I’ve always been terrible at making paper airplanes. No, that’s not quite right. I’ve always been terrible at making paper airplanes that FLY. Maybe that’s just because I haven’t made enough of them. The young man in today’s adorable animation certainly got plenty of practice!

This is the sweet, funny animated short Paperman, and it’s thoroughly charming. It was produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and directed by John Kahrs. The short blends traditional 2D animation and 3D computer-based animation, and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for the year 2012. In fact, Paperman was the first Disney animated short to win an Academy Award since It’s Tough to Be a Bird in 1970.

“Every morning on my way to work I would go through Grand Central Station … and sometimes you’d meet eye to eye with people, just strangers, like a pretty girl or something, and you’d think is there a connection? You feel that connection for a split second and wonder who that person was. That’s the core idea of it – what if two people were really perfect for each other, and they had that chance meeting? And what if they were separated – how would those two people get back together again? And how could a little bit of magic and fate intervene to bring them back together?”

— John Kahrs

I like that it looks like it’s in the same universe as 101 Dalmations, one of my favorite Disney animated features. I always found the artistic style in that movie charming and elegant, and these characters have that same special something.

Enjoy!

And because we all deserve it, here’s the very fun 1970 Academy Award winner, It’s Tough to Be a Bird!

Oh, why not?