The Secret Life of Arietty: Does Ghibli Still Have Their Stuff?

One of the first things most people heard about this movie was that it was unoriginal. It is based off of The Borrowers and therefore cannot be any kind of masterpiece like the captivating magic of My Neighbor Totoro, the powerful current of Princess Mononoke, or the refreshing beauty of Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.

So the question is, with time passing, movies being made after American novels, and collaborations between the master Miyazaki and his son disappointing,* does Ghibli still have their stuff? In essence, are they still capable of producing the world wide standard setting animated movies they once did?

Before I start off on my impressions of the film I will say in all honesty that I fear for Studio Ghibli: perhaps because I love their work so deeply, I fear that they will be like Disney. The magic of the movies created by the man himself will never die, it's ageless, much like everything Miyazaki touched. But when he's gone, what happens?

 At the very least I can hope that he will live a good deal longer than Disney who died of lung cancer at 65. True, Miyazaki does smoke. In fact when a Japanese anti-smoking health group ran a poll to see what celebrities people most wanted to see quit smoking, Ghibli's creator was number five. However, at seventy-two he is already seven years older than Disney when "his left lung was riddled with tumors the size of walnuts,"and I may not know what I'm talking about, but Japan's considerably healthier diet and lifestyle has got to help.

Now on to the movie!

I've got to admit that the first thing I noticed was the fact that all the voices are British. It threw me off quite a bit at first but in the end it added to it. So perhaps the characters in this movie weren't quite as intriguing as the crone that rules the bathhouse of Spirited Away, it's alright. This movie's characters consist of Arietty, Arietty's father and mother, and Sho.



Arietty is at first seems like she'll be the typical "I don't want to think like my family, they're too afraid and I can show them how to live" sort of girl, but she shows herself to be much more. While she explores and indeed thinks differently than her parents, she also treasures them and does her best to obey them against her curiosity. Her biggest conflict throughout the film is just that, she is painfully curious about Sho but she believes her parents and is not willing to rebel, she wants to stay safe for them even though she may end up making the best friend she's ever had. And the best part? Unlike most movies, they don't have to shove all that information into the dialogue, it's shown through faces, silence, and actions. This is perhaps what I love best about Ghibli.

Arietty's father seems at first to be overly stoic, too silent, to distant, at first like he doesn't show any affection at all, but as he takes Arietty on her first "borrowing," it becomes apparent that he shows his affection in different ways, and you will eventually come to understand why Arietty greets him so happily when he comes home. His job is to care for his family and protect them from humans beings because he loves them so, and he does it to the best of his abilities.

Arietty's mother gives a first impression of being the stern kind, probably because she is first met scolding Arietty for going out again. But, again, she proves to be more.Only Ghibli could make her concern and fear for Arietty endearing, and they'e clearly still got what it takes to do so. Arietty's care for her helps viewers realize her mother is wonderful as well, at least a little more wonderful than a concerned scaredy cat.

Sho is a young boy who seems to be about twelve, maybe thirteen. He is sickly and cannot engage is much physical activity. His mother and father won't give him the time of day, and during the movie he is staying away from them in a little cottage where his mother grew up, taken care of by a maid and elderly woman who appears to have been a part of his mother's life when she was young. As one would expect of such a character, he is curious, and desperately wants to see what the humans call "the little people." He does manage to meet Arietty soon enough.

The setting of this place were not lacking, they fully satisfied my cravings for that elegant sheen on wood in the candlelight, unique to Ghibli's animation. And let's not forget how elegant a room crammed to its breaking point can look in their films. Much like Howl's room in Howl's Moving Castle, Arietty's room and home are charming, small, and simple, all with that flair of an older European interior that Miyazaki seems to have taken a liking to long ago. But this time, there are countless ways in which a viewer can see that perhaps all sizes are not proportionate.

Lastly, one detail Ghibli took the time to add that I enjoyed very much would be how the tea acts much differently physically at a smaller scale, plopping out of their tiny pot in fat drops that immediately fill their cups.

What was your favorite Ghiblized detail?

Enjoy!

Check out my review of Spirited Away here!

http://webekakoiikaizoku.blogspot.com/2013/04/spirited-away-review.html


*From Up on Poppy Hill was labeled a disappointment by Roger Ebert himself, stating that it "centers on two likable and perfectly straightforward college students who do nothing very extraordinary and are in a platonic romance." His biggest critique in my view being his note of a lack of those "baroque characters often created by Miyazaki, like the crone who runs the bathhouse in "Spirited Away."

Disney's death:
http://www.findadeath.com/Deceased/d/disney/uncle_walt.htm

Roger Ebert's review of From Up on Poppy Hill:
http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/from-up-on-poppy-hill-2013

Miyazaki one of the top celebrity that people want to stop smoking:
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2004-06-15/fans-to-miyazaki-stop-smoking