Praise Disney for distributing Studio Ghibli movies domestically! Disney’s English version of ‘Ponyo‘ was great, and I’m excited to tell you that the studio has again done justice to another Ghibli picture, ‘The Secret World of Arrietty’.

If you’ve read ‘The Borrowers’ or seen the old movie, then you know the ‘Arrietty’ source material. Tiny, few-inch-tall people known as “Borrowers” live beneath the floors of certain homes. When nobody is looking, they sneak up into the houses and borrow> things that people don’t need or have lost. ‘Arrietty’ begins with a young boy who has heart disease moving to the country to get some relaxation before his open-heart surgery. Beneath the cottage is a family of Borrowers who will stir up some excitement for his struggling little heart.

Arrietty is the overly-excited 13-year-old only child of this literally small family. She can’t wait until she’s old enough to borrow on her own. When she finally coaxes her dad and anxious mother to take her borrowing, things change. You see, on her first trial run, Arrietty is spotted by the ill boy. While escaping, she drops their recently borrowed sugar cube. Having heard stories about Borrowers, the boy knows exactly what he saw, so he takes the sugar cube to the downstairs air vent and leaves it for Arrietty – but her parents know that nothing good will come from this.

Arrietty’s parents decide that it’s time to pack up and find a new home to live under, but Arrietty doesn’t want to move away, so she visits the boy and tells him to leave her family alone. Although the kid has honest intentions and means no harm, the same can’t be said for the crazy housekeeper who wants to exterminate all the Borrowers.

‘The Secret World of Arrietty’ isn’t my favorite of the Miyazaki films, but it’s still quite good. It kept both me and my four-year-old daughter entertained. Considering that she couldn’t make it through ‘Cars 2‘ on the big screen without getting restless, that says something positive about ‘The Secret World of Arrietty’.

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