POW!

The scouts

POW! is exactly the kind of thing that should bore me—cute coming-of-age animation, all whimsy and heart—but Clift's doing something genuinely weird with the form that makes the sentimentality land like a gut punch instead of a greeting card.

There's a formal precision to how POW! situates itself within the lineage of hand-drawn character animation and indie coming-of-age storytelling; Clift demonstrates real awareness of what's been done before and where the craft can still surprise.

The magic here is in one specific rhythmic choice—whether it's a cut, a sound sync, or a single frame of animation—that transforms what could be a generic growing-up moment into something that *feels* necessary rather than constructed.