I watched it too. I was like 'Good art and sound but the plot...meh it'll get better...' Then (disappointing)ending make me go like 'WHAAAAAT?! THAT WAS SO STUPID/SAD! ARGGH THERE HAS TO BE MORE! WHAT THAT'S ALL?! STUUUUUUUPID! I WAS EXPECTING MORE FROM YOU, HAYAO MIYAZAKI!' DX
The Borrower Arrietty tv Review
Story & Characters
*Warning, Disney review coming your way !*
I recently watched this via netflix, and I'm glad I held off on buying it. Movie review, dubbed version not subbed/original.
Shō aka Shawn (in the American version) is a young lad who's parents are recently divorced and he's sick. He's going for surgery in the coming week and he is forced (give or take) to live with his Aunt Sadako Mak aka Jessica (in the American version) for a week due to his mother having to go out of town on business. Jessica is upset by this but there's really nothing she can do or say about it. Once there, Shawn meets up with the care taker of Jessica by the name of Haru who is suspicious of "little people".
As Shawn is getting settled in to stay with his Aunt for a week, elsewhere in the house, we discover these "little people" of whom Haru is suspicious about who wish to call themselves borrowers. Because they borrow things, they don't steal them. While the young teenager Arrietty is gathering a present for her mother, Shawn captures a glance of Arrietty before she disappears into the bushes via being chased by Nina, the house cat of Jessica.
Shawn later meets up with Arrietty as she is out with her father, Pod, who go out on Arrietty's first borrowing where she finds herself a new sword which Pod gladly comments as her first borrowing. But Arrietty is spotted by Shawn while they are gathering supplies per Arrietty's mother's request and they have to forgo their borrowing and Pod mentions not to tell her mother of this.
As Arrietty's mother, Homily, likes to live in a life of luxury, sadly this is cut short because they are seen, once a borrower is seen they must move to protect their need to survive and live. so Pod leaves the family behind while he goes and ventures into the forest for a new home for all of them and this is where they encounter another borrower, as they felt they were alone in the world, they discover there are a lot more of them.
Spiller, a sort of loner borrower who lives alone and tends to catch his own food with his bow and sword, who appears to be about the same age of Arrietty, helps the family in planning their next move. But while they are away (Pod and Spiller) Haru get's too suspicious and things go all wrong. Just as Shawn and Arrietty are about lose hope, Arrietty helps boosts up Shawn's bravery and his will and hope to live on even though he feels he is doomed. Find themselves, even though they are sizes apart, friendship knows no bounds !
Rating:
Art
As the plot was lacking for me, the art was certainly not ! The detail to even a lady bug about to take flight was not forgone in this movie. Bu if you've ever seen any of Studio Ghibli you'll know there is no expense to detail. And if you haven't, then check them all out, there are quite a few out which have won awards. And by watching them you can certainly see why ! You won't be disappointed with the detail to artwork. Even the time Arrietty is playing with a rolly polly there is no detail left out as she plays with the ball formed bug which later crawls away to meet up with their familiar/friend. Even while Arrietty is fighting with ants, there's no limits to the detail to the artwork within this piece. This is one of those films, that you have to watch twice, once for the artwork and second for the plot. Although most of Hayao Miyazaki are like that, in my opinion. Basically, because, they still hand draw things, they don't use CGI, which tends to be why there is always a delay in their release.
Rating:
Sound
I was quite impressed with their score and music, although it was placed well, I suppose there could have been a difference between the songs via American version to Japanese version, but if that's the case I'm quite impressed with the songs Disney parked into the movie. I am a fan of Disney, so when they started to go about doing their own thing with dubbing and even taking on the job of putting their own music in, this doesn't offend me, I rather like this, gives more artists a chance to be heard, so to speak.
A legendary voice appears in this one, as Disney tends to do, Carol Burnett as Haru, other cast includes Will Arnett as Pod, Moisés Arias as Spiller, Gracie Poletti as Aunt Jessica, Amy Poehler as Homily, David Henrie as Shawn and Bridgit Mendler as Arrietty. Unfortunately not certain who did supporting roles or Nina :( the names escape me. The cast was very short this go around, only a few voices played a part here.
I have to admit the detail was not shafted in this film either, the sounds of a crow, cicadas and bug wings flapping were just a few of the details provided of how superb there was no detail left out in this one, even some of the sounds were quite giggly, I keep going back to the time where Arrietty was playing with the rolly polly bug, how it sounded like she was playing with a beach ball.
Rating:
Presentation
Over all, the plot was lacking for me. The Sound and Artwork blew me away, but the plot itself felt as if there was something lacking. Never really been a fan of any of the borrower films, novels and so forth. I have seen and read them all, and me being a great fan of animation I gave this one a go as well. Unfortunately, like all the others, it lacked depth to me into the plot itself. I was impressed with the detail, that's a given, but within any fan there are going to be things which come about a fan isn't going to care much for. I'm going to wait for the next one and see how that one turns out, just because I didn't like one, doesn't mean I'm not going to like another. For my 11th review (and you thought I was done) here's Arrietty borrowing your time :)
Rating:
Final Verdict
6.3333 (average)
Reviewed by angelxxuan, Aug 28, 2012
Comments
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ZEROCHAN-MINITOKYO Aug 28, 2012
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pandemonium91 Retired Moderator Sep 02, 2012
Good review, I was thinking whether to give this a shot; it looks good, but I knew next to nothing about the plot ^^" I admit I would've liked to hear more about the characters instead of reading a plot summary, in the "Story & Characters" section; I feel you spent too much time narrating what happens and giving details instead of actually giving your opinion on it, which would've been more important. Aside from that, your review has good flow and I had no problems with understanding what you meant.
The "Presentation" section did make me curious, though, and I think I'll be checking this out in the future. Thank you for the review :)
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WalkingEncyclopedia Sep 28, 2012
While the story certainly is a bit anti-climatic, I actually tend to think this film has depths - in its own sort of way. It essentially deals with how humans always abuse whatever minorities they come into contact with, and how they always fear what they do not understand.
Still, this is a good review, though I wish you had something to say about the wonderful musical score, especially since unlike all of the other Miyazaki films, the music for this one was not written by Joe Hisaishi, but rather by a French harpist/singer called Cecile Corbel. -
rotten180 Jul 20, 2013
In my opinion though, that is I have watched it, but I didnt think it was that bad though. But yes that is my opinion
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UberDog Mar 08, 2015
Nice review, bunny, really like how you made me question if I should watch this or not. It is in my future viewing once I get the time. Thanks for posting the review.
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