Much like his short story, “Flow” follows a black cat trying to survive a cataclysmic flood that has destroyed everything in its wake, completely submerging the local environment in a large body of water. With its home consumed by the flood, the cat finds refuge from a passing sail boat with a capybara on board. As the two animals sail through the submerged forest, they encounter several other animals seeking sanctuary, including a Labrador and a junk collecting Lemur. Having been preyed upon and cornered by a number of passing secretarybirds, the cat is protected by one of the flock, resulting in the bird being maimed by the flock’s alpha, preventing it from flying.

Having been initially dismissive of its fellow passengers, the cat builds a trust with the animals on board the sail boat as the five of them seek salvation across the seemingly endless ocean.

Narratively simple, but emotionally deep, the visually spectacular, “Flow” is one of the most unique feats of animation I have seen in recent years, one that is not watered down by Hollywood convention – it is a masterful piece of visual storytelling, With no dialogue, the film is heavily reliant on Zilbalodis’ distinct vision and animation skills to convey a surprisingly mature story of survival, friendship and acceptance. Actual animals noises were used in the films production to voice the photo-realistic animals, and the creative decision to not anthropomorphise the animals provides the sense of peril that provides these non-human characters with very human character arcs. Despite the absence of dialogue, our five central furry friends manage to distinguish themselves, each having their own quirky traits and subsequent character progression.

The cat, like most cats, is very independent, and refuses to cooperate with others, until it realises that they are all part of something far greater. This central arc is one that come from Zilbalodis himself, who had to work with other animators for the first time on this project, something he was initially hesitant of having only previously worked on his own. The cat also is enamoured by the secretarybird that save its life, but continues to be frustrated by the grateful Labrador who sees the cat in the same light. Meanwhile the lemur seems to only care for the basket of junk it has managed to collect during the disaster, being particularly precious of a mirror.

These subtle notes of individualism make the narrative far more impactful as the sailboat of zoological misfits finally decide to band together to survive the perilous situation they find themselves in. It is a surprisingly emotional theatrical experience given there is not a single human, or word of dialogue muttered throughout the entirety of the refreshingly brisk 80-minute runtime.

The main take away though from “Flow” is the visual experience, Zilbalodis and his team of animators should be very proud of the masterpiece of animation they have managed to create, despite their financial limitations. The innovative piece of animation was completely rendered o the free and open-source 3D graphic software Blender. While the animation is never going to look as crisp or defined as what Disney may produce due to the software’s limitations, the photorealistic aesthetic, along with Zilbalodis’ breath-taking direction, has resulted in one of the most realistic, yet magical, animated films I have ever seen.

Not only does “Flow” make for a captivating cinematic experience, while I was watching it I could not help but think what an incredible indie, open-world video game it would make. Not only does the film contain narrative elements similar to both “The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker”, and more obviously futuristic cat simulator “Stray”, the small Latvian animation’s distinct animation style also seems to be inspired by the works of Japanese video game designer Fumito Ueda.

Original, innovative and breath-taking, “Flow” is the most recent proof that there is some excellent, ground-breaking movies making waves in the world of animation, and while Disney may be continuing to rack up strong box-office numbers, their creative teams should be taking note of what is going on around the world when it comes to reinventing the animation medium.

Flow is showing in select UK Cinemas from 1st March

• 2025-2026 Movie Awards Season
  • 2026 Academy Award Predictions: June
  • 2026 Academy Award Predictions: September
• All Movie Reviews & Posts
• Movie Rankings
  • A24 Movies Ranked