The Secret World of Arrietty (Blog Post 1)

★ Review
★ Trailer

     Though Ian Buckwalter's take on the film "The Secret World of Arrietty" is quite lengthy, after reading it I actually thought it was a pretty good, and informative review. He starts off letting his readers know that any Studio Ghibli movies (which are made over seas in Japan) that come out in the United States are released through the Disney company. He also lets the readers know that Studio Ghibli is the Pixar of Japan, which lets you know right off the bat that they make family friendly films.

     Even though Hayao Miyazaki is a well known director in Japan, and founder of Studio Ghibli, he wrote this film, and passed on the directing of it to long time friend and apprentice Hiromasa Yonebayashi. After going on about the history of Miyazaki, director Yonebayashi, and Studio Ghibli for quite a while, he finally gets into the actual reviewing of the film. In this part of the review, the reader is basically being introduced to the main characters of the film, and told that "The Secret World of Arrietty" is very much similar to the 1952 novel "The Borrowers," which is actually stated in the movie trailer. The reviewer also stated that the actors which voiced the characters in the film were perfect for their roles, saying that actress Amy Poehler provided the film with many comical moments. I really thought that that particular statement strongly supported the feeling of this whole family friendly film.

     In the following paragraph, the reviewer points out some quaint details about the film. Anybody who has seen any of Hayao Miyazaki's films knows that they are filled with magical, spiritual worlds, and unfamiliar creatures. In this film there is none of that, he explains "The Secret World of Arrietty" as "a country house populated by big people, little people, a cat, a crow, and some insects." He then flips it back to talk about the good points of the film, which I thought was a pretty good technique... that I noticed all film critics use. But he writes in detail about how the film is made to be seen as the perspective of the characters, and how the film did such a beautiful job showing the viewers just that.

     Finally, he wraps things up by talking about how important this movie was for Studio Ghibli. Being the first release from Ghibli in years, Ian Buckwalter says that this film is proof that Studio Ghibli should keep making beautifully hand- drawn films, "whether it's from Hayao Miyazaki, or another artist onto whom he has passed his craft." The great detail, and positive words used in the movie review made me immediately imagine all of Hayao Miyazaki's great works from the past, and how gorgeous the hand- drawn art and the colorful, but at the same time mysterious personalities of the characters are. I thought that the comparing and contrasting of Hayao Miyasaki's past films, as to this film were very important too. It really was a great review, and I think everything he wrote was very pure, and honest.