Big Picture Big Sound

Head Over Heels Over the Rest

Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" David Silverman

Adam and Dog Minkyu Lee

Fresh Guacamole Adam Pesapane

Head Over Heels Timothy Reckart

Paperman John Kahrs

Not a great selection here, but one is head and shoulders over the others except for possibly the Simpsons' entry which is also a fun romp. I just think it's too short to win the prize. The others are a pretty weak group, with an accent on trying to be artsy or heavy. Bonus: I think you can find all of them online for free, so you can make your own judgments.

Maggie Simpson in "The Longest Daycare" It's Maggie's first day at daycare and the laughs come fast and furious. Squeezed into a mere 5 minutes, it presents gags at a rapid-fire pace with all them positioned in a way that if you blink, you'll miss them. Lots of fun. 

Adam and Dog I had mixed emotions about this one. It's the story of the Garden of Eden with a dog as the star. When Adam and Eve get kicked out of the garden by God - who doesn't actually make an appearance - their dog wanders, looking for them. While I love dogs, the message was way over-the-top for me. The animation was at times beautiful and at other times sloppy.

Fresh Guacamole. A cute, funny short, but at two minutes in length, it felt more like a commercial than anything else. There is no real message so points are deducted.  

Head Over Heels It's a tale of a marriage gone adrift, told in a particularly clever way. Loved the stop-motion animation and the story and the message. A winner.

Paperman Another in a long group of overly-slick productions from Disney. While the animation is quite fine, everything else about it screams professional and not in a good way. It's a mainstream love message that is all too pervasive in lots of the studio's work. I guess that means it will probably win.