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#643 - The Secret World of Arrietty
Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2010
A family of "borrowers" - tiny human-like creatures living inside the walls of a house - find their existence threatened by the arrival of a sickly but kind young boy.
Studio Ghibli built its reputation off the back of Hayao Miyazaki's various cinematic adventures full of wonder and majesty, which means it's more than a little easy to overlook any Ghibli films that were helmed by different directors. Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies definitely earned a name for itself with its tragic tale of two Japanese children trying to survive the effects of World War II, but otherwise it's easy to watch the studio's non-Miyazaki films and find them wanting in comparison to most of the master's own output. I'm not so sure - after all, I did like The Cat Returns and When Marnie Was There quite a lot, so I figure that the studio's output doesn't suffer greatly without their most renowned creative type running the show. The Secret World of Arrietty challenges that notion because its central plot lacks a lot of the innovation that one has come to associate with the name Ghibli (even though Miyazaki is credited with co-writing the screenplay instead of directing). This probably has something to do with the fact that it was adapted from the English children's novel The Borrowers, which had already seen several book-to-screen adaptations before Ghibli's take on it (which is notably the only adaptation to not use the title).
The plot focuses on the concept of "borrowers", who are similar to humans in every way except that they happen to be only a few inches tall. The film follows three such borrowers as they go around their everyday lives. Everyday life for them involves residing in a small dollhouse-like dwelling built within the foundations of a normal-sized house and sneaking into the house proper at night in order to acquire any supplies that they need. The family consists of a father who goes out borrowing when the family needs supplies, a mother who takes care of their dwelling, and their daughter (the Arrietty of the title), who has just reached the age where she can join her father on his borrowing trips. However, it is around this time that a sick young boy named Shô comes from the city to live with his grandmother, who just so happens to live in the very same house as the borrowers. Shô slowly learns about the existence of the borrowers, though his interest in them is a benevolent one borne of kindness, curiosity, and loneliness. Though Shô seems like a nice boy, the borrowers understandably treat him as a liability and must figure out how to deal with the looming threat of discovery, especially when the house's nosy old housekeeper presents a much more obvious threat as she plans to capture the borrowers.
The Secret World of Arrietty is undermined a bit by how much it sticks to conventional storytelling. The most notable example of this is in how the film provides a straightforward antagonist in the form of the housekeeper, whose actions are basic and her motives are a bit muddled. Fortunately, the film is not dependent on the standard hero-versus-villain conflict in order to generate interest. It gets so many other things right, such as Arrietty's wonder at experiencing the various thrills associated with borrowing missions or her quandary that arises from Shô not only spotting her but trying to innocuously reach out to her. Between the tightly-focused world-building and the earnest emotional core at the heart of the story, The Secret World of Arrietty is still a worthwhile addition to Ghibli's repertoire even if it doesn't reach "instant classic" status. It infuses its fairly simple and familiar narrative with some colourful and elaborate visuals that definitely make it worth checking out regardless of your experience with Ghibli. It may not be the best that Ghibli has to offer, but it is certainly accessible and holds up well on its own merits.
Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2010
A family of "borrowers" - tiny human-like creatures living inside the walls of a house - find their existence threatened by the arrival of a sickly but kind young boy.
Studio Ghibli built its reputation off the back of Hayao Miyazaki's various cinematic adventures full of wonder and majesty, which means it's more than a little easy to overlook any Ghibli films that were helmed by different directors. Isao Takahata's Grave of the Fireflies definitely earned a name for itself with its tragic tale of two Japanese children trying to survive the effects of World War II, but otherwise it's easy to watch the studio's non-Miyazaki films and find them wanting in comparison to most of the master's own output. I'm not so sure - after all, I did like The Cat Returns and When Marnie Was There quite a lot, so I figure that the studio's output doesn't suffer greatly without their most renowned creative type running the show. The Secret World of Arrietty challenges that notion because its central plot lacks a lot of the innovation that one has come to associate with the name Ghibli (even though Miyazaki is credited with co-writing the screenplay instead of directing). This probably has something to do with the fact that it was adapted from the English children's novel The Borrowers, which had already seen several book-to-screen adaptations before Ghibli's take on it (which is notably the only adaptation to not use the title).
The plot focuses on the concept of "borrowers", who are similar to humans in every way except that they happen to be only a few inches tall. The film follows three such borrowers as they go around their everyday lives. Everyday life for them involves residing in a small dollhouse-like dwelling built within the foundations of a normal-sized house and sneaking into the house proper at night in order to acquire any supplies that they need. The family consists of a father who goes out borrowing when the family needs supplies, a mother who takes care of their dwelling, and their daughter (the Arrietty of the title), who has just reached the age where she can join her father on his borrowing trips. However, it is around this time that a sick young boy named Shô comes from the city to live with his grandmother, who just so happens to live in the very same house as the borrowers. Shô slowly learns about the existence of the borrowers, though his interest in them is a benevolent one borne of kindness, curiosity, and loneliness. Though Shô seems like a nice boy, the borrowers understandably treat him as a liability and must figure out how to deal with the looming threat of discovery, especially when the house's nosy old housekeeper presents a much more obvious threat as she plans to capture the borrowers.
The Secret World of Arrietty is undermined a bit by how much it sticks to conventional storytelling. The most notable example of this is in how the film provides a straightforward antagonist in the form of the housekeeper, whose actions are basic and her motives are a bit muddled. Fortunately, the film is not dependent on the standard hero-versus-villain conflict in order to generate interest. It gets so many other things right, such as Arrietty's wonder at experiencing the various thrills associated with borrowing missions or her quandary that arises from Shô not only spotting her but trying to innocuously reach out to her. Between the tightly-focused world-building and the earnest emotional core at the heart of the story, The Secret World of Arrietty is still a worthwhile addition to Ghibli's repertoire even if it doesn't reach "instant classic" status. It infuses its fairly simple and familiar narrative with some colourful and elaborate visuals that definitely make it worth checking out regardless of your experience with Ghibli. It may not be the best that Ghibli has to offer, but it is certainly accessible and holds up well on its own merits.