Review of The Secret World of Arrietty (2010) by Hoops2448 — 16 Mar 2012

Arrietty is a visual delight with beautifully animated characters and locales, an entertainingly simplistic premise and some great comic timing. It's studio Ghibli at its finest as it not only brings the viewer into Arrietty's tiny world but also makes it seem more beautiful than the one we giants live in.

Arrietty instills a great sense of adventure in the viewer as both Arrietty and Sho explore each others worlds and find great joy and enrichment from experiencing both together. It's a film with a wealth of emotion and heart that never lets up, even as the film draws to a close in an unexpected way.

The characters are unique with Arrietty being adventurous but incredibly empathetic to both humans and borrowers. Sho is optimistic despite his significant problems and Pod, Arrietty's father is calm, conscientious but constantly fearful of the world he lives in.

Sure its darker than most American animation but in comparison to films like The Grave of the Fireflies and Spirited Away, Arrietty is like a ray of sunshine in comparison. Overall the film is not just beautiful and clever it instills a sense of the magical into your everyday life as you secretly wish that there are small people living in the walls, living life to the fullest.