It may feel like there hasn’t been a challenger to Disney/Pixar for a long time, but in fact, the house of mouse has missed out at the Oscar’s for Best Animated Film the last three years. Not only is this refreshing but it shows that more animated films are finally being able to make an impression and break through to audiences. Dreamworks of course has been working away and creating some truly spectacular films over the last few years as well (bar that new Shrek film by the looks of it), but its with Studio Ghibli winning last year with The Boy and the Heron and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio the year before, there finally feels like a shift happening with animation. This feeling was cemented with the historic win this year when Flow took home the prize, a first time ever win for Latvia and for co-writer and director Gints Zilbalodis.
Flow follows a black cat who lives in a world where humans no longer exist, though there are remanences from what they left behind. When the land is suddenly flooded, the cat, by chance encounters other animals, equally lost, who all end up in a boat together. As they drift along, the group must learn to work together and navigate these new waters.
Full review over at Filmhounds.