Piper

Voices of: N/A
Directed by: Alan Barillaro
Rating: G
Genre: Animation, Short
Length: 6 minutes
2016

Times Seen:
Tim: 4

Summary: A mother bird teaches her child how to survive.

Review:

Tim: The first word that comes to mind when you think of Pixar's short film, Piper is "cute". The film is just undeniably cute. The little bird, his little friends, it's an incredibly cute movie. It also showcases the power of short films- that a competent director like Alan Barillaro can tell a powerful, emotional story that tugs at your heartstrings in only six minutes. It's an impressive feat and requires a vastly different set of skills to pull something like this off, than having 1.5-2 hours to tell your story. Here, every second matters because there's so few of them. It's impressive that Barillaro used his limited run time to tell a memorable story.

While using cute animals obviously ups the emotional piece, I was surprised by how this film really made an emotional impact on the audience. It's a simple story that is offers a universal connection- it's a story about a mother and her love for her child. It's a story about children venturing out, trying things for the first time, failing, and getting back up to try again. It reminds us of our childhoods, when the world seemed so big and scary and we were unsure about ourselves and our place in the world. It was that fragile time when we needed to take big risks to gain experience and find our footing in the world. And all this comes at us in six minutes. It's an impressive short.

The animation is beautiful, immediately drawing us into the film. Pixar has really been able to do things no one else does with their animated films, whether that's feature length or shorts like this one. Piper is a delightful short film and a firm reminder that I haven't done a good enough job of seeking out Pixar's other shorts. There's a bunch I haven't seen, and if they are anything like this one, they'd be well worth searching to find. I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would highly recommend it.

*Update- About three years after first seeing this short, I watched it again, this time with my five year-old son. We both had a blast with it. The film is undeniably cute and it holds your attention through the entire film. The animation is beautiful. My son had a lot of fun watching it. He was asking questions and really enjoyed the film. After seeing it for the first time, the film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Animated Short. It wasn't a surprise to me at all- I definitely got it right in my Oscar pool because I knew nothing could surpass this film's cuteness and emotional impact. Piper holds up and it remains one of my favorite short films.

*Update- kind of funny to see my son want to watch the movie again, a day later. It's really an enjoyable film. He's actually watching it again in the other room now. My 19 month-old daughter really likes it, too. Great work on this one, Pixar!

*Update- well, it's been a while, but my kids really wanted to see the film again. Good test of Piper's rewatchability. The short film was just as delightful the fourth time I've seen it as the other times. One fun thing- my daughter is almost 2.5 years old now and she could really appreciate the film for the first time. Like my son, she really liked it. It's been fun watching this movie with them repeatedly. I'm sure I'll be back here again before too long.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Finding Nemo, Finding Dory