Marquee Mama's REEL Reviews

Please.  The root word comes to mind repeatedly when I think about Disney’s “The Secret World of Arrietty”.  A pleasant story line, very pleasing animation, simply, it was a pleasure to watch.

Immediately this film looks like a vintage cartoon, a flashback to early days of animation.  But very quickly it evolves into pure visual beauty.  So many scenes could have been frozen into artistic landscape paintings worthy of framing.  Eventually, the realistic look of certain items – brickwork, clouds, wood floors, certain plants, raindrops – will have you wondering if you’re really getting a mix of photography and animation.  From start to finish the visual magnificence of this film justifies the box office prices.  It’s something that could be lost on a small screen, so watch on the largest screen possible.  

© 2012 Walt Disney Pictures, All Rights Reserved

Things I loved:

• • Arrietty’s garden bedroom is any young girl’s dream room!  My daughter let out an audible gasp when she saw it.
• • Oh how Marquee Mama loves a strong female role model in movies (and TV and music and real life!).  We just have so few of them.  Add brave, intrepid Arrietty to the short list!
• • The musical score here is a good one – a perfect fit.  If you’re like me and you have a DVD player in your car, you’ve heard more kids movies than you’ve watched (I memorized the entire script to the original “Stuart Little” when we had our first car DVD system).  This movie’s music and audio track will make for some great listening.
• • A predatory crow with an appetite for the tiny Arrietty provides for some unexpected and hilarious excitement.  Very young kids might be startled.
• • I’m proud of Disney for touching on serious issues uncharacteristic for its typical family fare – divorce, disease, death, even genocide.  But fans will be treated to Disney’s trademark happy ending.
• • The animation is top notch!  I found myself wondering which frame of this movie’s landscape artistry would fit best in my living room.
• • And of course there was Nina, the helpful cat whose profile suspiciously resembles the Grinch (I know, wrong studio!).

© 2012 Walt Disney Pictures, All Rights Reserved

Things I didn’t love:

• • Most pressing:  I would love to ask the animators why Homily (Arrietty’s mother) looks about 100 years older than her husband (Pod).  What’s with the jowls?
• • And the name they give themselves:  “borrowers”?  Um, they never return anything they, uh, “borrow”…
• • I lost count of the hums.  Every character, even the minors, hummed.  “Hmmm.”  “Hmmm?”  “Hmmm!”  Enough already!
• • I’m not sure Homily and Pod would have lasted past a first date in real life.
• • I was missing Will Arnett’s humor.   He’s never been so serious!
• • Hara (Carol Burnett) was excessively kooky at times, even for Carol Burnett.
• • The Japanese credits were about 10x longer than the Americans’.  Did we really do so little?

© 2012 Walt Disney Pictures, All Rights Reserved

If you’ve never read the books (“The Borrowers” series originally published in the mid-20^th century), don’t fret.  I hadn’t even heard of it, nor had my daughter who counted the days ‘til the movie’s release.  The story stands on its own.  It’s an interesting tale of tiny people who live beneath the human world, literally under the homes of humans.  They call themselves “borrowers” because they “borrow” items from humans, though they don’t intend to return any items, so it escapes me why the term “borrow” is used.  I suppose Disney wouldn’t favor a wholesome family of tiny people with the more accurate label of “thieves”.

Nonetheless, “The Secret World of Arrietty” is wonderful not only for its sweetness, but for its very strong young female lead (voiced by Brigit Mendler of Disney TV fame).  Arrietty (which certain characters distractingly pronounce Arriet-ty) is a brave and intrepid teenager, eager to discover a larger world outside of her home’s boundaries.  A chance encounter with a human boy begins Arrietty’s real adventure.

© 2012 Walt Disney Pictures, All Rights Reserved

Now, I know there’s already been buzz about actors Carol Burnett, Amy Poehler and Will Arnett.  But I have to go against popular opinion here.  While Carol Burnett did provide some comedy, it was unnecessarily overdone, almost slapstick, for this serene movie.  Amy Poehler was great in her character as Arrietty’s nervous mother, but her character was grossly out of place (not to mention drawn far older than her husband!). She was frequently hysterical and spastic for no apparent reason.  Will Arnett (Arrietty’s father) was so stoic, his voice was unrecognizable to me.  I think he was channeling Clint Eastwood from Grand Torino!

This film’s beautiful imagery, its message of tolerance and peace and seeing beyond the surface, are wonderful.  And the film’s Japanese origin makes for a truly fascinating translation to English.  The charming slow pace will likely appeal more to the mothers and daughters, but “The Secret World of Arrietty” is definitely going to be a family pleaser.

“THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY” / Rated G In theaters February 17, 2012

“THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY”  is Rated G

In theaters February 17, 2012