Flow (2024)

This move won the Golden Globe for best animated movie and it is certainly gorgeously animated, and my favorite animated movie that I have seen to date. The movie is set in a forest, though it's unclear where on Earth this forest could be — the fauna make that a little complicated. The protagonist is an ordinary black housecat, whose perspective we become closely attuned to. It's a solitary creature, dodging packs of dogs and predatory secretary birds, but it was clearly loved once. It takes refuge in an abandoned cabin adorned with more-than-life-size carvings of a cat that we presume to be it only gigantic. So humans lived here at one time, we know not when, but we soon understand why. One day, out of the blue, the forest is overtaken by an enormous flood. The water rises until only the peaks of mountains provide refuge. Our cat, by the skin of its teeth, survives, and it eventually comes across a capybara in a small, weathered sailboat. This vessel gathers a ragtag group of survivors over time, picking up a ring-tailed lemur, a secretarybird, and a yellow Labrador. As they traverse this new world, these strangers must find ways to coexist and to survive all the uncertainties that present themselves. I read a review that likened this to a video game, not to disparage the animation, but to give a sense of the journey this band of animals in on, facing down one peril only to be confronted with another, like different levels in a game. The exact meaning of it all eludes me, but it is beautiful and peaceful to watch.