Float (2019)

Float Review

Float is a 2019 animated short film and another movie coming from Pixar’s program called SparkShorts.

It is about a man and his son who floats. He at first tries to hide that, but eventually gets to embrace his son’s uniqueness and the two get to share it properly. To me, the film is very obviously about autism. That central metaphor was not thinly concealed, though it can of course stand for anybody being different in any way. Though sweet, I wished for a more sophisticated tackling of this by now standard message.

The animation is excellent. The character designs are strong and the floating scenes are wonderful. The characters being Filipino-Americans did not impact the story in any meaningful way, though it was nice seeing more different nationalities and races in Pixar movies. The final scene is very moving and so are most of the scenes here, but again it was too safe.

Float is a sweet film about autism that is very well done, but it could have been even more sophisticated.

My Rating – 3.9