Arrietty, titled in Japan and The Secret World of Arrietty in North America, is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi as his feature film debut as a director, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, Toho and Wild Bunch. The screenplay by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa, was based on the 1952 novel The Borrowers by Mary Norton, an English author of children's books, about a family of tiny people who live secretly in the walls and floors of a typical household, borrowing items from humans to survive. The film stars the voices of Mirai Shida, Ryunosuke Kamiki, Shinobu Otake, Keiko Takeshita, Tatsuya Fujiwara, Tomokazu Miura, and Kirin Kiki, and tells the story of a young Borrower (Arrietty) befriending a human boy (Sho), while trying to avoid being detected by the other humans.
Ghibli announced the film in late 2009 with Yonebayashi making his directorial debut. Miyazaki supervised the production as a developing planner. The voice actors were approached in April 2010, and Cécile Corbel wrote the film's score as well as its theme song. This film marks the cinematic debut of Yonebayashi, as well as the British dub marking the cinematic debut of Tom Holland.
The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2010, by Toho, and received positive reviews from critics, who praised its animation and music. It became the highest-grossing Japanese film at the Japanese box office for the year 2010, and grossed $149 million worldwide. The film also won the Animation of the Year award at the 34th Japan Academy Prize award ceremony. Two English-language versions of the film were produced, a British dub released in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2011, by Optimum Releasing and an American dub released in North America on February 17, 2012, by Walt Disney Pictures.
Plot A boy named Shō tells the story of the week in summer he spent at his mother's home with his maternal great-aunt, Sadako, and the housemaid, Haru. Living within the walls of the house is a family of Borrowers, miniature human beings who come out at night to "borrow" small trinkets for survival; stern patriarch Pod, antsy matriarch Homily and their adventurous daughter Arrietty. When Shō arrives, he gets a glimpse of Arrietty hiding in the plants.
At night, Pod takes Arrietty on her first "borrowing" mission, to get sugar and tissue paper. After obtaining a sugar cube from the kitchen, they travel to a bedroom which they enter through a dollhouse. It is Shō's bedroom; he sees Arrietty when she tries to take a tissue from his table. Startled, she drops the sugar cube. Shō tries to call out to her, but Pod and Arrietty leave.
The next day, Shō places the sugar cube and a little note beside the air vent. Pod warns Arrietty not to take it because their existence must be kept secret from humans. Nevertheless, she sneaks out to visit Shō in his bedroom. Without showing herself, she tells him to leave her family alone, but they soon have a conversation, which is interrupted by a crow. The crow attacks Arrietty, but Shō manages to save her. When Haru comes in to fend off the crow, she grows suspicious of the presence of Borrowers. On her return home, Arrietty is intercepted by her father. Realizing they have been detected, Pod and Homily decide they must move out. Shō learns from Sadako that his mother and grandfather had noticed the presence of Borrowers in the house and had a dollhouse built for them. The Borrowers had not been seen since.
Pod returns injured from a borrowing mission and is helped home by Spiller, a Borrower who lives in the wild. Shō removes the floorboard concealing the Borrower household and replaces their kitchen with the kitchen from the dollhouse to show he hopes for them to stay. However, the Borrowers are frightened by this and speed up their moving process. Pod recovers and Arrietty bids farewell to Shō. Shō apologizes that he has forced them to move out and reveals he has had a heart condition since birth and will undergo an operation in a few days. The operation does not have a good chance of success. He is accepting, saying that every living thing dies.
Haru notices the floorboards have been disturbed. She unearths the Borrowers' house and captures Homily. Alerted by her mother's screams, Arrietty goes to investigate. Saddened by her departure, Shō returns to his room. Haru locks him in and calls a pest control company to capture the other Borrowers alive. Arrietty comes to Shō for help; they rescue Homily and he removes all traces of the Borrowers' presence, including putting the kitchen back in the dollhouse.
On their way out during the night, the Borrowers are spotted by the cat Niya. Thereupon Niya leads Shō to the "river", a small rivulet, where the Borrowers are waiting for Spiller to take them further. Shō gives Arrietty a sugar cube and tells her that she will always be a part of him and that her courage and the Borrowers' fight for survival have made him want to live through the operation. In return, Arrietty gives him her hairclip, a small clothespin, as a token of remembrance. The Borrowers leave in a floating teapot with Spiller in search of a new home.
The Disney international dubbed version contains a final monologue, where Shō states that he never saw Arrietty again. He returned to the house a year later, indicating that the operation had been successful. However, he overhears rumors of objects disappearing in neighboring homes.
Production Development On December 16, 2009, Studio Ghibli announced Karigurashi no Arrietty to be released in 2010. The film is based on the novel The Borrowers by the British writer Mary Norton. The novel won the Carnegie Medal for children's literature in 1953, and the book series had already been adapted into two films and a TV series at the time. Studio Ghibli founders Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki had been contemplating an adaptation of this novel for the past 40 years.
Animator Hiromasa Yonebayashi was announced as the film director on the same day. Hiromasa Yonebayashi was one of the animators for the Studio Ghibli films Howl's Moving Castle, Ponyo and Spirited Away. He was also the reserve director for the film Tales from Earthsea. Miyazaki was announced as the production planner.
Casting The Japanese voice cast of the film was announced on April 13, 2010. Actress Mirai Shida was cast as the voice of Arrietty. Arrietty was Shida's first voice acting role. In addition, Ryunosuke Kamiki, who has voiced characters in other Studio Ghibli films, including Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle was cast as Shō.
Besides them, the film's cast includes Tomokazu Miura, Shinobu Otake, Keiko Takeshita, and Kirin Kiki. The four actors had previous voice acting experience, but none of them had been in a Studio Ghibli film before. Miura and Otake were, respectively, cast as Arrietty's parents Pod and Homily. In addition, Takeshita voiced Shō's aunt and Kiki voiced the housemaid Haru.
On January 8, 2011, actress and singer Bridgit Mendler was cast as Arrietty for the film's North American release. Besides Mendler, the cast included Will Arnett, Amy Poehler, Carol Burnett, and David Henrie. The film had a different voice cast for the United Kingdom release. The cast included Saoirse Ronan, Tom Holland, Mark Strong, Olivia Colman, Phyllida Law, and Geraldine McEwan.
The cast is: Character Japanese voice actor English UK dubbing actor English US dubbing actor Mirai Shida Saoirse Ronan Bridgit Mendler Ryunosuke Kamiki Tom Holland David Henrie as Shawn Shinobu Otake Olivia Colman Amy Poehler Tomokazu Miura Mark Strong Will Arnett Kirin Kiki Geraldine McEwan Carol Burnett as Hara Tatsuya Fujiwara Luke Allen-Gale Moisés Arias Keiko Takeshita Phyllida Law Gracie Moore as Jessica
Music
The film score of Arrietty was composed by French recording artist and musician Cécile Corbel, the first time a non-Japanese composer worked with the studio.
After ending promotion for her second album SongBook vol. 2, Corbel, a fan of the studio's output, sent one of her remaining promo albums to Studio Ghibli. At the time, the film was in pre-production and producer Toshio Suzuki wanted a Celtic-inspired score. Less than ten days later, she received an email from Studio Ghibli about her CD. The envelope, because it was handwritten, had caught the eye of Suzuki, and he had listened to the album. He was captivated by Corbel's voice and the sound of the harp, and after playing the album for Yonebayashi and Yamaha Music, Corbel was assigned to write the title song of the film, followed by more songs. By 2009, she was asked to compose the entire score.
The score combined the musical styles of Celtic folk music, medieval Turkish songs, Baroque madrigals, and Irish marches. It was recorded in France with a small orchestra including acoustic guitar, bass, a string quartet, bagpipes, Irish flutes, bodhrán, percussion instruments, and accordion. The soundtrack album won "Best Original Soundtrack Album" at the 2011 Japan Gold Disc Awards. It also became a RIAJ-certified gold record in Japan, where more than 200,000 copies were sold.
Arrietty's Song "Arrietty's Song", the film's main theme, was performed by Corbel in Japanese, English, German, Italian, Breton, and French.
The song made its public debut in a presentation of the song by singer Corbel and percussionist Marco in Apple's store in Shibuya, Tokyo, on 8 August 2010. Some of the Japanese theme songs for this film, including "Arrietty's Song" was first released online through the iTunes Store, mora and Musico on 19 December 2009. Subsequently, the official album containing all of the theme songs of this film was released on 14 July 2010. The album's listing on the Oricon charts peaked at the 31st position. Separately, the song "Arrietty's Song" were released as a singles album on 7 April 2010.
Track listings U.S. / Digital Download "Arrietty's Song" (Digital Download) – 3:26
Charts Chart (2010)PeakpositionJapan (Japan Hot 100)98
Summertime "Summertime" is a song performed by American pop recording artist Bridgit Mendler for the film's North American release. The song was released by Hollywood Records on February 2, 2012. The song premiered on Radio Disney on February 1, with its release on iTunes on February 2, 2012. In an interview with Kidzworld about what the song is about, Mendler explained, "It's not based on personal experience but I think the whole summertime, kind of cheerful, innocent thing was relatable for the movie and something they liked. The movie is about imagery and there are some good images in that song."
The music video premiered on Disney Channel on January 10. It was directed by Art Spigel, director of the Disney Channel Games, and was filmed on-location at Disney's Golden Oak Ranch in Los Angeles, California.
Track listings U.S. / Digital Download "Summertime" (Digital Download) – 3:01
Charts Chart (2012) PeakpositionUS Kid Digital Songs (Billboard) 8
Release history CountryDateFormatLabelUnited States February 2, 2012Digital downloadHollywood Records
Themes and analysis
Scale and space Scholarly analysis of The Secret World of Arrietty has emphasized the film's focus on scale and spatial relationships. A study by Zeynep Fatma Niğdeli and Merve Karaoğlu Can identified "human scale" as the dominant theme, noting that the Borrowers are coded more frequently than the full-sized humans, with Arrietty and Sho emerging as the most prominent characters. Their interaction highlights the film's central concern with coexistence between different worlds.