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The Borrower Arrietty (Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2010)
As Arrietty tentatively approaches Sho, the world between
humans and borrowers threatens to collide, but the film, scripted by master
animator Hayao Miyazaki, eschews most predictable forms of drama. Instead, in
this rare character-driven cartoon, deeply felt themes of abandonment,
environmental scarcity, and the emergence of self-sufficiency in children (each
common in the Ghibli oeuvre) begin to come through. Surprisingly, however, these
themes are relayed by action as much as words. Instead of dictating values, in
the didactic manner of most cartoons,
Arrietty unfolds as if it has taken its moral lessons to heart. The film’s
story is told with next to no narrative fat and a story that proceeds with a
quiet sense of purpose. Where Miyazaki diverges from the source novel, he does
so intelligently, such as in the beautifully open ending, which eschews
conflict, opting instead to observe how coming to mutual understanding can
broaden worldviews. Similarly, the animation here is both workmanlike and quietly
stunning. Attention to detail is privileged over spectacle (almost to the point
of disappointment… there are not really any singular set pieces here). The
overall effect is that the animation operates almost invisibly, refusing to
impede upon our appreciation of the characters or to treat its marvelous world
as anything other than a matter of fact. Indeed, the animation here seems to
gain its biggest advantage over live action because nothing in
Arrietty distractingly announces
itself as a special effect. The Borrower Arrietty
is graced with a small scale that offers not an opportunity to turn the
world into a toybox, as in Pixar’s Toy
Story series, but instead a chance to contemplate that which is often
overlooked. An unadorned recreation of nature, as in many Ghibli films, is
deemed sufficient to provide most of the wonders here. Instead of escapism, this
film urges contemplation. The end result shames lesser, busier children’s films,
which almost inevitably incoherently resolve their moral dilemmas with violence
and chase scenes. The Borrorower Arrietty
may be quieter and more directly aimed at children than some other Ghibli
efforts, but it is up to the studio’s usual high standard nonetheless. 73 Jeremy Heilman 07.12.11
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