This swashbuckling tale of a cat who befriends a capybara, a lemur, a stork, and a golden retriever is not your average kids’ movie. For one thing, filmmaker Gints Zilbalodis lets these animals be animals. That is, they don't speak to each other, at least not in any human language, and their movements and motivations are true to their respective species: the cat struts and scurries, the capybara waddles and thumps, the stork preens and stalks, and the lemur leaps about and loots. The world seems to have come to an end and there are no humans to be found. Flood waters recede then return and this ragtag group of animal pals scramble aboard a passing boat and head out into the unknown. Sailing through mystical landscapes, they navigate the challenges and dangers of adapting to this new world, with Zilbalodis adding more than a touch of Zemeckis to their perilous episodes. Flow, which has been chosen as the Latvian entry for Best International Feature Film at the Academy Awards, is a wonderful animated adventure about chosen families and cross-species friendships that transcend language. ~OO