93% The Secret World of Arrietty

All Critics (107) | Top Critics (25) | Fresh (101) | Rotten (7) | DVD (1)

The Secret World of Arrietty is a marvelously captivating animated feature about very tiny people and the full-scale world they inhabit.

Yonebayashi gives Arrietty an excellent sense of balance, with the adventure aspects of the story, which feel legitimately dangerous providing well-paced contrast the film's more placid moments.

It's an enjoyable and attractive-looking film, but a little of that "Speed Racer" energy wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

The visual details are inventive, and the animation - particularly the colors - is lovely.

"The Secret World of Arrietty'' is a feast for the eyes that will engage the entire family.

The Secret World of Arrietty is sweet fun, an astute match of exquisite style and small content.

...creates a sense of wide-eyed wonder and discovery as we experience the awe-inspiring mysteries of an ordinary house as seen from the four-inch borrower's point of view.

The animation, a gorgeous blend of bewitching watercolored backgrounds and poignantly rendered characters, is, as ever, beyond reproach.

What is most effective is the way the sense of peaceful shelter and retreat in the country setting contrasts with the precariousness of the situations faced by Shawn and Arrietty.

It's hard to imagine this scenario playing out with more delicacy and care than animator-turned-director Yonebayashi Hiromasa brings to bear.

Arrietty has an elegiac mood, like a more wan and sedate Toy Story.

Gently enchanting, an extraordinary adventure

There may not be a frenzy of action and fast cuts but each scene has meticulous details about how the borrowers live, how they make use of the things in their environment to survive.

Tiny people who live in the walls of a rural home are put at risk when they are discovered by the humans residing there. Studio Ghibli offers a soothing animated version of the classic children's novels.

the basic elements of loneliness, friendship, and the fragility of life are intact, along with that ineffable sense of wonder, melancholy, and magic

By being less bizarre than SPIRITED AWAY and having more of a human center to the film, THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY is one of Studio Ghibli's best efforts to date.

A beautiful family film based on THE BORROWERS will delight audiences of all ages

The Secret World of Arrietty is an engaging and warm story of a lovely friendship that has enough action and humour to satisfy all ages, and boy, it's awfully pretty.

While perfectly pleasant and an entirely suitable option for anyone looking to take small children to the movies, it is a disappointingly minor entry in the annals of Studio Ghibli...

An oasis of calm in the normally hyperactive world of toon entertainment.

That relaxed pace allows the story to breathe?forget the franticness of most American animation?and along with the gorgeously detailed art, lush color, and swoony music...the film is all but guaranteed to entrance children.

How sad that such efforts rarely find the audience they deserve.

Like its title character, it's a small tale told with a lot of heart, and for those looking for a throwback to non-computer-animated films, this could be your answer. (Parental Movie Review also available)

This could have been, and should have been, a marvelous treat for children of all ages.

I loved the attention to detail in this film. In fact, it is the precise sizing of everyday objects in proportion to the Borrowers themselves that I found fascinating.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_secret_world_of_arrietty/

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