The Borrowers - Ghibli's new film announced

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After yesterday's exclusive warming up on Twitter by GhibliWorld, today Studio Ghibli made the official announcement of their new full length feature film titled <b>Karigurashi no Arrietty</b> <i>(The Borrower Arrietty)</i>. The film will be an adaptation of Mary Norton's Carnegie Medal winning novel The Borrowers and, as hinted earlier on GhibliWorld, will be directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi.

Unlike the original novel, which tells a story about tiny people who "borrow" things from normal humans during the 1950's in Enland, Studio Ghibli have transferred their version to Tokyo Koganei in 2010 (Koganei is where Studio Ghibli is settled) and tell the story of 14-year-old little Arrietty (Chiisana Arriety was the films original title).

Yonebayashi earlier worked as a key animator on previous Ghibli works like Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo and Spirited Away and was animation director for Miyazaki Goro's Gedo Senki. Karigurashi no Arrietty will be his directing debut which is something he did not expect to happen (as told by Ghibli producer Suzuki Toshio earlier this week). Nowadays Yonebayashi is encouraged by Miyazaki Hayao every single day, who also happens to be the one handling the planning of the film. Production, as always, will be handled by Suzuki Toshio.

Karigurashi no Arrietty's theme song has been co-written by the French celtic harpist/singer Cécile Corbel who also is responsible for its performance. The theme song will be digitally released in Japan starting December 19.

Karigurashi no Arrietty is to be released summer 2010 and will have a length of about 80 minutes.

<a href="http://www.ghibliworld.com/news.html#1612">From Ghibli World</a>
 
That's quite exciting, the borrowers was always one of my favourite childhood films.
This'll be interesting because
a) This will be an adaptation of a already well established western franchise
b) It'll be interesting to see how the new guy does things. It's no lie that the studio has become a little stale over the years, so I hope that this will be a breath of fresh air.
 
Interesting. I really loved the Borrowers when I was younger, and it seems like the perfect world of whimsy for Studio Ghibli to add their own unique character to. If done correctly this could be spectacular, but if not it could be a spectacular failure.
 
Lupus said:
When was the last time Ghibli did an original title? Seems all they're doing these days is adapting western stories.
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Ghilbi probably think they are the 21st century disney, adapting old, forgotten stories for a modern audience.
 
Hmm, The Borrowers in 2010 in Japan? Sweet! Ghibli just need to use their magic and it could potentially be awesome. Haven't By the Sea yet and was slightley disappointed with Tales of Earthsea. That's just me like.
 
Just to clarify: what was the difference between the Borrowers and the Minpins again? They both had their roles in supplying me with childhood entertainment, but I now seem to be unable to distinguish the two.
 
Lupus said:
When was the last time Ghibli did an original title? Seems all they're doing these days is adapting western stories.
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Depends how "original" you want it to be. Ponyo was "inspired" by The Little Mermaid, but it's hardly an adaptation.
 
Zin5ki said:
Just to clarify: what was the difference between the Borrowers and the Minpins again? They both had their roles in supplying me with childhood entertainment, but I now seem to be unable to distinguish the two.
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Well, The Minpins was published first in 1991, The Borrowers in 1952.
 
I think it sound really cool, quite intrigued to see how it turns out.
I just hope it has the charm Ghibli is known for, i felt Goro's debut Tales from Earthsea lacked the charm and charisma of other efforts but for his first film he did well.

I'd love to see Ghibli take on something like Enid Blyton's The Fareaway Tree, i reckon Miyazaki Senior would really make it in to a great unique adaptation as it's such a great children's fantasy classic which i loved growing up.
 
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