There are no spoilers in this review.
PLOT: A four-inch-tall family who live anonymously in another family's residence borrow simple items to make their home, but life changes for them when their daughter, Arrietty, is discovered.
THE GOOD: Animation. The Secret World of Arrietty is another Studio Ghibli film that looks gorgeous. While there aren't any super impressive sequences, like the running on fish waves scene in Ponyo, it has a very clear and polished look. Anime and animation fans will be happy with the way this film looks.
This movie teaches kids one thing: It's okay to take whatever you want from someone else as long as you call it "borrowing."
Hiromasa Yonebayashi. Despite popular belief, this is not a Hayao Miyazaki movie. Miyazaki only co-wrote the screenplay and produced. Instead, this is Hiromasa Yonebayashi's directorial debut after 13 years of working as an animator on other Studio Ghibli films. While the film doesn't quite have the craftsmanship of a Miyazaki film, it is still very good and I'm more than happy to admit more Studio Ghibli films like this into my life. Yonebayashi should be proud of the film he made which won the Japan Academy Prize for Animation of the Year.
THE BAD: Music. Studio Ghibli films have always made interesting choices for musical artists and songs. Most of the time, it totally works. Now, I want to be clear that I like the score to this film by Cécile Corbel. It's very fantasy-sounding. What I don't like is the added song in the U.S. release that Bridgit Mendler (the voice of Arrietty) sings. The song is called "Summertime" (not to be confused with this "Summertime") and it feels so incredibly out of place and cheapens the film for me. It's almost as bad as changing the main boy's name to Shawn.
Now I know where all my missing socks keep going.
Theme. I'm very curious to watch the original Japanese version with English subtitles. One thing I noticed between the Japanese and English versions of Ponyo was the large amounts of subtlety used in the original language film. The English version has to spell everything out using characters' words in the movie. It really takes away from some of the magic of the film. It's hard to tell, but I wonder if the same thing happened here. I only say this because a downfall of the American release of the film seems to be its muted theme. There is some touch on friendship and strength and never giving up, but none of these messages ever really come through clearly or hit home. Again, this just might be a problem with the Disney distributed release and not the original Studio Ghibli version.
THE END: The Secret World of Arrietty is a fine film that probably suffers a little from Disney distribution messing with things like music and themes. But where it's lacking, it is certainly made up for in its style and animation. I took my daughter to see this film who was actually rather reluctant to go. Within the first few minutes, she was hooked, barely ever taking a bite of the nearly $5 pretzel that I bought her (she engulfed it as soon as the film ended). This is a great movie to take your kids to as you'll find lots to enjoy as well.
DISCUSS: What did you think of The Secret World of Arrietty? Have you seen the Japanese version? What is your favorite Studio Ghibli film? Are you looking forward to The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter?
Every time the cat showed up, I wanted to watch Totoro.
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