Paperman

'PAPERMAN': Five Stars (Out of Five)

A Disney animated short film (that debuted in theaters before 'WRECK-IT RALPH') that tells the story of a New York office worker (sometime in the mid-20th century) who falls for a woman he just met, on his way to work, and is drawn to her through paper (paper airplanes to be more specific). It was directed by first time director John Kahrs (who's other film experience has been in the animation department for Disney animated features) and written by Clio Chiang and Kendelle Hoyer (the duo also worked on the script for Disney's 2011 'WINNIE THE POOH' animated feature). It's a black-and-white short and combines traditional hand-drawn animation with computer animation. I absolutely loved the film; it's about as good a short film as I've ever seen (live action or animated)! It's so emotionally moving and beautifully magical that I have to admit I got a little teary eyed. At 7 minutes it's hard to rate in comparison with feature length films, so to say this is one of the best movies I've seen all year might be an overstatement, but it's definitely one of the best shorts I've ever seen!

Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6yq7kwUUDQ

Paperman is shown before Wreck-It Ralph. It looks and feels like an elaborate daydream, and even features a story not unlike the wish- fulfillment fantasies that compose our most wonderful daydreams. Like our wish-fulfillment fantasy though, it is pretty simple and cheesy, but that's perhaps the very point of this short (and I can appreciate that). Its animation is breathtaking and you really have to watch it just to appreciate how great it is. It fills you with that wonder you felt when you watched amazing animation for the first time. I definitely recalled feeling that feeling when I first saw Toy Story when I was 4.

Wonderful short to play before Wreck-It Ralph (which plays more like a CRAZY, elaborate dream). Like Wreck-It Ralph, it's destined to be remember for a long, long time.

What a delightful short this is. Beautiful animation and music with a sweet, romantic story told with no dialogue. The story's about a man who meets a woman on a train platform on his way to work. There's instant chemistry but he doesn't act quickly enough and, before he knows it, the girl is gone. But, as fate would have it, he sees her again when he arrives to work at a high-rise office building. The only problem is he sees her through his office window as she's in the building across the street. I won't spoil the rest of it for you but it's the kind of story that should put a smile on the face of anyone who isn't a total grouch.

This film starts from a paper flying to a man. With a wind causing by a train passing, one of the paper a woman is holding fly and hit him. After returning it, another paper which the man is holding flies and hits her face. Since it hits her face, this paper has kiss mark on it. The man can't forget about her. While he is working in his office, he finds her in the building opposite across the road. Then the man tries to make her turn to him so he throws hundreds of planes made by papers. None of them reaches her so the man is getting sad. But with suddenly the paper planes start to fly again and these planes is going to lead this story to a dramatic ending. It's a simple story but makes the viewer happy. The music played in this film made me feel so excited.

Oscar nominated, this short film is a simple story of two people who have a chance meeting only for fate to intervene to ensure it is more than just that. As such it has the potential to be corny and therefore hard to care about, but it manages to be quite touching. The plot stretches a bit with the paper planes essentially coming to life rather than just being a device but this was the only place where it pushed me. The sight of the main guy being held in his seat by the planes didn't really work for me and I would have preferred a bit more of a "passive" device (eg I preferred the woman's interaction with her plane) but mostly I went with it because I was into the short film.

This engagement was achieved by the delicate touches provided in the music and the animation, both of which are excellent. Without so much as a word the film unfolds in mostly black and white and it has a great look to it – I have seen people posting screenshots from this film and some of them are beautiful enough to hang. The music plays in the background and resists the urge to overegg the material so it never feels like it is being used to guide your emotions in a cynical or undeserving manner. It takes you where you know it will go but the manner in which it does it is charming and pleasing; it will not have you in tears but it is delicate, charming and ultimately sweet and that is quite the achievement in a wordless 7 minute animation.