The Secret World of Arrietty
By not directing “The Secret World of Arrietty” himself, the great animator, Hayao Miyazaki, has ceded creative control over a project for only the fourth time in the history of his animation company, Studio Ghibli. And yet, the end film by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, making his debut as a director, is just as magical and beautifully made as any of Miyazaki’s best films. Of course, having the godfather of Japanese animation as the screenwriter and storyboarder of this film, based on the children’s classic, The Borrowers, by Mary Norton aides in keeping Miyazaki’s fingerprints all over the film.
For anyone unfamiliar with either the original book, or the film adaptations it has inspired over the years, the film follows the coming-of-age of young Arrietty (voiced in the American version by Bridgit Mendler), who lives with her parents (voiced by Amy Poehler and Will Arnett) underneath a house in the country. You see, they are Borrowers, who are four inches tall, and survive off of things that humans either lose, or won’t miss. At the start of the film, it looks as though Arrietty and her parents may be the only ones left, but dad goes out searching, and might have found more of their kind. It will be a dangerous road to travel, however, and the perils compound when a young man named Shawn comes out to the house to live with his grandmother (voiced by the ever-delightful Carol Burnett), and sees Arrietty during her first night of Borrowing with dad.
I don’t recall that I’ve ever seen the 1997 film adaptation of the novel that starred John Goodman and Jim Broadbent, but I don’t know that I ever want to now that I’ve watched Studio Ghibli work their wondrous magic with the story. A big part of “Arrietty’s” success stems from its focus on Arrietty, and her development from just her parents’s daughter, but into a young woman in her own right. As Miyazaki did with Kiki in “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” and Chihiro in “Spirited Away,” Yonebayashi turns the basic story into a delightful, and sometimes frightening, rite-of-passage for the film’s heroine, creating a genuinely intelligent adventure for all ages instead of just a movie kids can enjoy. There’s a genuine maturity in the writing and vocal performances of the film that allows it to rise above being just another “kiddie” cartoon like so many American animated features are; this is the work of artists who look not to pander, but to inspire, and once again, Studio Ghibli accomplishes that task with lovely animation and lovelier storytelling. Yes, it does sag a bit in the middle, but “The Secret World of Arrietty” is well worth getting lost in.
