Karigurashi no Arrietty

Arrietty is a tiny person. When I say tiny, I mean only about 10cm tall! The tiny people live in the house of a sickly human boy named Sho, who has always heard about the little people of the house from his mother. Arrietty and her family are borrowers, tucked away in the house and ‘borrowing’ items that the humans are unlikely to notice are missing. After narrowly escaping being seen by Sho whilst outside, Arrietty is excited to start on her first borrowing herself, with her father, Pod. When an encounter with Sho leaves her family very concerned, Arrietty must decide whether the bridge ... into the human world is one which she wishes to cross.

So lets start with the characters. We have the suspicious house keeper, Haru, who is totally onto the family of borrowers. She’s quite a nuisance and you began to hate her weird reaction to the little people. Sho is quite tranquil and is not super insistent in intruding into the lives of the little people…rather, he leaves them little (or should i say huge) gifts like sugar cubes that will last them many cups of tea. We have Spiller, the outsider caveman little person that shows Arrietty and her family that there is life beyond their hideaway house. Arrietty’s mother and father keep things in their house running. From making tea to ensuring they have enough ‘borrowed’ resources, they work quite well as a team.

In terms of the plot, I personally felt it was quite lacking. Their is quite a bit of exposition on how the little people steal the things they need and seeing from their perspective is quite fun. Bugs, rats and birds are not their friend! They have glowing red eyes and are out to get them, but Arrietty turns out not to be such a weakling after she arms herself with a pin. The tension and story progression is what appeared most lacking to me. Arrietty hates Sho and hates how encountering him has turned her life upside down. And then she doesn’t anymore. There are no true villains, except for Haru, who really falls short in that criteria. She does look like a titan from Attack on Titan though…so bonus points for that?

The relationship between Arrietty and Sho was meant to be deep, meaningful and a merging of their worlds of the little and big human beans. Did I mention they call them human beans? No idea why, but this movie is filled with nature and foliage, which is definitely the most visually appealing aspects of this anime. Arrietty really only comes to him out of desperation, he helps her out and thus they have an eternal bond forever that can never be overcome by any obstacle right? Wrong. Really, not much happens at all between them. Sho wants a glimpse into Arrietty’s world which she doesn’t want to provide, but when there is no way around collaborating with Sho, she does. So romantic right? Even though the romance/companionship is quite strange and hollow in the first place, the significance of Arrietty giving her little ‘borrowed’ hair clip to Sho was quite cute.

The animation, though was pleasing, didn’t appear extremely memorable to me. Though the huge tissue boxes, sugar cubes and Arrietty’s little home and the dollhouse were well detailed and pleasing to the eyes, nothing really stood out to me.The music on the other hand is lovely, with Arrietty’s song carrying with it the magic that this movie was trying to portray.

There are too many questions left unanswered. Where are all the other little people like Arrietty? Why did Sho’s mother leave her critically ill child with his Aunt? Quite a jerky move by the way.

My favourite character was most definitely the sassy yet dependable cat. You can never go wrong with cats in an anime. Go check this out if you’re looking for a nice relaxing break from the human world.

This is my first ever studio Ghibli movie. For the longest time, tons upon tons of people have been raving about this studio's works, yet I haven't really bothered to look into any of them since they never captured my interest in terms of plot and stuff. Also I'm not going to see a movie just because a big name company is doing it. Finally my first experience with Ghibli was Arrietty.

Arrietty was an alright movie. It had very beautififul scenery, where some objects were painted so realisticly, it dumbstruck me. The animation and voice acting was some ... of the best I've seen for an English dub, with the exception of Sho/Shawn which sounded too deep and monotone. :P The music was soothing to the human eardrums as well.

The real problems that I had with the movie, was how underdeveloped everything was, substance wise, also how simple it was. I mean who cares if there are people that are the size of dolls living in a human's house "borrowing" (but stealing, actually. At least they should of used the word "taking" becuase it's a much softer word for stealing.XD) random pieces of crap, in order to live another day; And also to not get caught by the humans in the process. Also the main guy really took the "borrower" thing really well and pretty much wanted to be cool pals with the mini people almost instantly.


Overall, I would only recommend this to people who really want to see a very visually stunning and harmless movie. Not recommended for the easily bored. XD

This review contains *SPOILERS*.
Watched in Sub/Dub: Dub

Story: 6/10
In a coming of age story, The Secret World of Arrietty follows two young teens, Shou and Arrietty. Shou is a human being who’s living with a heart condition, Arrietty is a “borrower” which is essentially a tiny version of a human. Through an unexpected meeting, Shou becomes aware of Arrietty’s existence along with her parents. The two teens begin a cautious friendship. The climax occurs when Hara, Shou’s nurse, discovers Arrietty’s family and calls exterminators. Everything works out and Arrietty’s family moves away, Shou never sees her again.
The story is really simple and easy to follow but ... it is fairly boring in my view. There’s no real tension in the story since Arrittey’s family seems perfectly capable and can move out of Shou’s house at any time. Even Shou discovering Arrietty was very climatic since he accepts her immediately with open arms.

Art: 8/10
The art is nice but not extraordinary.

Sound/Soundtrack: 7/10
Same with the art, nothing wrong with the soundtrack it’s just not that interesting.

Character: 7/10
Shou is a genuinely sweet boy and is pretty well written. The other characters feel more like empty vessels/caricatures. I’ve noticed this issue in most of the Studio Ghibli films and The Secret World of Arrietty is apparently no exception.

Enjoyment: 6/10
I was bored. I ended up watching it at 1.25x speed.

Overall: 6/10
The Secret World of Arrietty is a cute little film for kids but I’d say is likely to be boring to other demographics. There’s nothing wrong with the movie, it’s just not that interesting even though it has a cool premise.

Beautifully done in terms of art and music (just a bit forgettable), some characters are nice but most are kinda forgettable.

The biggest mistake of this Ghibli was its envy to be both light-hearted and complicated without proper execution.

First the story felt very long and even agonising at times and too fast/rushed in other (especially thhe end), the pacing felt off.

I'm always mesmerized and very much emotionnal when it comes to the world building and its structures in Ghibli : I loved their little house and the intricate pathways they use. Nevertheless : appart from that the rest is pretty bland, which is not necesserily bad ... in most cases but in this movie it made everything outside just non-interesting.

The story was clearly the weakest point of the movie, the theme was simple but not really well put in place and not developped enough, it stayed too immature in my opinion.

In general, I'd say it's my least favourite of the best ghiblis.

The Borrower Arrietty is yet another mediocre Ghibli film, which was adored by thousands of people only because they were completely disappointed with their previous works, Tales From Earthsea and Ponyo in the Cliff. It is indeed not a complete travesty like those two, only because the supposed-retired super awesome director Hayao Miyazaki ran back to supervise most of whatever they were doing. Thank goodness he realized that making quality family movies is not something everybody can do. It takes talent and attention; something of which his successors (his own son included) have no idea of.

I happened to have seen the cartoon series from the ... 80’s when I was a kid, as well as the live action movie they made some years back, both of which were based on the same book. Well sorry to say this but those earlier versions were better because the older, the better… Err, I meant those had more plot. And seriously, of all the myriads of things they could have shown from the civilization of the little people, they only focused on a single family living in the middle of nowhere, while it has two big people (our kind that is) coming for a visit in the house they are living in for years. And that is pretty much all you get from the plot, as most of it is about the human boy Shou becoming a friend with Borrower girl Arrietty. By the time their background is established, the movie is almost over.

It’s not like there is nothing going on in the story but it sure as hell is not exciting. There is a battle scene of sorts with a crow, and some annoying cat running around, and some granny capturing some little people for awhile. All that mean nothing in the longrun since the most core themes of the movie are left hanging to dry. What about Shou’s illness? What about the Borrowers moving away to safety? What about that granny capturing them for unknown reasons? What about an entire new civilization in the brink of extinction being suddenly revealed to the world? What about their hostile relationships? None of those cool things happen and the most exciting part was seeing a frail sick boy trying to unstuck a crow from a window for over ten minutes.

In case you are wondering why would I expect all that from a family movie, just head back in the older Ghibli films to find out why. Hayao used to make world-shaking events, full of action and suspense, people dying by the millions, civilizations crumbling, and vengeful spirits or beasts huge as skyscrapers turning everything to rubble. And now you get a frail boy trying to save a tiny person from a dollhouse, guarded by a senile granny. That’s it… Maybe if the house was demolished, that crow had eaten some Borrower, the rats had bitten Shuu, Arrietty was falling in love with him, that other savage Borrower was feeling threatened and planned some sort of backstabbing, maybe if we would see the other Borrowers living away being invaded by ants or something, then the movie would be great. Those are lots of maybies and eventually all you get is less than a typical kid film. What I am trying to say here is that they could have done a thousand things with the premise and offered practically nothing.

If you are in for the production values, you are going to like it of course; Ghibli don’t hold back in making everything look splendid. The Borrower microcosmos looks awesome and you are made to think that crossing a simple rabbit hole is an adventure on its own. Voice acting is good, BGM is good, stuff move around nicely instead of watching frozen caricatures with a flapping mouth. They still look rather generic in a Ghibli sense but whatever, they are fine. Superficially you get a wonderful looking setting and well established characters. The problem is they are not doing much with all that and remain on a completely simple level; simplistic character interactions and scratching of the threat humans are to Borrowers. Shou is the perfect good-hearted boy and Arrietty is the perfect risky girl that is ready to go against the rules in order to get what she wants. It was way too easy for them to get friends and cooperate against the dreaded dangers of… fetching sugar… or getting out of a doll house… or getting on a tiny boat and strolling down a calm river… GAH this is so boring! Where is the conflict, the development, the insecurity, the violent struggle with the status quo? They are so basic, they might as well don’t exist at all.

Down to it the movie is not that good. It will appeal to all ghiblitards just for the sake of being Ghibli and it will only be remembered as the film which doesn’t suck like the earlier ones. For those who want something far more cool and similar, I recommend the amazing Le Planet Sauvage.

Scores in a hurry
ART SECTION: 9/10
Analysis: General Artwork 2/2, Character Figures 1/2, Backgrounds 2/2, Animation 2/2, Visual Effects 2/2

SOUND SECTION: 10/10
Analysis: Voice Acting 3/3, Music Themes 4/4, Sound Effects 3/3

STORY SECTION: 6/10
Analysis: Premise 2/2, Pacing 1/2, Complexity 1/2, Plausibility 1/2, Conclusion 1/2

CHARACTER SECTION: 4/10
Analysis: Presence 1/2, Personality 1/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 0/2, Catharsis 1/2

VALUE SECTION: 4/10
Analysis: Historical Value 1/3, Rewatchability 1/3, Memorability 2/4

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10

OVERALL: 6/10

It's pretty rare that I would rate a Ghibli movie lower than a 7 because I think each film has their own charm and their own high qualities, therefore I was also very surprised having finished this movie and finding myself not as satisfied as I usually am. This is also hard to admit since The Secret Life of Arrietty is a favorite for a lot of people, seen as an amazing debut for director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and a fresh direction for the studio.

Yet,, I really didn't see it. If I was to compare Arrietty with Yonebayashi's other work, When Marnie Was There, the winner ... is clear. So I must commend that his vision and his work has made immense progress in the span of 4 years. But if I was to only look at this movie for what it was, it left me incredibly hollow and feeling underwhelmed.

Secret Life of Arrietty is a technical masterpiece, it's beautiful to watch, there is this serene and calmness as you notice all the little trinkets and their little home, there is a lot of youthful wonder and also thrill. Classic Ghibli. With this standpoint, I know that a lot of people would enjoy it because of its simple premise and beautiful animation.

The thing that bothered me was the character of Arrietty, I indeed loved her and liked her very much but there was an underlying sadness within her that we never got an explanation for. She always seemed so upset and carried so much on her shoulders but none of it were explained or explored. I think both Arrietty and Shun barely grew in the process of this film, which is a shame. Another aspect that I wish came more full circle was the story, I wish for little bit more, I just didn't think it gave any impact at all.

The more I think about this movie, the more unsettled it makes me feel. It is very much watchable and likable but I can't seem to see it as great. I think I would recommend this movie to someone who loves Ghibli's magical and whimsical side because this definitely caters to that most.

The Secret World of Arrietty is an adaptation of The Borrowers. I do not particularly like The Borrowers and I do not like the sort of story told by this movie. I always preferred Road Dahl's The Minpins to this story. I am not interested in Arrietty or the boy with cancer. Little people sneaking around houses is a story better told in Home Alone 2 than here. The setting of a house outside of the city is too limiting because there are only so many rooms and nooks and crannies to explore. The aunt that traps the little people is a character archetype that ... annoys me very much.
Instead of watching a boring Borrowers movie, read The Minpins instead.