Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Secret World of Arrietty
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chiarascuro
 Posts: 9 |
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Great review.
That's pretty much almost exactly the same as I felt coming out of the movie earlier this week at an early screening. It was enjoyable, but felt too short and underdeveloped. Even though the movie was kind of a safe Ghibli effort on the whole compared to others, I still can't help but feel slightly frustrated that they didn't develop the character interactions more and just... do more with what they put forth on screen! It could have been better film for that, and made the conclusion more convincing and impactful. Was a little disappointing when I realized it was already time for the credits... I'd still whole-heartedly recommend for others to go see it since it's still not a bad film by a long-shot... but if I were to say, rank my favorite Ghibli movies or even just the ones I felt were the best, it'd probably be somewhat close to the bottom. |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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Sometimes dumber is better for a wider audience though.
Okay, I haven't seen it yet so I'm not going to say it's "dumber Ghibli", but to illustrate what I'm talking about: I have basically every Ghibli on DVD or blu-ray. Including Only Yesterday and Ocean Waves. And whenever I ask my non-anime loving friends and family members which one they'd like to watch on a rainy day, they inevitably ALWAYS pick The Cat Returns. Now, I actually like the Cat Returns. It's a fine kids' film by normal standards. But it's absolutely the most lightweight film in Ghibli's library. It's 75 minutes, and it's characterized by a most un-Ghibli like quick pace. It doesn't linger on the beauty of scenes for very long and the plot keeps moving Haru along at a fairly determined clip. It packs a lot of plot into 75 minutes. Haru goes from a normal high school teen to being betrothed to a cat to being whisked away to a cat kingdom to being "hit on" by a crazy cat king to running around in a maze to getting back to her world. Oh, and there's stuff about other characters getting together and whatnot. And I figured it out: this film doesn't demand much commitment from people. It holds your hand and doesn't require you to have a lot of patience, or asks you to interpret character ambiguities. Every character's behaviour is telegraphed, underlined, double underlined, and spelled out in the open. I seem to recall also hearing that The Cat Returns did surprisingly well on DVD for Disney, actually outselling a number of Miyazaki and Takahata titles. If Arrietty is indeed as lightweight as many reviews say, perhaps this is why Disney felt more confident giving it a push, because well, being lightweight is more palatable to the North American audience. |
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Maidenoftheredhand
 Posts: 2633 |
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Actually I think you misunderstood my post. I never elaborated on what my favorite Ghibli was. All I said was I thought Spirited Away was their last "great film" not that it was their greatest film Now obviously we disagree about Ponyo because that is the same as my other comment. It's a good film but I still feel something is missing. But really my favorite period for Studio Ghibli is the 80's-90's and a lot of the films you list as your favorites are mine too. Totoro is probably my overall favorite but I also love: Kiki, Whisper of the Heart, Only Yesterday, Grave of the Fireflies, Laputa, and definitely Porco Rosso. I am not a big fan of Princess Mononoke or Nausicaa (which I actually feel have similar themes). But as you said everyone has their own Ghibli. |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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No, no, I know. But it seems like you're saying that they generally did "great" work up until Spirited Away, and then there was a decline after that. I simply disagreed with that and tried to say that I think they've still mostly been up and down all through their history, although their "downs" were always still "very good". I simply don't view Spirited Away as their last peak moment before their supposed "decline." |
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Sven Viking
Posts: 1039 |
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I liked it for most of the reasons Zac didn't, and also for the reasons he did. Certainly it'd be an improvement if it was three times longer or something, but I'm not complaining.
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nechronius
 Posts: 275 Location: So Cal, USA |
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That too was one of the details I picked up on and really appreciated, especially notable when pouring tea into a cup. Of course there were plenty of physical laws being ignored overall, but we are after all talking about miniature equivalents of human beings.
My favorite Ghibli films are Kiki and Porco Rosso. I don't necessarily think that they're Ghibli's best films, but they are the ones I enjoy watching the most. So we can definitely agree that everyone has their own "Ghibli." |
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GeekyBlackGirl
 Posts: 52 |
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I found it to be a perfect movie for children. No hidden meaning, no overtly political subtext, beautiful scenery, cute tiny characters, some comedy, and mostly light-hearted. My only gripe was that it ended too soon but there are those books that were written and this movie has made me want to read the books. For me, that is a sign that it is a good movie if I want to read the book so that I can continue to enjoy the story.
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Myaow
 Posts: 1068 |
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This movie is such a banquet for the eyes. The backgrounds were my favorite part of the movie-- Arrietty's room and the little dollhouse were so magical!
I have a question for people who have seen the UK or Japanese versions: spoiler[at the end of the USA version, there's a little voice-over from Sho/Shawn that goes something like "I never saw Arrietty again but I heard that the house down the road has been missing things lately", which I felt didn't sit with the mood of the last scene very well. Were these lines in the other versions? I remember with "Spirited Away" (and to an extent "Kiki's Delivery Service") the USA versions added new lines of dialogue at the end because the silent endings came across as too somber (or something.)] |
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N.R.
Posts: 232 |
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I agree with everything you said, except for the beatifully-drawn part. The film is very poorly drawn for its time. The picture quality is the same as in Spirited Away or Princess Mononoke, but these movies were made way before HD came into the picture. Nowdays anime is expected to use HD quality details, especially when it comes to movies. Arietty use very crude details akin to old Disney movies. The picture is sharp but the backgrounds is way too simplified. Overall I wouldn't recommend this movie at all. There are better things to be watched. And the that fact that this movie came from studio Ghibli shouldn't affect the review (and yet it did so greatly). |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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Old Disney films are not "crude" at all and you have zero appreciation for the art of animation. |
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uguu
Posts: 220 |
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Maybe he's referring to stuff like The Rescuers and The Jungle Book which had certain scenes that were quite raw & sketchy. Of course those movies look absolutely amazing and had true geniuses doing the animation, but many anime fans tend to put a pretty big focus on detail and how 'polished' something looks while paying less attention to everything else.
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MikiKoishikawa
 Posts: 4 |
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I just listened to Bridgit Mendler's song and I have to say that I still prefer the one from Cecile Corbel. The thing is, that I heard Cecile's version in German (when the BD was released over here) and I was fascinated that she sang the song for every release herself. It was always the same song, only in another language. |
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koinosuke
 Posts: 273 Location: Fukushima, Japan |
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That line was definitely not in the Japanese version. Ugh. Pretty dang unnecessary, if you ask me. Definitely brings down the tone of the ending a bit. |
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andyos
ANN Associate Editor
Posts: 264 |
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Those lines weren't in the UK dub either.
OTOH, Sho's opening voiceover lines were in the Japanese and British versions; spoiler[ if you think about them in the context of the ending, they resolve one of the questions that might be thought to be left hanging at the end.] |
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Botan24
 Posts: 684 Location: Northern Michigan |
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^This. The music is fantastic! I was sold from the opening theme, all the way until the end. Perhaps that's why I felt more connected to the overall story. Just a good instrumental piece can cause me to feel every sort of emotion. I actually teared up when Arrietty and Shaun parted ways, but just a little. Then again, I'm easily moved. I even felt sorry for Hara, who just seemed misguided in her actions. But, I can totally see humans acting like that if little people existed. As for Shaun and Arrietty's "deep" conversation in the garden, I believe that should have been left out entirely or beefed up more. It's like that dialogue had to take place so that the story would have its moral. To me, the whole point of the story is that life is full of meetings and partings. Loved the art and animation. It was great just sitting there watching Arrietty and her father trek through the house. But my favorite scene had to be when Arrietty finally enters the house properly. Of course its the kitchen she experiences first, and the sound effects are perfectly there. I thought that was a nice touch. *Side note: when the crow attacks the cat, that was fabulous. I like that after the bird flies off, the cat puffs itself up, and growls. 
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