The Secret World of Arrietty isn’t a Miyazaki film as far as the direction goes, though he did contribute to the screenplay, but it is a Studio Ghibli production and Yonebayashi has lovingly crafted a film that feels, all the way down to the bones, like a Miyazaki film in all the right ways and none of the wrong ones, not that are that many wrong ways to feel like a Miyazaki film. I don’t want to say that Yonebayashi has just done a tribute film or just tried to copy Miyazaki; I’m trying to pay him a compliment. In this film, Arrietty is a young Borrower; along with her mother and father, she lives beneath the floors of a simple country house and her family makes their living by “borrowing” things that won’t be missed: the odd sugar cube here, a square of tissue there, etc. But when Sho, a young boy suffering from a heart ailment, comes to the cottage in order to rest up for an upcoming surgery, Arrietty finds herself being drawn to and ultimately forging a strong emotional bond with him. Long story short, this is an absolutely delightful movie. It has all the hallmarks of a great Studio Ghibli film: a minimal story, compellingly drawn characters, a wonderfully detailed world and a rich emotional payoff. The stakes aren’t super-high for most of the story and it’s really a film that is focused, first and foremost, on the friendship between Arrietty and Sho. About half-way through the film, I realized that there essentially aren’t any jokes in this movie; there are some comedic moments, especially toward the end, but they all flow out of character, not out of funny dialogue. That’s kind of astonishing for a kid’s movie. But this movie does what Ghibli has always done: treat kids without condescension. They assume they can simply tell a rich, engaging story with interesting characters and kids will be interested, even if there are no real action scenes or hilarious gags. I don’t know how I would have reacted to a movie like Arrietty as a kid, but I certainly know how I reacted to it as an adult and that was with absolute satisfaction. This movie is a kind of contented sigh of a film, a sweet, earnest fairy-tale that evoked a sense of peace and emotional fulfillment. I’d rank this one higher than even some of Miyazaki’s most beloved Ghibli films (Howl’s Moving Castle, for one, and possibly Kiki’s Delivery Service); it’s a quiet, thoughtful masterpiece. 4 stars.
tl;dr – kind of the Platonic Ideal of a Studio Ghibli film; a rich emotional palette, engaging characters, a wondrous world and a sweet, earnest heart all add up to make this one of Ghibli’s best. 4 stars.