Hayao Miyazaki and team sprinkle a little Studio Ghibli magic on Mary Norton’s much-loved children’s book The Borrowers…

14-year-old Arrietty is the daughter of a family of tiny people who live under the floor boards, with her father Pod and mother Homily, ‘borrowing’ what they need to survive from the ‘Big people’. Now of an age that she can ‘borrow’ herself, her curiosity soon gets the whole family in trouble when a young, normal-sized boy of the same age as Arrietty, Shô, sees her.

It’s not often that Studio Ghibli head Hayao Miyazaki chooses someone else’s work to adapt to the screen other than his own. Interestingly, the last one, Howl’s Moving Castle, was from another British writer, Diana Wynne Jones, but that work wasn’t anywhere as well known. This time Hayao’s handed over directorial reins to Hiromasa Yonebayashi, who has a impressive career as key animator on some of Ghibli’s best known work, including Ponyo, Howl’s Moving Castle, Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke, as well work for others like Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, but never as director.

Of course, there have been several adaptations of Mary Norton’s series of Borrowers books over the years, including a popular TV series and film in the 1990s. It does seem a bit odd as the subject of a Japanese adaption considering how quintessentially British the book feels. The Borrowers was born out of the ‘make do and mend’ attitude brought on by post-war rationing in the UK, which didn’t end until two years after the first book was published in 1952.

It came at the same time as J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis were transporting children to a different world, unconstrained by rationing and the hardships Britain faced then. (But what a decade for kids books, eh?) Yet the Borrowers make the best with what’s around them.. It doesn’t feel like it should fit too well with Japanese culture, yet Hayao and Hiromasa make it work, though notably are a bit light on specific Japanese references.

(Ironically the first film adaption was American, produced for the Hallmark Hall of Fame series, though this kept the English setting.)

Despite setting the story in modern day Japan, Hayao’s adaption keeps surprisingly close to the original. There are themes that he has touched on before, like the wonder of special, magical creatures that are discovered by the young (My Neighbour Totoro, Ponyo, Panda! Go Panda!), the sick relative (My Neighbour Totoro), the separated family (My Neighbour Totoro, again!), yet much of this was included in the book in some form or another.

Even the conversation about the amount of ‘tiny people’ there are in comparison to humans, here turned into a rather heavy-handed comment on how we are causing the species around us to become extinct, exists to a certain extent in the book. It’s more like these themes where what attracted him to the work in the first place.

Unlike many of his other films, the ‘magical creature’ Arrietty very quickly becomes the focus. The peril she faces from domestic cats and ravens give this more of an edge that will work with slightly older audience than Ponyo. In many ways I think the film is ultimately more successful because if it.

As you’d expect from Studio Ghibli, the animation is immaculate, absolutely sumptuous in a typically Ghibli way! I’d say the sort of thing Walt Disney can’t make anymore, but of course Disney are involved now (mainly thanks to John Lasseter recognising exactly what’s important in animation a few years back). Unless I’m mistaken computer graphics are being used, but to a minimum and importantly not is a way that sticks out.

A children’s classic, brilliantly told. And out just in time for the Summer Hols… how can you resist?

(Review originally published 25 July, 2011)

DVD details

Distributor: StudioCanal (UK)

Edition: DVD (2012)

Single disc DVD comes with great picture and sound, for both original Japanese and English versions of the soundtrack. This version is a bit light on extras, having just storyboards (always a welcome addition!) for the whole film.

Blu-ray double-play and Limited Edition Collector's Edition also come with Trailers and Japanese TV Spots; Interviews with Hayao Miyazaki and Hiromasa Yonebayashi; Music video for Cécile Corbel's Arrietty's Song.

Related and associated posts

This entry was published by Andy H on Friday, January 13th, 2012 at 10:00 am and is filed under Anime / Live-Action Manga, Drama, Films, Japan, Reviews, UK. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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  1. [...] Ghibli’s marvellous Arrietty is released today on Blu-ray, DVD and a Deluxe Collector’s Double Play edition with 5 [...]

    Arrietty on UK Blu-ray and DVD | easternkicks.com January 9th, 2012 at 9:19 am

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