By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: May 22, 2012
Classic anime style, beautiful scenery and music, a strong female character, loss & friendship—this is everything you want your children to watch.
“”The Secret World of Arrietty,” as fans of “The Borrowers” will have sussed out, is based on the first of five books Mary Norton wrote about tiny people who primarily live off what they appropriate from human beings (or “beans,” as they call them). … Part of the charm of the Borrowers books, a quality shared by the movie, is the theme of the tiny making wonderfully do in a world inhabited by, and made for, the big (like parents). … [W]hile she’s 14 going on 15, and three or so inches going on four, Arrietty seems bigger because her courage, along with her fluid form and softly dappled world, come by way of the famed Japanese company Studio Ghibli, where little girls rule, if not necessarily as princesses. … Studio Ghibli and Arrietty have a way of taking you where you may not expect, whether you’re scrambling through rooms as large as canyons or clambering into the safety of an outstretched hand, a simple gesture that says it all.” — Manohla Dargis via The New York Times
“Just as there are those who look forward to every new Pixar animated film, there are also those who cannot wait for the new releases from Japan’s Studio Ghibli. … The Secret World of Arrietty, based on Mary Norton’s children’s book series The Borrowers, is about a tiny family who are part of a secret world of four-inch people who live underneath the floorboards of homes, “borrowing” things they need from human “beans” that won’t be missed. … As with all Ghibli films, whether it is tiny people in Arrietty, a goldfish princess in Ponyo, or forest spirits in Totoro, the fantastical living in tandem with normal humans never feels weird or questionable. And though you never know where it’s going and how it’s going to end up, the ride is always interesting because nothing ever feels contrived or predictable. Rather there is a quiet gentleness and a deep beauty that resonates no matter if you’re a child or an adult. It speaks to all without needing to be labeled a particular genre—other than animation.” — Zorianna Kit via Huffington Post