It doesn't take long to fall in love with The Secret World of Arrietty, the wondrous new animated film from Studio Ghibli. From the opening moments, we're thrust into a magical land right in front of our faces, which we'd all be able to see just by opening our eyes and taking a second look. Based on Mary Norton's influential children's book series, The Borrowers, the film was co-written by the legendary Hayao Miyazaki, and his masterful fingerprints help make this one of the most delightful animated movies in years.
Miyazaki has found yet another strong, unforgettable female heroine in Arrietty, an upbeat and adventurous 14 year old girl living with her parents: her stoic father, Pod; and her worrisome mother, Homily. Arrietty isn't that different from other teens her age, a little too headstrong for her own good, a touch too silly, but good hearted and loyal. There's just one major difference that separates Arrietty from other girls...she's approximately 10cm tall. Her entire family is, to be exact. They are part of a rapidly dwindling race known as Borrowers, tiny people who live in the nooks and crevasses of human households. They survive only by taking what they need and which won't be missed, a bar of soap, a cube of sugar, a piece of tissue paper. Through their "waste not, want not" outlook, the Borrowers are classic Miyazaki, whose films seamlessly blend humor, action, with a variety of eco-related themes.
Arrietty yearns for her first "borrowing", but danger lurks with the arrival of a new human to the countryside home where they reside. Shawn is a sickly, sensitive boy staying with his aunt and her mischievous housekeeper to rest before major surgery. What he really wants is adventure, the kind that he's been forbidden to have but may never get the opportunity to experience. He finds what he's been looking for immediately upon arrival, catching what he thinks is a glimpse of Arrietty hiding amongst the flowers. Shawn had heard the stories for years from his mother, of the little people that lived beneath the floorboards. Shawn can't get them out of his head, and when he spots Arrietty and her father on a borrowing expedition, he only wants to be her friend. But to the Borrowers, humans are dangerous business. Arrietty's budding friendship with Shawn puts their entire family, possibly the last of their kind, at risk.Directed by Miyazaki's longtime animator,Hiromasa Yonebayashi, the titular "secret world" is one of amazing hand drawn detail and natural effects. The mundane to us becomes the stuff of legend to the Borrowers. A grasshopper becomes a monstrous enemy, a series of nails are stepping stones, and uncovering a pin needle is like discovering the sword Excalibur. We're treated first hand to the amazing perils the Borrowers face every day in the film's one big set piece, as Arrietty and Pod make a daring night time raid to gain the supplies that will sustain them for another year. The rest of the film proceeds along at a leisurely, comfortable pace, in the typical Studio Ghibli fashion.
A few problems arise in the English translation, a common problem when it comes to imports like this. Amy Poehler is actually quite good as the constantly fretting Homily, but her husband Will Arnett's voice is a distraction as Pod. Sorry, we've heard him do that voice once too often on Arrested Development, so it's kind of hard to take it seriously now. The lush, crisp traditional animation makes it easy to forgive this minor issue.
It's amazing how Miyazaki, even in just a co-writer role, can so completely adapt another person's work and make it his own. The Secret World of Arrietty is a visually arresting, magical look at humanity's double-edged effect on nature and it's myriad inhabitants, told with the care of a true genius.
