December 22, 2024 – This animated animal adventure movie has no dialog and no narration, so it is a bit like a silent movie, with sound. As such, there are some unexplained mysteries in the story, which is nonetheless compelling.

A cat lives comfortably alone in an abandoned house surrounded by cat sculptures, including a huge, Mount Rushmore like cat head. No people appear in the movie, but there seems to be lots of evidence that people have been around, including the presence of abandoned cities.

That cat is pursued by a pack of dogs, and is nearly run over by a herd of stampeding deer. A tsunami and rising water swamp the cat's home and all of the landscape the cat is familiar with. The cat, who uses up more than a few of his nine lives in his many adventures, escapes from the last dry spot onto a boat.

A dog, a capabara, a large secretarybird and a ring-tailed lemur all end up on the sailboat. Other dogs end up on a nearby row boat temporarily, drifting along with the flow. The cat, and other animals on the boat gradually all learn to get along with each other, which is probably one of the film's messages. All the animals know how to use the tiller to steer the boat, too.

One of the animals in the story is a whale, but it is different from the whales on this planet. It is more like one of those whales from Avatar. The rest of the animals in this movie are recognizable species. The cat, and other animals have many adventures, including a strange anti-gravity spiritual adventure shared by the cat and his secretarybird pal, on a mountaintop.

There are daring rescues, unlikely escapes, and strange, sudden, cataclysmic changes in the water level. What ties this story together is the cat, and his relationship to the other animals he encounters during his many wild adventures. The story doesn't make much sense, but it is compelling.

Flow is a very distinctive-looking animated film, with a striking visual style and enveloping music. Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis (“Away”) heads up a largely European crew (Latvia, Belgium and France, Arte France Cinéma, Dream Well Studio and Sacrebleu Productions) to make a film with a fairly universal appeal, free from the bounds of language. This movie rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff (no extra charges apply). I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2024 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at