Flow

Most of the picture is sunny so what caused the flood? What made it recede at the end? When is this set? Is it post-some apocalypse? I ask because where are the people? Buildings and structures are there but where are the people now? Who made the giant animal statues and why? WHERE is this set? The eclectic group of animals makes that hard to pin down as well. What was the lightshow / portal at the end with the kitty and the secretarybird exactly? Is it a portal to the afterlife? Did the secretarybird die? What is up with the sea monster / mutant whale?

Do you know what my REAL frustration over these mysteries is though? David Lynch actually used to give me a LOT more to work with.

I’m not going to say that deserved to win an Academy Award. But considering the shlock being currently churned out by the major studios, I understand why it did. Must have been refreshing for the Academy not to have to contend with a picture that ended on a hip-hop dance party.

The vistas in the animation are beautiful. The animation on the animals is hit and miss. They act like animals, but it’s CGI, and because the animation strives for realism, there is a ton of uncanny valley present.

A dialogue free movie is great for international audiences too.

My biggest complaint happened at the beginning. The cartoonishly huge amount of different movie studios named in the coproduction credits was ridiculous. I have NEVER seen that before and I hope to never see that again. Family Guy did a bit about those overlong studio credits and how they keep tricking you into thinking the movie is starting, but as long and deliberately lame as that bit was, this was pretty much five times longer. I couldn’t believe it. I was like “Are you kidding me?” And I saw this on HBO Max! I would have been crawling up the walls in the theater.

But the film itself is solid, if imperfect. I’m gonna go on Wikipedia and see if there are any answers to my questions. Part of me hopes there are and part of me hopes there aren’t. 4 stars.

UPDATE: There aren’t. Rats. Or maybe good.