Paperman (2012) - Critically acclaimed Disney animated short film

[Evra]

One of the fundamental questions in film theory has always been “How long should a film be?” I do not possess ‘the’ answer but I would imagine everyone would have their opinions. The great director Alfred Hitchock famously opined that the length of a film should be correlated to the size of a human bladder. However, I am of the opinion that a good film is one that takes however long it needs to tell its story.

At slightly over 6 minutes long, Paperman, Disney’s animated short film is one of the best animated shorts I have seen since Presto (2008) and even more remarkable is that it is one of the best romances I have seen in quite a while, a genre I particularly love. In its glorious black and white beauty, presumably a reflection of the time period set sometime in the 1950s or 1960s and without a single word of dialogue, Paperman raises the bar in animation and storytelling by showing that it is entirely possible to tell a romance that is beautiful and poignant in six minutes while some films take nearly twenty times as long with dialogue and still fall short.

YouTube short: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTLySbGoMX0

Full review: http://watchordontwatch.blogspot.com/

Opinions anyone?

[Shanderson88]

I saw this in the theater before Wreck-It Ralph. I fell in love with it, I was amazed by how moved I was from such a short animated film.

[Barbossa]

Loved it - it managed to pack more emotion and great story-telling into a few minutes than many (but not all) of Disney's (and Pixar's) recent movie length offerings.

[MEB]

We always show a cartoon or animated film during a Booth Bijou Garage Theater movie night. This past Saturday, we showed 'Paperman'. Our guests loved it!

I haven't seen any of the other Oscar-nominated animated short films, but I won't be disappointed if 'Paperman' wins!

Mark