Film Name: 猫猫的奇幻漂流 / Straume
Thirty-one animated films have qualified for consideration for the 2025 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. Five will be nominated, and one will ultimately win the award. Given their performance in 2024, it’s almost certain that “Inside Out 2” will take home the prize. Still, we should pay attention to the other outstanding, emotionally resonant works.
Titled “Storm,” this film boasts a staggering 98% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Not only is it universally praised, but it has received near-perfect scores across the board. What exactly makes it so captivating?
This entirely dialogue-free silent film chronicles the drifting journey of a black cat during a catastrophic storm surge.
It begins by introducing several animals with distinct personalities. A solitary black cat with natural leadership qualities, an eternally enthusiastic golden retriever, an easygoing and kind-hearted capybara, a territorial lemur, and an independent, resolute egret. After being accustomed to Disney-style anthropomorphized animals, this film returns to the authentic essence of animals, naturally shedding any artificial affectation.
It masterfully portrays both primal instincts and transcendent growth. The dog’s hunting nature, the lemur’s protective instincts, the cat’s fierce survival drive—these instincts come to the fore. A devastating flood binds them as companions in adversity, while a small sailboat transforms strangers into companions. The flowing water becomes a current connecting their hearts, and their extraordinary journey inevitably transforms each soul involved. The cat’s willingness to share food, the lemur’s act of leaving its troop to guide them—when each animal transcends instinct to act with consciousness, the world’s most beautiful thing emerges: the love and compassion born of mutual care.
Particularly noteworthy is the cat’s profound gratitude. When the egret broke its wing to save the cat, forcing it to leave the flock, the cat remained grateful, accompanying the egret until its final moment in the sky. Rescued from drowning by a whale, the cat felt indebted, and its final kiss with the stranded whale brought tears to the eyes. When the pack of dogs that once threatened it became trapped, the cat forgave past grievances to rescue them. Yet as the dogs boarded the ship, the world’s warmth and coldness played out aboard that very vessel.
The film’s worldview is equally intriguing. With animals seemingly the only inhabitants left, one can’t help but wonder: Where did humanity go? Though this is a story without humans, traces of humanity permeate every corner of the film. A courtyard filled with cat statues, an empty house belonging to a person who loved cats, bizarre giant human sculptures and ruins—even the small boats the animals ride were made by humans. Nature without humans appears serene, yet strangely empty. Perhaps this is an Earth in the midst of rebirth.
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