The Secret World of Arrietty

The Secret World of Arrietty is about a family of "Borrowers," or otherwise known as "the little people," who live in their own tiny house in the basement of Shaun's (the main male character) aunt's house. The story starts with Shaun having to stay at his aunt's house because of his weak heart, and when he arrives he sees Arrietty, the young borrower who is gathering various herbs and plants from the yard. Over time, Shaun and Arrietty become friends, even though Arrietty was told that "beings" are dangerous.

Eventually Arrietty's mother gets kidnapped by the maid of the aunt's house, and the woman calls the exterminators to have a look and catch the "special pests" in the house. Arrietty and Shaun work together to save Arrietty's mother, even though they face many potentially dangerous and troublesome trials along the way.

I feel that this movie was actually a really good one. I guess it's based off of "The Borrowers" series by Mary Norton - with a touch of Studio Ghibli! When I watched this movie I once again couldn't get over how amazing the details of the background are and I wonder how much time is actually put into each scene of these amazing animated movies.

In terms of the characters I felt that Arrietty was definitely a teen that probably most people could relate to: she's adventurous, out-spoken, and just itching to go explore the bigger world beyond her own home. She's pretty much ready to grow up, which is something probably all teenagers can relate to at one point in their lives. Shaun is a decent character, but I'm not really sure his voice actor, David Henrie, did a great job of it. I felt Shaun was too quiet too often, as he didn't really talk much above a hushed tone. But other than that, the other characters were either loveable (Arrietty's parents) or unlikeable (the maid... during certain moments, anyway).

There are plenty of scenes where you'll find yourself laughing, scenes where you'll be in suspense, and scenes that you just want to watch over and over again.

The movie is rated G. I do recommend this movie, but don't get your heart set on a definite romance if that's what you're hoping for.

Click the trailer below to watch!