Arrietty (2010) Review

A Studio Ghibli Gem



Many of the films that have been released by Studio Ghibli such as Spirited Away and Howls moving Castle, they are regarded as the best films by Studio Ghibli, the film Arrietty is not one of the best, but it's a film that is charming and you will want to watch it again. The first thing that is noticeable and can differ from a lot of the other Ghibli films is the attention to detail in the still animation.
The design and attention to detail are beautiful especially when the story takes us outside of the house and into the outdoor/garden areas; I really have to congratulate the animators for this and still goes to show how much drawn animation can still offer in this present day when a lot of other animation depend on CGI, you simply have to admire what Ghibli have been doing for many years. Along with the stunning colours and visuals, is the music that fit's perfectly well with this film, Cecile Corbel's English iteration of Arrietty's theme and 'Neglected garden' fit well with the peaceful environment and does show why this film is one of Ghibli's little Gems. The dialogue and the writing is pretty standard and expected of this sought of animation and story being that it does relate back to Mary Norton's 'The Borrowers', you are going to be noticing that it is aimed at children which is absolutely fine.Putting my head around this though, the dialogue and the writing has a balance of humour but seriousness to it which again is expected for a child to watch. There may be not a lot of action, but you have to expect this coming from this specific story and different iteration of the Borrowers.
The characters are very lovable and you can easily be attached to their world. Also to note the English dub is perfectly acceptable since it does appeal to children, Saorise Ronan does an excellent job of doing the voice of Arrietty, probably one of her best performances in film so far. Being that I have watched this film in the English Dub, American Dub and in Japanese, I would recommend to stay away from the American Dub being that Disney infamously tend to butcher the original Ghibli films that they have as reference. I would recommend to watch either the English Dub or the Japanese version since they feel more authentic and natural.The film maybe only and hour and 30 minutes and can be considered to not match up to the likes of 'Spirited Away' or 'Ponyo', but Hiromasa Yonebayashi has done a fantastic job; the film is sweet and gentle and definitely does appeal to the main target audience of Children as it does have stunning visuals to really admire and appreciate, the characters are certainly likeable and the way Ghibli have re-imagined the story of 'The Borrowers' is certainly interesting.


7/10 Alex Rabbitte

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Ghost in the Shell (1995) Film Review

Image
An Anime For The Masses? If there's one thing to note in relation to the films that are shown today and the many different film-making practises that are utilised, it's how much directors 'pay homage' to other works that have come to print their mark on this lauded artistic medium. As much as film-makers of this generation are trying to be distinctive and different from the auteurs that have come and gone, it's easy to notice just how much some of the most iconic moments, narratives and scenes in cinema history have been inspired by the films that have come before them. A noticeable example of this happening, is by looking through Darren Aronofsky's pieces of Requiem For a Dream and Black Swan  and how much both of these films instrument scenes and contextual themes from Satoshi Kon's Japanese Animation of Perfect Blue . This however, isn't the only anime film in recent memory which has had its thematic and formal constructs been extracted towar...
Read more

Matilda Film Review

Image
An Americanisation That Aims To Charm... In viewing many adaptations over the years that have derived from many different levels of literature, there's a big difference between the books that people read and films that purposefully aim to entertain in terms of the audience. Whereas, arguably, books have distinguishable levels that appropriate towards many different demographics, the whole premise of filmic entertainment is that it's meant to relate to all age-groups; despite what the particular film might be interpreted as. From the vast array of Disney related titles to the ever-growing expanses of the superhero genre, we can interpret film as a medium that has the capacity to encroach towards a broader scale. Being that books vary in relation to the multitude of differentiating genre's and specific readers that are metaphysically intertwined, it's no wonder that, along with superhero re-imaginations, book adaptations are generally hard to be re-worked purposefu...
Read more

Pokemon Silver Game Review

Image
Where it all started... There's really nothing quite like it when you relive a game that was forever in your interests as a child. While there were numerous games that me and my older brothers played countless amounts of times, games such as FIFA, Timesplitters, Mario Kart 64/Super Mario 64 and many others, the game that not only peaked everyone's interest at the time but served to be the 1st genuine game that I had properly played through, was Pokemon Silver. Despite these first Pokemon Blue/Red belonging to my older brothers, leaving me and the other brother of mine helplessly watching along, at the time it was just as addicting watching people play the game since it was a GameBoy head-title that had so much mystery, secrets and replay-ability within it. This would prove to be the same when I first played Pokemon Silver where not only were there more secrets and trinkets that kept me glued to catching more of these creatures and obtaining more badges, but was a vast im...
Read more