The story of ‘borrowers’ – little people who live under the floorboards and behind the walls of homes who come out to ‘borrow’ things when full-size humans aren’t looking – has been told many times before, but never with such inventive charms as this new film from Studio Ghibli. The Secret World of Arrietty, directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, follows the adventures of the Clark family – mom, dad and daughter Arrietty – as they lead their miniature lives at a rambling old country estate. It’s enchanting to watch the Clark family interact with their environment; the artists at Studio Ghibli really let their imaginations run wild to show us how the human world would look to people who are only about four inches tall. Some of it is obvious, like the way a cube of sugar is suddenly the size of a stack of phone books and the way the house cat looks like a fat and furry Godzilla when Arrietty confronts him in the front yard. It’s the extra flourishes they add to the film that makes the world seem so magical, like the way a light spring rain falls in droplets the size of bowling balls. Or the charming way tea gets poured one drop at a time.
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