Last night I checked off another Ghibli film, having seen The Secret World of Arrietty in a theater. Oddly, it’s based on English author’s Mary Norton’s 1952 book The Borrowers, about very small people who live under humanity’s noses and “borrow” things from them. Taking a thimble to use as a bucket, that sort of thing. The Borrowers was a pretty major kid’s book back when I was a lad, having won the Carnegie Medal. Eventually there were four sequels added to the story. The biggest threat to the little people is the omnipresent threat of being discovered by humans. Surely Irwin Allen’s Land of the Giants was inspired by the books.
In any case, the novel clearly spoke to people over at Ghibli because they adapted it into predictably pretty great movie in 2010. Man, I love hand-drawn animation, especially when I can appreciate it up on a big screen. Although there are moments of danger and suspense, there is a correspondence gentleness at times that we just don’t get in very much Western media product. Arietty is surely not one of the major Ghibli releases, but honestly I think I love their little films more even than the big (and certainly more epic) ones. Just a lovely little picture, and running a nice 90 minutes. Great stuff.
Disney dubbed it and brought it over at the time, but as usual, the acting and vocal direction more emphasized the peril and drama then the sense of wonder that truly lies at the film’s heart. A look at the American and Japanese trailers for the film illustrates what I mean. (Meanwhile, the British dub features the film debut of a young Tom Holland.) Further cultural pollination was provided by the film’s Celtic-themed score, composed by French musician Cecile Corbel. She also sings the main theme. Indeed, she sang it in Japanese, English, German, Italian, Breton, and French, for various versions of the film.
Tonight they will also be showing When Marnie Was There. I have seen that, but not in a theater, so I’m looking forward to it. Marnie and Arrietty are the sole projects directed for Ghibli by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.
