For Arrietty Clock, carrying a sugar cube through the kitchen is a Herculean task. At only three inches tall, the young girl, a member of a group of miniscule people known as “Borrowers,” is in an unusual situation, and as protagonist lends a unique vantage point to Studio Ghibli’s newest film The Secret World of Arrietty. Based on Mary Norton’s novel The Borrowers, this latest marvel from the famed Japanese animation company uses new techniques to revitalize an old classic.
Ghibli, the creative force behind such anime treasures as Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, is known for its talent for crafting enchanting fantasies that feature brave young heroines. Rather unlike the princesses of classic Disney creations, these characters are celebrated more for their courage and imagination than their beauty.
Written by Hayao Miyazaki and directed by Ghibli animator-turned-director Hiromaso Yonebayashi, the film is designed with an artistic eye for detail that masterfully contrasts Arrietty’s hidden realm with the lush painted landscapes of the outside world. The combination of hand drawings and computer-generated imagery strikes a balance between precision and impressionism, producing an animated feature that is a rarity in a contemporary scene dominated by 3D animation. This attractive style creates an ideal backdrop for Arrietty’s plot twists.
When we are first introduced to Arrietty, voiced with liveliness and spin by Bridgit Mendler, her carefully constructed world is being interrupted by the arrival of human named Shawn. The boy’s presence becomes problematic after he spots Arrietty, since the sight of a Borrower has always brought trouble in the past.
The inevitable friendship between the two becomes the lifeblood of the film, developing in gradual stages that each mark turning points in the plot. Though it is one of the film’s principal charms, however, this friendship lacks the humor and warmth that one would expect from such an odd pairing.
As an animated feature, Arrietty relies on a star-studded cast of voice actors to energize its characters. This includes an uncharacteristically stoic Will Arnett, who gives a lively voice to Arrietty’s father. His character is the polar opposite of Arrietty’s worrisome mother, who is voiced by Amy Poehler. Though Poehler’s character is meant to provide comic relief, she succeeds only in becoming an annoyance. Lines like, “Why is my first thought always that your father got eaten by the cat?” fall flat, in a charming film that simply doesn’t need the up-front humor.
The film’s true diversions are found in Arrietty’s adventures, as the task of “borrowing” requires navigating the cavernous walls of the cottage like a mountain range. It is these scenes that illustrate the scale of the human world relative to that of Arrietty’s, where stamps serve as art and water droplets assume the substance of bucket loads.
Whether she is fleeing from a cat beneath the shelter of a leaf or scaling a kitchen counter, Arrietty makes her size a marginal issue in comparison to her indomitable spirit. Through expert graphics and surprisingly sympathetic human relationships, Arietty will make its audience believe that the most fascinating things in life are found in the most overlooked places.
