The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) Review

And don't correct me on the release year.

In 1984, a Japanese animated film (an ANIME film, if you will) titled Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind was released, and it became such a success that the writer/director, Hayao Miyazaki, became one of the three founders of Studio Ghibli. Since then, the studio has sent out some of the most famous anime movies of the past few decades, including one of my personal favorite movies, Spirited Away. In 2010, director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, youngest director to work with Ghibli, released his adaptation of Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers, released under the title The Borrower Arrietty. This weekend, the film is being released in America as The Secret World of Arrietty, and while it's not on par with the studio's other work, it's still highly recommended.

The movie is about a family of tiny people called Borrowers; Arrietty, dubbed in America by Bridgit Mendler; Pod, dubbed by Will Arnett (AKA Gob from Arrested Development); and Homily, dubbed by Amy Poehler. They explore a typical human home, "borrowing" little things that no one ever misplaces, such as sugar cubes, tissues, and sewing pins, in order to survive. One day, a boy named Shawn, dubbed by David Hernie, moves into the house in which they do their "borrowing." Pod and Homily become concerned about this because every time Borrowers are seen by humans, their life gets into danger. Sure enough, Shawn spots Arrietty, and his curiosity about the Borrowers grows more and more, but strangely, so does Arrietty's curiosity about humans. Are humans really as dangerous as Pod makes them out to be? Perhaps some of them, such as Shawn, would want to protect them.

The majority of the movie revolves around the Borrowers getting from place to place to accomplish their objectives. They do that using all sorts of material that's small in our hands but big in theirs, such as fishing hooks, double-sided tape, and yarn. While the creativity in this movie isn't quite on par with the unique imagery of Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle, it's still really cool seeing how they utilize all this stuff. It also helps that the animation is luscious, with colorful backgrounds, plenty of sweeping shots, and a scope that increases the scale of day-to-day occurrences, such as a clock ticking, to go along with the size of the Borrowers.

While the structure of the story essentially feels like a video game, there's still a heart to it that makes it feel like a real movie. The whole idea of Arrietty trying to figure out if she can trust Shawn is intriguing. The fact of the matter is that she'll never know if she can trust a human until she tries to talk to one. Running away from a fear like that just leaves such a matter in question, but accepting what happens in life can lead to good things and bad things, and one must accept the bad things in order to enjoy the good things. In the end, Arrietty realizes that Shawn was trying to protect her from his caretaker, Hara (or Haru, as she's called in other countries), who was trying to capture the Borrowers, so some good did come out of it.

Arrietty is a very likable character here. She's kind, playful, and peachy, but also very careful of her actions. Pod is both cool and mature, keeping his voice monotone as if to keep his fear of humans subtle, which is more than I can say for the hilariously over-the-top Homily. The only concern is with Shawn. He's pretty bland, continuously doing what he wants to do without question or obstacles, not really having any conflict, which is weird considering that he's going to have an operation on his heart. I don't know about you, but I'd be pretty scared of that, especially at that age. On top of that, he and Arrietty don't really have that much chemistry. I get that their curiosity about each other is supposed to develop their chemistry, but they never really feel connected.

So, is it worth checking out? Absolutely. It has its flaws, and it's not as good as it could have been, but what it does well, it does REALLY well. It knows what it wants to do (which is more than I can say for Tales From Earthsea), and for the most part, it does just that very well. It delivers on the message about trusting total strangers and the creative atmosphere intended by the original book, and it delivers on the luscious animation and, again, creative atmosphere that you would expect from this studio. Definitely check it out.

This movie is worth $17 out of $20.