When I first saw a trailer for DreamWorks’ upcoming film The Wild Robot, I spent most of my time pleading with the trailer to be dialogue-less, like the first half of WALL-E.
Alas, my dream was not to be, as Lupita Nyong’o voices the titular robot, with a whole bunch of other voice actors on board. I was left believing my yearning for a new completely dialogue-less, environmentally-driven film would go unfulfilled.
It’s 2024, after all, and thanks to social media, we all have the attention span of a bean. I worried there was no way such a film could be greenlit now. That is, until I heard about Flow.
Flow is a European-made film about a black cat who escapes a catastrophic flood and survives by living on a boat with other wild animals. While that sounds like Noah’s Ark on its face, there’s not a single human in sight. There are ruins of buildings and even a giant inanimate hand, but no living humans. Just wild animals sailing on a small ship together. In other words, it’s a dialogue-less film.
Flow seems to be just as much in discussion with the environmentalist, animal-centric tale of Bambi as it is with the “the humans are gone!” sci-fi angle of WALL-E. Or gaming nerds could point at it and say, “Stray: The Film! But in nature!”
No matter where you want to frame its legacy, one fact remains: Flow is almost certainly going to be the best animated film of the year.
Flow looks amazing
Flow has already previewed at key film festivals, and the response has been overwhelmingly positive. It was an official selection of the highly prestigious Cannes Film Festival, and it won no less than three awards at Annecy, including both the Jury Award and the Audience Award. In other words, both critics and filmgoers alike loved it.
Just the trailer feels refreshing to watch. The animation is drop-dead gorgeous, which immediately sells the film’s sense of adventure and discovery. We’re rarely treated to a film with as much patience as Flow seems willing to give. Such rave early reviews clearly indicate it’s something very special.
Flow is a European production, with a Latvian director (29-year-old wunderkind Gints Zilbalodis) and animation crews based in Latvia, Belgium, and France. It’s slated for a limited release in the United States on November 22, 2024, with a wider national release coming sometime later.
The November release is surely so that Flow can be eligible for an Oscar nomination. Which, if there’s any justice in the world, they should have it in the bag.
Published: Sep 13, 2024 12:06 pm