Ranked #231

Karigurashi no Arrietty

Studio Ghibli is quite renowned for it’s rather large portfolio of acclaimed family movies, and you could definitely add Karigurashi no Arrietty to that list. Ghibli usually makes two types of movies, either fantasy movies that focus on themes that are rather critical of problems in society (Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke and Nausicca come to mind), whereas in more recent times we’ve seen more slice-of-life fantasy adventure movies. Arrietty fits more into the latter, with it’s setting being modern day society with a small little twist; there are tiny, tiny people living under the house, and they borrow from humans to survive. Tiny as in maybe 5-8 centimeters tall.

One of the charming aspects to this movie is, without a doubt, the amount of attention paid to the little details that makes the presence of little people so believable. The creative, yet simple, ways in which Arrietty and her family are portrayed are captivating, such as the little toolsets Arrietty’s family made in order to explore the “human” house. They use everyday items like fishing hooks, double-sided scotch tape, and spools of thread to create their own little sets of backpacks filled with tools they use to make their lives a little easier, and make the characters fascinatingly believable. The creativity and thought put into the tiny details are awesome, from the fishing hooks and scotch tape, to the little neat cubes of sugar that fits like a well-sized package in the hands of Arrietty.

What I really enjoyed about this movie is how it is told from the point of view of little Arrietty as opposed to the perspective of us “regular humans”. Simple things that you could find in your everyday backyard, from Arrietty’s perspective, all of a sudden have a grandiose feeling to them. Things such as a simple vine you could find creeping across the wall of any old house transforms into an intricate ladder of leaves and stems to the rooftops, or a field of grass and flowers becomes a vast forest. This movie takes your everyday backyard, and turns it into a vast new world to explore. It doesn’t hurt that the scenery and artwork was vibrant and lush with color.

The soundtrack is especially fitting for this movie. The absense of Joe Hisashi’s music in this Ghibli film is instantly noticable, and while some of the pieces here may lack a slight bit of the grandeur of Hisashi’s works, the soundtrack is still well done. What is a bit unusual here is how the soundtrack was actually done by Cécile Corbel, a French singer and Celtic harpist, who was a huge fan of Ghibli works and sent samples of her work to the studio. The Celtic influence in the soundtrack is immediately noticeable, but it was definitely an excellent choice on Ghibli’s part.

Characterization of the actual characters wasn’t exactly anything mindblowingly original or exotic, but the main cast was rather believable for the most part, and had their own charms to them. I found the innocently curious, yet straightforward and resolute attitude of Arrietty quite likable. Her rather odd relationship with Sho, as well as how Sho perceived her, turned out to be quite fascinating and, in a sense, admirable. The subtle tension between the elusive tiny people, and the gigantic humans, are played upon quite well here, which adds quite a few tense moments between Arrietty and Sho. I’d say characterization was quite tastefully handled here for the most part.

And now, for the biggest weakness for this movie. The plot progression and characterization were all fine and all, but the conflict and villain were practically a joke in terms of setup. Seriously, what grudge did old lady Haru have against the little guys? They didn’t explain in detail why she was hunting out the little people, giving only a flimsy excuse that they’re “theives” in a degrogatory tone. The villain just felt very underwhelming, and just doesn’t fit in with this movie’s atmosphere at all. The conflict was kind of discredited in my eyes because of the poorly integrated main antagonist, and there is certainly room for improvement here. Plot progression, while fine and all, was also rather slow at times. While I personally didn’t mind the slow pacing (it lets things sink in more), there were definitely plenty of slowly-paced scenes in this movie.

What makes Arrietty a great watch is the tremendous attention to the details of it’s setting, the beautiful art and music, and the wonderful direction for it’s characters. The plot is admittingly lacking (especially the major conflict, oh boy could it have used some more work), but as a premier film for a new director, this film turned out to be an pleasant surprise. The ending does feel very open ended, though, with a lot of loose ends that feel as if they have yet to be tied up. While the likelihood of a sequel for a Ghibli movie is very slim, I would be totally fine with a sequel for this particular movie.

Animation/Art: 9.0/10

Music: 9.0/10

Setting: 9.5/10

Characters: 8.0/10

Story: 7.0/10

Overall Enjoyment: 8.5/10 (Rounded up to a 9 on MAL) read more

Ghibli has gone a long way in the anime industry. The studio produced a multitude of successful animated films over the years, such as the emblematic Neighbour Totoro, or the more recent, Oscar-winning Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki is probably the most accountable person for the international fame of the studio, but the well-known director is getting older; as a result, it makes sense to see an increasing number of newlings given the responsibility of carrying out Ghibli's projects.

Accordingly, Hiromasa Yonebayashi brings his first film ever to the screen! Prepare to enter the universe of Karigurashi no Arrietty, in a timeless place cut off from the rest of the world where Shou will get the opportunity to escape the tiresome reality for a couple of days.
Akin to other deservedly successful films such as Eve no Jikan or the newer Hotarubi no Mori e, this sort of atmosphere provides Arrietty a genuinely enchanting feeling and is one of its strongest qualities. Most of the time, "soothing" series and films end up falling short because of a lack of ambition, yet Arrietty managed to achieve excellence by using fantasy concepts to flesh out its setting.

The idea of the depicting the world from a bunch of small critters' point of view has already been used several times in animation in general. One could name, amongst others, Toy Story or Cinderella by Disney, but in Karigurashi no Arrietty, this is particularly well done. The film depicts countless original and bewildering situations, holding the viewer's attention by constantly showing new ideas to detail its setting. Imagine yourself in a world where everyone is as tall as the Eiffel Tower, or where a whispering from my point of view would be a detonation from yours, where people pet bugs rather than dogs, and you will only begin to fathom out how fascinating life is for Arrietty.

The depiction of the world through Arrietty's eyes is skilfully supported by the film's astonishing art and animation. Apart from a couple of clumsy camera travellings, the animation in Arrietty is nearly impeccable. A considerable attention is given to details such as the way the water flows in the scaled down world of the Borrowers (perhaps the most gorgeous of all, but only one amongst many), and Arrietty's universe would not appear so captivating without the precision with which it is portrayed. The art itself is splendid, particularly the backgrounds: be it a greenery from the humans' garden, or a painstakingly decorated miniature chamber. Everything is breathtaking. In addition to this, the quality of the drawings is tremendously emphasised when seen through the Borrowers' small eyes, giving an overwhelming dimension to the characters' surroundings.
It can also be mentioned that while CGI is a real scourge in modern animation, its use in Arrietty was parsimonious and pertinent; as expected from Ghibli which already achieved flawless integration of CGI in 1997 with Princess Mononoke. They did a praiseworthy work mixing 3D and 2D animation in a couple of scenes, to the point of being nearly unnoticeable when not looking for it.

Some might have worried as to how Cecile Corbel's performance would compare to Joe Hisaishi's compositions form the previous Miyazaki films. Hisaishi being one of the better composers in the industry, this is perfectly understandable.
However, do not worry. Arrietty's soundtrack, in addition to boasting a unique musical style in anime, mostly revolving around a harp, is probably one of the most enthralling musical works ever heard in a film. Admittedly, Cécile Corbel's angelic performance does not have the merit of leading the story like Hisaishi's compositions manage to do, but rather acts as a background music, accompanying the story. Nevertheless, such a kind of music was the best way to magnify Arrietty's story.

Because if when substance in itself is to be regarded the film does have a lot to offer via how detailed its setting is, Arrietty's story, at least for the first half of the film, is rather laid-back, devoid of unexpected plot twists or significant dimensions, with close to no actual issues to solve. However, while this is not a bad thing whatsoever, considering how successful Arrietty was at carrying it out, when the film tries to become what it cannot become, when it tries to induct more issues than what it can solve, things start to become more problematic.

New issues begin to appear halfway through the film. However, these issues were one could say forced into the story: their source is an extra character who did not get enough screen time to be credible and whose hatred, which is what creates these issues, lacks any kind of justification. Moreover, the issues added to the scenario never end up solved, the film thus ends with an unfinished flavour, suggesting a possible sequel which exists in the books but will in all likelihood never be animated.

Besides, from that point on, a couple of plot holes can be noticed. At some point in the film, you will see a locked door being unlocked by magic, or the main character becoming aware of where the Borrowers live without explaining how he discovered them. Perhaps they originate from cutting parts from the novel upon which the film is based, since they could have been easily fixed, but it doesn't change the fact that they are here and slightly lower the quality of the scenario.

Ever since the cinema release of Nausicaa in 1984, it is a tradition in the studio to deal with ecological issues in their works. In that respect, Hayao Miyazaki is one of the most committed writers in anime and Arrietty abides by the tradition. However, the ecological message conveyed in Arrietty is regrettably lacking in subtlety. Its relation with the story is loose and they inserted it in the middle of a dialogue between the main characters perfectly out of context, as though they inserted it after writing the entire screenplay, which, as a matter of fact, seems to be the case. The moment the characters started pronouncing the lines in question felt fairly awkward.

Hence the rating of 7 for the story.

Ultimately, Arrietty remains a commendable film. With a flawless start and a somewhat clumsy yet agreeable second half, exceptionally enhanced by its production values. As Ghibli always ensures, Karigurashi no Arrietty can be recommended to everyone, children or adults, anime fans or not. Without a doubt, it deserves a watch.

And why not, perhaps someday you will also notice sugar cubes curiously disappearing, or hear the faint voices of people living their life in the corner of your room? read more