The Secret World of Arrietty movie review

Back in theaters as part of Studio Ghibli Fest, the 2010 Japanese animated film explores the world of tiny people known as Borrowers who live secret lives hidden away by borrowing small amounts from the human world and carefully hiding their existence. Our main character is Arrietty (Mirai Shida | Bridgit Mendler) who comes of age in the course of the film taking part in her first borrowing with her father (Tomokazu Miura | Will Arnett) and also, against her peoples' custom and her mother's (Shinobu Otake | Amy Poehler) warnings, beginning a friendship with a sickly human child name Sho (Ryunosuke Kamiki | David Henrie).

While it might not inspire the awe of My Neighbor Totoro, from beginning to end, The Secret World of Arrietty is simply a really good film exploring both Arrietty's beautifully rendered world, and, mostly through her curiosity, the world of the large humans (not all of whom are as friendly as the boy who catches a glimpse of her) as well. An extremely rewatchable coming of age story, The Secret World of Arrietty hits nearly all the right notes before delivering the bittersweet ending where our protagonist's journey was always headed. It may have been a bit overshadowed over the years by Studio Ghibli's more recent films, but The Secret World of Arrietty has it where it counts and still holds up well 15 years later.

Watch the trailer

• Title: The Secret World of Arrietty
• IMDb: link