The Secret World of Arrietty was released on July 17th, 2010. It is directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (his first feature film as a director) and written by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa from the book
The Borrowers by Mary Norton. In it a young boy named Shō (Tom Holland in the UK dub) goes to his maternal great aunt's (Phyllida Law) house to spend the summer. While their he meets a borrower, a four-inch-tall young girl named Arrietty (Saoirse Ronan), who secretly lives in the house with her family. Unbeknownst to Shō, this discovery threatens the families existence.
In many ways this film is an exploration of mortality. Arietty's family believes that the borrowers may be an endangered species. Offended and scared by Shō comments on this, Arietty is surprised to learn that he himself may close to death because of a heart condition that he has had since birth. In the end, both Shō and the borrowers must simply make the best out of the time they have. This is a remainder that all life (on earth) is fleeting, but is no less valuable as a result.
It's nice seeing a family film with a family that that's intact. Arietty has a good, strong relationship with her father Pod (Mark Strong), a strong patriarchal figure who she clearly respects and looks up to. Her mother Homily (Olivia Colman) is a more fussy, excitable figure, but one who, nevertheless, has a clear love and devotion for her family. They are both upset when they are forced to leave their home because of Ariettys interaction with the humans, but they place no blame on her and continue to treat her with love and kindness. It's also a film with no real antagonist, except maybe for the maid Haru (Geraldine McEwan) who innocently wants to remove the borrowers when she discovers their borrowing (which is nonetheless the most frustrating part of the film), and tells a simple, down to earth story without forcing in drama or peril.
Like most Ghibli films Arietty is filled with peaceful, meditative moments: Shō laying in the grass with his cat Niya; Spiller (Luke Allen-Gale), a young borrower boy who lives in the woods, sharing a meal with Arrietty's family; Arrietty hanging up clothing for her mother. The film has some wonderful sound design, accentuating normally quiet sounds like the creaking of floorboards or the rustling of leaves to help us see things from the borrowers perspective. The animation is also gorgeous and really gives us a sense of scale. The borrowers world is a fully realized one and it invites the audience to a greater appreciation of the simple things in life.
While I don't think it's quite up there with the studios best work, I still think it's one of the better animated films of the past decade.
Score: 9/10
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