There's a weight and reality to the world and its characters that simply doesn't show up in so many modern CG animated movies (not to tar all CGI with the same brush Pixar's produced enough sublime visual art to make a cause for the latter). Simple things like fallen leaves outlining the wake of a breeze, or fat, oversized raindrops clinging to Arrietty's clothes before being shaken off go a long way in enriching the atmosphere of transient beauty. So while it doesn't reach the imaginative heights of classic Miyazaki, the film still retains enough of a sense of wonder in exploring a new world to carry his distinct tone.Īrrietty is at its best when it's painting a picture of the borrowers' unique lives, or lingering on Sho and Arrietty's friendship, or simply observing nature in the lovely, appreciative way that Studio Ghibli films do. However, the film's attention to detail makes the world and culture of the borrowers feel vividly plausible instead of just cutesy. Even the cultural indicators that litter Ghibli films and place them firmly in the milieu of the Japanese imagination (while still being universally affecting) are toned down here, allowing for a more western feel to dominate, though the story is ostensibly set in a suburb of Tokyo. It seems more generic, more prepped and ready for international marketing as an approachable family movie. But when his relationship with Arrietty comes under the scrutiny of inexplicably sadistic housekeeper Hara, the young borrower and her parents Pod and Homily realize that they might have to move out and find a new home.Īt times the fact that this is an adaptation seems to hold the movie back a bit, keeping it from the giddier realms of dream-like fantasia that Miyazaki's films boldly venture into. Sho turns out to be a gentle soul who makes an instant connection with Arrietty. Sho (Shawn in the dubbed American release), who sees her, is a quiet and lonely teenager with a heart condition and divorced absentee parents, staying at the house (which belongs to his aunt) to rest before a critical operation. It involves the Clocks, a family of "borrowers," four-inch tall people, whose existence subsisting off stray food and items gathered from the suburban house in which they live becomes jeopardized when the daughter, fourteen-year-old Arrietty, is discovered. The story is based on Mary Norton's novel The Borrowers (1952), which has already been adapted into film a few times. This is an exquisitely animated, charming and sometimes moving film that will appeal to both children and adults, and it comfortably falls into a median of quality when it comes to Studio Ghibli. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for anyone who conflates Miyazaki with the studio (Ghibli has produced several animated films not directed by the master himself, including Isao Takahata's remarkable Grave of the Fireflies (1988)). That’s not to belittle first-time director Yonebayashi he does a very good job helming the beloved studio's latest feature, but the film feels like an emulation of Miyazaki's hallmark style rather than the creative birth of a confident new auteur. Despite being directed by longtime Studio Ghibli animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi, The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) has Hayao Miyazaki's signature all over it.
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