While in Brussels (or Bruxelles) for the wonderful Anima Festival, I was able to see a number of animated features, which are my passion.
The new Studio Ghibli film Arrietty was screening there. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi and produced by the great Hayao Miyazaki, the film was a real audience pleaser.
It's a story that was made a few years ago by the famous French director Luc Besson and released in the States with the title, "The Borrowers". This version is a lot cuter with more emotion, about a boy who is very sick with a heart disease and he falls in love with a 10 inch tall girl who lives under his house.
In the end it becomes a tear jerker that moved many people in the audience.
For myself, I was very bored – specifically with the visual look of the characters. They still have that stiff anime walk that they've been recycling for 20 years, and the big eyes still bug the hell out of me. But my biggest complaint is that the film has no visual flair or imaginative surrealism that is a trademark of the Studio Ghibli films. It looked like an average TV show.
I grade Arriety a C.
The Borrowers was a English film made several years ago based on a classic book.
ReplyDeleteArietty is a character from the original book.
Besson made Arthur and the Minimoys, which is probably what you are thinking of.
It's a film that also features tiny humans.