ritchie.cali - 2017-02-01 23:43:07

Honestly one of my favourite Ghibli movies to date. While it doesn’t top Howl or Spirited Away, Arrietty is special in its own little way. There’s friendship built despite the seemingly impossible, there’s discoveries and trust and learning. Sure, there’s not blossoming romance or magic or tragedy to overcome, but small and subtle bonds can sometimes be the most powerful.

This is the story of a sickly boy with no real familial ties or friends reaching out to, and protecting a girl and her family who have been taught throughout their lives to fear the outside world, without expecting anything in return.

It’s simple and beautiful and honestly, in my opinion, deserves a lot more credit and a lot less complaining from Ghibli fans!

ndubuque - 2016-08-02 15:00:25

The 1952 novel 'The Borrowers' is a good book. It is incredibly family-friendly and teaches a fun, touching story of friendship and trust. However, attempts at adapting said story are both numerous and generally bad. Whether it be a '70s TV series, a 90's mini-series, a '97 film or the recent 2011 film which went considerably under the radar, despite a cast with stars such as Christopher Ecclestone and Stephen Fry, no one cares much for an adaptation of 'The Borrowers'. So Miyazaki decided to adapt 'The Borrowers', except he would presumably eastern-ise the story and add something original - right? Wrong. Instead, he makes a derivative, largely faithful homage to the book but changes the plot a little to add some tension and changes some character names. There is no real 'Miyazaki Touch' here, but that doesn't make this a bad film at all.

The Story of Arietty is fairly simple - small people who live in hiding are discovered by big people and forced to run away from evil yet comical big person, whilst being helped by the kind young big person who saw them first. If you have a brain at all, you'll see the twists coming, and, whilst the thrill of seeing the despicable servant being outwitted by the clever ploys of Arietty and Shou is enough to improve the film, it is not enough to carry a narrative. The rest of the interest in the film is that of the relation between Arietty and Shou, which is a story of trust and discovery which, admittedly, may touch your heart somewhat; clueless young people meeting each other for the first time is always fun to watch. 

The problem here is my problem with the whole film - we've seen it before. The one thing that really drags Arietty down is originality, or indeed a lack of it. Arietty adds nothing new to the recycled story of distrust turning to trust which is inherent in 'The Borrowers' and its adaptations, and, having read the book, this saddens me greatly.

Nevertheless, despite Ghibli's decline into relative obscurity, the art and animation are incredibly smooth - although Ghibli still refuse to even slightly explore anything other than their signature art style.. The music is as catchy and memorable as always, although only 'Arietty's Song' stands out. Ghibli are masters of aesthetic, though, so this is a given.

Overall, however, 'The Secret World of Arietty' is a fairly derivative, not-so-original family film. It may be coherent, well-structured and aesthetically pleasing, but it is a film that is too reminiscent of other works to be called good in its own right. It's fun to show your kids, but as a piece of art isn't worth the time.

ora.kshlerin - 2015-08-17 20:11:21

The secret world of Arrietty is at the same time the most under rated chibli film and maybe the weakest. Still this is not bad i think this is still a masterpiece but under rated one.