Film Proves Purr-fect for Captivated Cats — It may have won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature two weeks ago, but Flow—an adventure about a cat navigating a post-apocalyptic flood—has remained relatively unseen by human audiences. Then again, perhaps humans weren’t the film’s primary target.
Since the surprise triumph of the modestly budgeted Latvian film over its Hollywood competitors, social media has been flooded with videos of mesmerized cats watching Flow. Many owners speculate that their feline companions recognize themselves in the animated characters.
One particularly entranced viewer is Marvin, an American shorthair from the wilds of Long Island. Having survived his early years by scavenging and hunting, he typically avoids both humans and animals. But from Flow’s opening scene, Marvin was spellbound—perhaps due to his uncanny resemblance to the film’s unnamed protagonist, who shares his charcoal coat and amber-green eyes.
During tense moments, Marvin’s ears twitched, his gaze locked onto the screen. He seemed especially engrossed in the underwater sequences, where the animated cat battles currents while hunting for fish.
Matiss Kaza, Flow’s producer and co-writer, suspects the film’s immersive natural sound design may explain its appeal to animals. “We don’t usually consider pets as part of a film’s audience, but we’re thrilled that so many owners have found Flow to be a bonding experience with their cats and dogs.”
Animal psychologists suggest that felines’ fascination with the film may stem from “social learning”—a theory that both cats and humans acquire new behaviors through observation and imitation.
“Cats are apex predators, and social learning has played a crucial role in their survival,” explains Mieshelle Nagelschneider, author of The Cat Whisperer and founder of the Cat Behavior Clinic in Oregon. Since domestication, cats have relied on their natural hunting instincts, and, as Nagelschneider notes, they may now be adapting to a digital world.
Mikel Delgado, a cat behavior expert from California, watched Flow with her three cats and appreciated its lack of human dialogue. “The animals are simply allowed to be animals,” she said.
But do cats feel a deeper, primal connection to Flow’s characters? Delgado is doubtful. “I can almost guarantee they don’t,” she said. “I think people tend to overanalyze their cats’ reactions to television.”
Flow arrives in UK cinemas this Friday.
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