![]() ![]() Or the sound made by a straight pin (the clang of a sword) when it's drawn from the folds of Arrietty's tunic. The filmmakers' approach is gentle and slightly humor-challenged, perhaps because they've invested so much imagination in capturing the world from brave little Arrietty's perspective - divining the texture of a raindrop, say (thick and viscous), when it's nearly the size of your fist and must pour from a dollhouse-sized teapot spout. The characters deal with friendship across cultural divides, the clever recycling of resources, frank talk of illness and the finality of death - and, when the Clock family realizes they need to move on, a shorthand look at the plight of refugees.Īll of this while clambering from nail to nail and down staple-staircases inside the walls of the house, rappelling off a kitchen counter, and careening through a garden where even a close-cropped lawn amounts to an obstacle course. While there's not much in the way of incident - just the cat, the crow, the housekeeper (voiced by Carol Burnett) and Shawn's illness - the animators slip quite a bit of socially conscious content into a narrative that's chiefly about the ingenious ways the Clock family gets around in what is for them a wildly oversized landscape. Shawn is lonely and wants to make friends, the elder Clocks are as terrified as their daughter is curious, and therein hangs the tale. A pea being enough to feed the whole family, they should be able to do this unnoticed, but when Arrietty drops a sugar cube, she's discovered. Shawn (voiced by David Henrie) spots the diminutive Arrietty (Bridgit Mendler) when she and her father (Will Arnett) are foraging for food. ![]() Miyazaki was only peripherally involved in Arrietty, but director Hiromasa Yonebayashi appears to be a devoted disciple, domesticating the master's teeming visual style somewhat but maintaining his emphasis on intricate graphics, strong independent female characters and stories rooted in real-world concerns.Īrrietty's story, taken from the first book in Mary Norton's children's series The Borrowers, centers on the tiny Clock family - 14-year-old Arrietty Clock and her parents - who live in the walls of a house where a boy with a heart condition is resting up for an operation. That's because Arrietty is the latest animated opus from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese animation house co-founded by the great auteur Hayao Miyazaki, director of such international animated smashes as the eco-friendly Princess Mononoke, the values-oriented Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle, which preceded Pixar's Up with its manse-on-the-move storyline. offer icon Get 2X Rewards Points with Guardians Tickets Every 2 tickets earns a 5 reward. Delicate, however, comes with the territory. Chance To Win NFT Buy tickets to Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 3. 17 (2012) (two years after the Japanese release) and I presume we can expect the DVD version come summer.In a hyperactive kid-flick universe populated by kickboxing pandas, rampaging chipmunks and tap-dancing penguins, The Secret World of Arrietty - the tale of a girl who's barely 4 inches tall and possesses neither superpowers nor a toymaker's imprimatur - is almost startlingly delicate and calm.Ĭalm, let's note, despite the presence of a marauding house cat, a raven who'd love to make a quick snack of our heroine, and a housekeeper determined to root out the little people who live beneath her floorboards. The movie has been released in North America with American actors voicing the characters this past Feb. Whether it is true to the original or not is neither here nor there as it doesn't claim to *be* The Borrowers, only based upon, and is a delightful tale presented here with the glory of the gorgeous Studio Ghibli anime reduced to manga format. Though it does follow the general storyline as I remember it. It has been ages since I've actually read the original book, but I'm quite sure this anime version takes liberties. ![]() One new character is added to the cast for the second volume, another borrower who lives by himself out in the wilderness. Volume 2 continues where Volume 1 left off and this second half of the story is where all the action is, as The Borrowers are found by the humans and have to leave to find a new home. It is a great adaptation of Mary Norton's "The Borrowers". This is the film adaptation manga of the Japanese anime film produced by Studio Ghibli (most internationally famous for "Howl's Moving Castle"). (Mistress Masham's Repose is my first) As soon as I saw the name Arrietty in the title I knew the book would have something to do with the Borrowers and had to read it. Reason for Reading: The Borrowers is my 2nd favourite "little people" book. ![]()
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