The Secret World of Arrietty: NR #21

This week I had a choice between two kids movies, one was a 3D animated one with bright colors and corny jokes dragging out a 10 page Dr. Seuss book for an hour and a half. My other choice was a more quiet 2D animated film made for all ages that was based off a novel. I'm pretty sure you can guess which one I chose. This week's review is of...

Let's Begin...

PLOT

Arrietty is what's known as a borrower. A borrower is a tiny human-like creature who "borrows" extremely small amounts of necessities, so small that no person will ever know they're gone. Arrietty and her family think that they may be the last of their kind and are determined to survive. In order to do this, Arrietty must learn how to "borrow". On her first night she's spotted by the new boy whose moved in. His name is Shawn and the reason he's moved in is because he has a rare heart condition where if he gets too excited, his heart will basically explode. So in order to keep him calm before his operation his family move him to this cottage. From then on both of their lives, Arrietty and Shawn's, are changed forever.

PROS

This being a Studio Ghibli, the animation is absolutely gorgeous. There is so much detail in just the backgrounds alone that it's fun just to stare. It's also very cool to see a 2D animated film on the big screen after all these years.

The English voice actors do a great job, never over acting or doing anything too crazy, like in other anime.

The story is very simple. While that may not seem like a good thing, it gives the film time to give the characters personalities and make us care about them. This is a slow movie, but you'll never know since it's so interesting.

The movie takes it's audience seriously. I know I've never mentioned this in any of my other Studio Ghibli reviews, but I've never seen this with a child audience. The movie never throws some pop-culture reference or has near constant loud noises to keep your kids attention. This film keeps your kids attention with its great story, great characters , beautiful animation, and never once talks down to kids, like they're a bunch of idiots.

This is more of a personal pro, but the kids in the audience barely talked. Now I'm more forgiving of kids when it comes to talking during movies, but this time I didn't have to. While they did talk a little bit, they were quick to be quiet, or their parents were. They were just so entranced by this movie, and that's a huge feat to me.

While I have been mentioning the kids a lot, don't worry, this movie was made with all ages in mind, like with   the "not talking down to kids' example I used.

CONS

I got nothin...

CONCLUSION

This is the perfect movie to take your kids to, it's smart, simple, and mature without pulling cheap tricks. It's even more fun for the adults. So if this is still playing at your theater, or if it's already at the video store, don't hesitate to watch it. And hey, this might get your kid interested in other Studio Ghibli films.

RATING

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