Flow

This movie is truly about going with the flow. This epic and tragic adventure the cat embarks on is a perfect metaphor for life itself. How unpredictable it can be, the people you meet—some kind and loving, some evil—and simply handling everything that the world can throw at you. In the cat's case, it’s literally about surviving a world-ending flood, but what are most of us doing every day if not surviving? During this journey, we encounter some of the most breathtaking visuals I’ve ever seen in animation, despite the film's meager $3.8 million budget. It is so confident in its visuals and cast of characters that it doesn’t even have a single line of dialogue. This makes the journey feel that much more immersive. We see a strange group of animals interact with one another without cracking jokes in human ways. These characters ARE animals; all of the emotion, comedy, and drama come from this and are executed perfectly. The movie also explores some spiritual themes, with the bird and cat’s interesting connection and how it culminates with the bird kind of giving itself into the afterlife in this beautiful scene shared with the cat. The ending is also very sweet once the waters recede, as the cat has a final moment with the whale that seemed to look out for her as it dies on land. Then, the squad of newly befriended animals sits next to each other, reflecting on what’s to come next and how, no matter what it’ll be, they’ll face it together.