Flow is a film that proves my whole theory: cats are awesome, black cats are more awesome. And so too are lemurs, dogs, birds, and capybaras! It’s a whole furry and feathered society of awesome that proves a rising tide lifts all boats.

Flow is about a world going through huge flooding, the water rises as the animals race for higher ground. Why the flood? Who knows. I have theories involving tidal bulges but that sounds vaguely dirty so I’ll just say its unstated. But survival is not of the fittest so much as most resourceful so that’s good.

This is a lovely fur-fringed film with great, believably designed animals, well-crafted dampness, and nice ruins and forests hanging onto the dry the best they can. It’s very evocative and located, a believable mess of a world.

The critters are all lovely and, for the most part, believable. They do not talk… and I can imagine some unimaginative studio exec demanding they hire a bunch of improv actors to do wise-ass voice overs for each animal. Just like that old dinosaur movie that Disney wouldn’t let slide.

Not in this case though. The animals emote their meows and woofs but are otherwise believable. Except, perhaps, for their curious skill at amateur boating (not sure what it means they all seem to understand how a tiller works).

I wish there’d been a more concrete ending but I guess they get away with it by being an arthouse animated film. Fair enough. It’s a surreal and adventurous film throughout and if they didn’t want to spell things out, that’s probably only because exposition doesn’t work so well through a furry face.

I enjoyed this film throughout and am very happy they didn’t kid it up with cheesy dialog. Kids should love it as-is and they should see it… as opposed to a bunch of the bad animation this year. Adults should check it out too as a grand example of dialog-free and silky smooth animation.

Score: 86