Directed By: John Kahrs
Starring: Jack Goldenberg, John Kahrs, Jeff Turley
Trivia: This movie was the first Disney animated short film to win the Best Animated Short Academy Award in 43 years
Rounding out my coverage of the new home video release Walt Disney’s Short Films Collection is 2012’s Paperman, a movie about an office worker who lets the girl of his dreams slip away, only to be given a second chance to make her acquaintance.
While standing on a platform waiting for the train, a man spots a pretty young woman in red lipstick, but soon after the two make eye contact, she hops on the next train and seemingly speeds out of his life forever. Sitting at his desk later that morning, the man can’t get the girl out of his head. To his surprise, he sees her entering an office in the building directly across from his. Desperate to get her attention, he tosses a series of paper airplanes out the window, all of which fail to hit the mark. Ignoring the stern gazes of his boss, the man rushes out of his office and onto the street, where he hopes to find the girl. It’s at this moment that fate, with a little help from Mother Nature, takes over…
Presented mostly in black-and-white (the girl’s red lipstick is the only color in the film), Paperman is a gorgeously animated romantic comedy, borrowing its style from Disney’s then-recent release, Tangled, which combined computer graphics and hand-drawn animation. In addition, the movie, much like The Little Matchgirl, relies more on music and images than it does dialogue to relate its tale of young love (the score, composed by Christophe Beck, is quite catchy). As for the characters, you can’t help but root for them (the man consistently puts his job at risk for the sake of love, and we hope he’s not doing it all in vain).
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Animated Short in 2013, Paperman is a grand mix of style, story, and characters, as well as a reminder of just how wondrous the films produced by the House of Mouse can be.
As for Disney’s Short Films Collection, I recommend you buy it immediately; from start to finish, it’s magnificent.
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