The Secret World of Arrietty - Reviews

This movie really makes u wonder how many bad apples are there in this world. And sometimes beautiful encouners only stay as just an encounter in our memories. 

WARNING!: Watch at your own risk. Movie may fill you with so many emotions that you'll feel compelled to shrink 4 inches tall and go live under bricks in a garden somewhere. Viewers may also face slight depression because Arrietty is too small to be with Sho (╥﹏╥)

This is the first Studio Ghibli film I've seen since Spirited Away, and I can see they still haven't lost their touch.  What's best known about Ghibli is their animation style and production quality, to which Karigurashi no Arrietty is yet another prime example of.  It's a film adaptation of Mary Norton's novel The Borrowers, and not based on the family comedy The Borrowers starring John Goodman!  The overall tone of this movie isn't as "intense" as others by this studio, but that just means it's of a different genre and should be graded as such.

 

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

 

Story (9/10): The story opens up with a boy, Sho, and his great Aunt, Sadako, heading towards the boy's mother's childhood home.  Sho is ill and is staying with his great Aunt for the time being.  Upon reaching their destination, Sho happens to see what seemed to be a small girl traversing down a plant's stem with leaf in hand.

Thus begins the intertwining relationship between two would-be friends that will prove itself from Arrietty's sheltering family, Sho's family's past, and a certain someone's ill-intentions.  The film is a great Slice-of-Life story with a great continuous plot that sheds light on the daily life and hassles of a Borrower and what must be done for them to survive.  A great ending only wraps up what could be a continuing story, but I feel it should be left the way it was.  The only reason I'm not giving it a perfect 10 is because it felt a little bit short, or rather, missing something.  Basically, I feel it ended too quickly with something to be desired left alone.

 

Animation (10/10): Ghibli once again does not disappoint.  Regarding animation, they are one of the best and well-known studios, as per their rap sheet.  Having made so many other fantasies, I'm sure the story of The Borrowers piqued their interest and I'm glad it did.  I can't wait for Ghibli's next production, for I'm sure it will be just as good, if not, better.

 

Sound (10/10): Right from the beginning you hear background music that goes really well with the aura of the introduction, and it plays a couple more times throughout the film.  The seiyu are perfect in this film.  Ryunosuke Kamiki, who played Sho, had also played in major roles for other Ghibli works.  Oddly enough, the English dub will be having two different sets of voice actors (British and American English).  Personally, however, if I were to watch one of the two, it would be the British version, since I love Saoirse Ronan as I loved her in City of Ember and The Lovely Bones.  Last but not least, the sounds of the animals and nature were done well too.

 

Characters (9.5/10): Despite being something as short as a movie, the character developments were well near perfect.  You learn everything necessary to understand everything in the plot.  I love Sho's personallty, which really helps build their sentimental relationship and helps them see eye-to-eye.  Sadako, Sho's great Aunt, reveals their own family's past, as well as their present situation (regarding his parents).  Arrietty has a somewhat silence about her that allows you to easily read her, well done by Ghibli, which also reveals how she feels and thinks about certain subjects.  Her family shows just how energetic and caring they are to her as well throughout the story.  The ending is great and seemingly perfect as the two main characters, Sho and Arrietty, say their goodbyes and wish each other the best ahead of them.  And to make a continuous ending, they added at the very end a romantic subplot between Spiller and Arrietty (as it's made so obvious as he gives her a berry while looking away, thus showing shyness in giving a gift--if that's not a "I like you" gesture then I give up on anime), which makes for an assumption of a joyous life ahead.

 

Overall (9.625/10): Karigurashi no Arrietty was, once again, a great film by Studio Ghibli that was a great enjoyable watch on a rainy afternoon.  Every factor they hit with near perfect marks and I definitely want my friends to see it as well.  I hope this review was helpful and hopefully not too spoiler-filled (I'm working on trying to not add spoilers in my reviews).

Watch/buy this as soon as you can!  Look for it in theatres February 17, 2012 (USA) and August 26, 2011 (UK)!

 

Personal Nostalgic Value

9/10

 

EDIT(6/24): Formatting; spelling

EDIT(8/15): Spoiler Content reduced

I remember watching this a lot as a kid, so nostalgia had some part to play in how I recalled it, nevertheless, I can admit that it is one of the weaker Ghibli movies. The story is literally just the borrowers, which I have a personal distaste towards for no really justified reason (I was even younger when I heard that and just thought never again) but is engaging enough to keep you interested in how the borrower characters survive in the human world

Arrietty as a protagonist is fine, her voice in the dub is annoying and she squeaks a lot, but is inoffensive enough. I think the character's are the weakest part of this film, with most of them being bland at best and insufferably annoying at worst. Overall it's a very complacent watch, literally the most "fine" Ghibli film, not the worst, but no-one's favourite.

Charming is the ultimate word to describe this film. And from a Studio Ghibli film I don't think you would expect anything more, it isn't high on emotions like some of the studios previous efforts, but it has an extreamly like-able female lead in Arrietty and some of the best use in music I've seen from an anime, the music and soundtrack really up the experience and soely thanks to the music it offers very memorable scenes. Bottom line is I LOVE THIS FILM - more in video review: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRLyg96W0oc

BBFC rating - U