Flow

It can be playful; it can be deceptively profound.

The world of Flow, like those of the best movies, is hallucinatory and its mood hypnotic, the rolling, seductive frames adding to the illusion of some powerful subconscious truth.

Flow shows both formidable technical brilliance and ingenuity, not least because it dispenses with dialogue — quizzical mews, chirrups and rhythmic doggy breaths replacing words.

Flow is not exactly mining new thematic territory... However, the approach of Flow, with its animals’-eye, in-the-moment immediacy and its resistance to cutesiness and anthropomorphism, is bracingly fresh and unexpected.

It’s proof there’s not only one direction to take, and that Hollywood’s fixation on photorealism and A-list voice actors isn’t absolute.

Flow oozes with charm and playfulness, a delightful multi-generational film that captures a quiet grace missing from so many modern animated features obsessed with manic edits, flashing colours and cacophonous sound design.

A visual breath of fresh air and delightful respite from reality.

a marvel of technical ingenuity, formal beauty, and deep reverence for life

It's an amazing accomplishment that rivals the animals' journey every step of the way.

What surely won over Oscar voters, though, is the dreamy animation, with colourful fishes, majestic buildings and a sky filled with stars.