I’ll admit, I’m not a huge fan of Japanese Anime. And before I get a lot of hate mail, I don’t hate anime, I just always found it a little too weird for my taste. But one thing that I do find interesting is the idea of shrinking and tiny people. So when I heard that they were making an animated version of ‘The Borrowers’, I was like “Oh Boy! I’ve gotta see that! When does it come out?”

2 years later…

Yes, anime does take a long time to be released in American Theaters, but when this movie finally came out, I was super excited. Did it live up to my expectations?

The story is similar to the original Mary Norton book. There are tiny people who live inside the walls of houses and ‘borrow’ little things when the humans aren’t looking. I don’t want to ruin the movie for you, so I’ll just say it rocks! First off, the animation is wonderful. Sure, with Studio Ghibli, that’s something you’ve come to expect, but it really shines here. They’re able to show a lot more interaction with the tiny people that can’t really be done in live-action.

The voice actors did great jobs, particularly David Henrie as Shaun. The music is beautiful, and I love the sound editing, how the sound is cleverly magnified whenever we’re in a borrowers-eye view.

If there is one flaw with the film, it would have to be the ending. Like I said, I don’t want to spoil the film, but let’s just say it’s a bit rushed and kind of bittersweet.

But overall, The Secret World Of Arrietty is a beautiful film with a well told story and great animation. In fact, it kind of makes me want to check out more anime-