There are two apparent paths to take with this year’s Best Animated Feature category. They are not new ones. Look at the winners in the category over the last few years, and a clear delineation is apparent. On the one hand, you could vote for big-budget studio titles, like “Toy Story 4” and “Encanto.” This year, that honor belongs to “The Wild Robot.” The other option is the smaller titles, like “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio” and “The Boy and the Heron.” This year’s underdog is “Flow,” who doesn’t love an underdog?

Not to take anything away from the other films in this category, but this late in the season, it appears to have come down to “The Wild Robot” and “Flow.” Oscar pundits are leaning toward “The Wild Robot,” but the more thought I give, the more I hope “Flow” can pull off the win. First of all, it’s just as stunning as a studio title. There are frames of “Flow” that could be framed and put on your wall, especially when water is involved. With no dialogue, director Gints Zilbalodis does exquisite work keeping the viewer’s attention. The animals have such character that they don’t need to speak. Although the story and its reasonings are vague, it often feels like the morals are multi-leveled.

With International Feature, “Flow” would have to beat out two Best Picture winners in “Emilia Pérez” and “I’m Still Here,” which is probably too big a hill to climb. But if you look up Latvia on a map, you’ll see it is a neighboring country to Russia (one country away from Ukraine). And in that, you realize that there is likely an even more considerable meaning to this little film. The fact that this quaint animation could come out of a part of the world that is currently fraught with turmoil is a testament to creatives, even in times of great strife. And, in a time when it would be great to see the little guy win, I would love to see “Flow” win Best Animated Feature. So, here’s to hoping!