Arrietty 8/10
First of all I have seen several different versions of the Borrowers story, though have never read the book, second I am a Ghibli nut, but feel I am quite objective and several of their films I can honestly say I do not like (Not Earthsea btw
)
Anyway, just got back from seeing it an hour ago. 8)
Basically it was an extremely good film for the most part. The British dub was odd at first, but settled extremely well after a short time (wish there were more!) with only
Spiller's voice being very poor. I felt the music at times was a little loud, though I really liked the theme song, fit wonderfully.
Graphically I cannot fault it, It was beautiful - Probably the best looking Ghbili film since spirited away. The visuals were gorgeous and the way they were used, as pointed out by a previous reviewer, to highlight the scale differences was great. I imagine the animators had really good fun on this one.
The characters were pretty good for the most part, but I think the film was a little short to give the whole cast a full characterisation - even though it was a small cast overall. Arrietty herself was a classic Miyazaki style heroine, though I feel flashes of Yonebayashi's own ideas broke through. The worst without doubt was
Spiller who was a complete non entity and was really only there
for the climax of the film Sho was good, though again, just like most of the characters, a little bit more time would have fleshed them out perfectly (94 minutes was just not enough - most Ghibli films hit the 2 hour mark and really get more characterisation out)
As for the plot, I think it was pretty well done - very similar to the other Borrowers adaptions I watched, but with a usual Miyazaki spin of not giving you quite the ending you were expecting -
though inside I wish they had stayed in the house/returned I can understand Miyazaki's reasoning. There were a few plot points that didn't work.
Sho swapping the kitchen without any warning/or any knowledge of where it was just doesn't sit right with me. The afore mentioned Spiller interlude was pointless like the character, and Haru's motivations don't really carry for me.
I sympathise with those who said it needed a bit more of an energetic climax, but I think I may have upset the overall tone of the film. The entire story is subtle and that is the strength - changing the tone mid film would have done more damage to it than help it in my opinion. The humor as mentioned fit very well into the subtleties of it all, there was no real 'jokes' it was the uniqueness of the mundane items being used in odd ways that carried the humor, which I felt was very well done.
I also liked the little 'easter eggs' - the cat and the crow was definitely shades of Muta and Toto in Cat returns.
Basically anything Miyazaki has had influence on at Ghbili can be divided into the 'epics' (Nausicaa/Mononoke/Laputa) and the 'Slice of life' (Kiki/Totoro/Whisper) This is definately in the latter, but is a much more complete story than some (Kiki ends abruptly for instance) This is not a mark against it by any means, and it does its job very well indeed.
I'd definitely rate it higher than what I consider the two weakest Miyazaki films (Kiki and Porco Rosso) and I'd put it a my second favorite that was not directed by him (After Whisper of the Heart) So in all, despite a few little issues, It was a really good film, and in Yonebayashi is definitely a rising star. 8)
