Starring the voice talents of:
(UK VERSION)
Saoirse Ronan................. Arrietty
Tom Holland....................Shō
Olivia Colman....................Homily
Phyllida Law..................... Sadako Maki
Luke Allen-Gale................ Spiller
Mark Strong...................... Pod
Geraldine McEwan............. Haru
(US Version)
Bridgit Mendler.................Arrietty
David Henrie .............Shō
Amy Poehler .................. Homily
Gracie Poletti ............... Sadako Maki
Moises Arias ................ Spiller
Will Arnett .................. Pod
Carol Burnett ............ Haru
Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Release Dates:
Japan July 17, 2010
United Kingdom July 29, 2011
United States February 17, 2012
Note: I saw the UK version, which has Mark Strong, Saoirse Ronan and Tom Holland in the voice cast.
Adapted from Mary Norton's Novel "The Borrowers" from the illustrious Hayao Miyazaki, The Secret World of Arrietty looks at a fantastically microscopic view beneath our very feet.
In the country, Shō is a young boy awaiting heart surgery at her mother's childhood home. Shō has always been very weak, never having friends to play with due to his poor health. But one day, he spies something out of the corner of his eye: a little girl no bigger than a doll. Her name is Arrietty.
As is standard with Studio Ghibli films, the animation is absolutely stunning. There are many gorgeous details put into the flora and fauna in the yard, such as when Shō sits in the field in the afternoon or seen in the immaculate detail of water droplets during a rainy day. also, since much of the film takes place from the point of view of a 'borrower', there is a great deal of scale when looking at objects both big and small. One of my favorite moments is when looking at the objects in Arrietty's home, such as how her family uses stamps for pictures or how her father uses double sided tape to walk up a dresser. So yes, from a visual standpoint the film is absolutely stunning.
Unfortunately, the film does suffer from two major problems: a slow pace and character development. First, the film does have a slow pace which may detract many but will also bore children due to their being many scenes of pretty visuals like the dollhouse but nothing visually exciting like other Ghibli films. Second, due to this pacing and emphasis of visuals, there is little attention to character interaction. That is to say, you want to see more of the characters interacting, growing, doing more than is seen on the screen. For example, there is a fourth borrower introduced in the second act; his name is Spiller and is more of an outdoor borrower, someone who lives in the yard and is seen as a hunter. Then....he disappears until the last 10 minutes.
Final thoughts: The Secret World of Arrietty is a visually enjoyable movie with good characters and first-time director Hiromasa Yonebayashi does a good job with this movie. Still, the movie is a bit slow and doesn't offer as much character development as one would hope. Still, for fans of Studio Ghibli and animation, it gets a full recommendation.
Rating: 3.5 of 5
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