• Login
  • My Account
  • Logout
  • Privacy
  • Cookie Policy

THATFILMGUY

Film Previews, News, Reviews and Lists

  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Lists
  • Five Stars
  • News
You are here: Home / Film Reviews / Review: The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

Review: The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

February 21, 2012 by That Film Guy Leave a Comment

Secret World arriettyMost people are familiar with Hayoa Miyazaki’s work, specifically Spirited Away, which became the first foreign film to win Best Animated Feature at the Oscars, and went on to become the most successful Japanese film of all time. The film propelled Studio Ghibli into fame, and other films they did, such as Princess Mononoke, The Cat Returns, Whisper of the Heart, and My Neighbour Totoro, became popular in the mainstream public.

Now, Miyazaki’s protégé Hiromasa Yonebayashi has directed his first movie. While Miyazaki’s films are always originals (as in never based on a book etc.), The Secret World of Arrietty is based on the much loved children’s classic, The Borrowers. Does Yonebayashi match his legendary mentor? No. Does he make a wonderful film? Yes!

The plot centres around Arrietty (Mirai Shida), a rebellious young girl living with her parents in the back garden of a house. A young boy named Sho (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who was born with a heart condition, is staying there with his Aunt Sadako (Keiko Takeshita). Arrietty is a four-inch-tall ‘borrower’ who goes into the house and steals small things like sugar cubes. Sho spots her and the two befriend each other, much to her parent’s dismay, who believe any human is a threat to their way of life. The intrusive maid, Haru (Kirin Kiki), is suspicious of the existence of the borrowers and only reinforces the point that all humans are dangerous. When Haru starts to come close to finding them, they realise they must avoid detection, or they may have to leave their beloved home they have lived in for years.

Hiromasa Yonebayashi was the youngest person to ever graduate from the Studio Ghibli Academy  of Animation, and now the youngest ever director of a Studio Ghibli film. And, well, he has done a very good job. While it doesn’t quite reach the heights of Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle, it’s still a fantastic film. The animation, it typical Ghibli fashion, is beautiful, with incredible colours used and wonderfully creative character designs. The voice acting is also fantastic with the actors really giving themselves to the role (I am of course talking about the original Japanese voices and not the English dub, which thankfully was not shown at my cinema, but the fact that it said the word ‘subtitled’ on the schedule apparently wasn’t enough because all the little kids were complaining that it was in Japanese, and the cinema was empty by the time the movie was over.)

In short, The Secret World of Arrietty is a brilliant film. The writing (written by the great Miyazaki himself), acting, animation, and scene of innocence is just fantastic. I’m looking forward to seeing what else Hiromasa Yonebayashi comes up with, and he is very, very good and with some experience could possibly even surpass Miyazaki. Anyone who liked Spirited Away is going to like this film, even though, while it’s inevitable, it’s unfair really to compare this to Spirited Away, as this is much less dark.

James Haves

« Previous
Review: The Vow (2012)
Next »
Review: Ghost Rider (2007)

About That Film Guy

A new group of film reviewers in the finest traditions of ThatFilmGuy.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Sponsor Website

JEDINET LINK

TOP LIST

Top 30 Christmas Films

Top 30 Christmas Films

  Love Actually (2011) It's a Wonderful Life (1946) Elf (2003) A Christmas Story … Read More

Top 30 Horror Films

Top 30 Horror Films

Our list of the Top 30 Horror Movies of all Time. Do you Agree?.........Horror films are one of the … Read More

Top 30 Comedy Films

Top 30 Comedy Films

Our list of the Top 30 Comedy Movies of all Time. Do you Agree?.........One of the most popular and … Read More

Top 30 Animated Films

Top 30 Animated Films

Our list of the Top 30 Animated Movies of all Time. Do you Agree?.........The animated film genre … Read More

Top 30 Film Trilogies

Top 30 Film Trilogies

Our list of the Top 30 Movie Trilogies of all Time. Do you Agree?.........Before the 1970s a film … Read More

Top 30 Classic Action Films

Top 30 Classic Action Films

Our list of the Top 30 Classic Action Movies of all Time. Do you Agree?.........Catering for the … Read More

© 2022copyright Thatfilmguy.com and Trafford Innovations Limited