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Flow feels like not just a movie, but also an experience, at times, and if you play a lot of videogames, then like the CGI cut-scenes you sometimes get.
With no humans, nor any names to the characters – since animals don’t speak in any way we can comprehend, the main character, so to speak, is a dark grey cat, who we see being chased by a pack of dogs, with the labrador of the group getting separated from the rest of them, and wanting to become friends with the feline, whilst the others behave the way they normally do.
Water levels are rising quickly for reasons unexplained, but the chance of an abandoned boat drifting along means they have to all jump on if they want to survive, with other animals joining them including a capybara, a ring-tailed lemur, and a secretarybird.
All of those features are outcasts in some way, having fallen out with each other or got separated from their kin along the way, the secretarybird having had a fight, just as I saw happen between two pigeons, the day before, jumping up and pecking at each other.
There are also huge cat-shaped statues visible, but without any context, as if humans haven’t been around for quite some time, but that these felines saved their world before the disappeared, since someone must have created these. This made me think of a particular scene in the videogame Before Your Eyes, but I’ll avoid spoilers in case you haven’t played that (probably most of the people reading this, but you really SHOULD play it!)
Overall, Flow is absolutely stunning and makes you really care about the fate of the characters, especially for those who bond together, since they can’t all get on like a house on fire.
It feels like watching a painting come to life, and the animation looks similar to that used in the videogame, Season: A Letter To The Future, as well as earlier games, ICO and Shadow of the Colossus.
And while I said there’s no dialogue, as such, the film certainly gets across when the cat is anxious/scared etc, given how it meows. Similar with the labrador, when it woofs happily, to see the cat.
Plus, at one point, they see the Northern Lights. Aurora Borealis? At this time of year? At this time of day? In this part of the country? Localised entirely within this film? Yes.
But there’s one problem. Just…. WHY 2.00:1?! That’s the awkward aspect ratio I regularly talk about – most recently for The Monkey, which doesn’t fit on ANY cinema screen properly! Odeon still can’t be bothered to implement this ratio into its 2.39:1 screens, so when it’s shown on one of those, the projector is left in the 1.85:1 state, after the trailers, so the film has black bars top and bottom, as well as left and right, and it looks ridiculous.
Still, if you do get the chance to see this on the big screen, DO! It’s also certainly a better bet for a family film than Snow White!
NOTE: There is also a post-credits scene. See the video below.
Flow is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on 4K Blu-ray, Blu-ray and DVD, ahead of its release date TBA.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 85 minutes
Release date: March 21st 2025
Studio: Curzon Film Distributors
Aspect Ratio: 2.00:1
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 9/10
Director: Gints Zilbalodis
Producers: Gints Zilbalodis, Ron Dyens, Matiss Kaza, Gregory Zalcman
Screenplay: Gints Zilbalodis, Matiss Kaza
Adaptation: Ron Dyens
Music: Gints Zilbalodis, Rihards Zalupe
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.