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I like Miyazaki films. I enjoy them a great deal and when that fine old gentlemen passes on from this mortal coil, our world will be genuinely diminished.
I also liked The Borrowers, the first in a children's series written by the wonderful Mary Gentle. The books were all about little people living under the floors and behind the walls of people's houses, borrowing what they needed to survive. As an eight-year old, I can clearly remember devouring the books.
So, it was with a certain sense of anticipation that I went and saw The Secret World of Arrietty. I'd heard that Miyazaki had to make some creative changes to the story for marketing purposes; setting it in Japan and beefing up the human/Arrietty relationship. Otherwise, it was supposed to stick largely to the original story.
And it did.
Perhaps the thing that gave me the oddest sense of disassociation from the original stories was the presentation of Arrietty's father, Pod. I've always pictured Pod as a rather rotund, practical gentleman. In the movie, he's a buff working-man type. Which, I'll admit, makes a lot of sense given the fact that he and his family must remain self-sufficient. Still, I found myself missing the Pod as described in the books.
That is, honestly, my biggest complaint about this movie. And I wouldn't even call it a proper complaint.
All in all, I'd give The Secret World of Arrietty a six on the Melworks Scale of Movie Love. If you're looking for a good family night out, then I can definitely recommend this movie.
I also liked The Borrowers, the first in a children's series written by the wonderful Mary Gentle. The books were all about little people living under the floors and behind the walls of people's houses, borrowing what they needed to survive. As an eight-year old, I can clearly remember devouring the books.
So, it was with a certain sense of anticipation that I went and saw The Secret World of Arrietty. I'd heard that Miyazaki had to make some creative changes to the story for marketing purposes; setting it in Japan and beefing up the human/Arrietty relationship. Otherwise, it was supposed to stick largely to the original story.
And it did.
Perhaps the thing that gave me the oddest sense of disassociation from the original stories was the presentation of Arrietty's father, Pod. I've always pictured Pod as a rather rotund, practical gentleman. In the movie, he's a buff working-man type. Which, I'll admit, makes a lot of sense given the fact that he and his family must remain self-sufficient. Still, I found myself missing the Pod as described in the books.
That is, honestly, my biggest complaint about this movie. And I wouldn't even call it a proper complaint.
All in all, I'd give The Secret World of Arrietty a six on the Melworks Scale of Movie Love. If you're looking for a good family night out, then I can definitely recommend this movie.
