Anime director/producer Hayao Miyazaki, known as the Walt Disney of Japan, doesn’t have any daughters, so what makes him so able to understand the brave and secret hearts of his female protagonists is beyond me. In film after film like Ponyo, Kiki’s Delivery Service, My Neighbor Tortoro and now, The Secret World of Arrietty, Miyazaki puts girls at the center of the action. It’s so rare in children’s movies, not to mention in anime, it’s almost jaw-dropping.

Arrietty, which has been out in Japan for almost two years, is an adaptation of Mary Norton’s 1950s classic book, The Borrowers. Arrietty is a 14-year-old Borrower, little people who live in the walls of “human bean” houses, and get what they need by borrowing from humans. They’re never supposed to be seen by the Beans, but on her very first borrowing expedition with her father, Pod, Arrietty is spotted by the young boy staying at the house in which she lives.

Her parents warn her to stay away, and when they find Arrietty’s seeing the boy, they make plans to move. But Arrietty is lonely and wants a friend. And the Beans really only want to get a look at the little people. What happens next is sad and beautiful, but nothing that will terrify young children; it’s all on a level too subtle for really little ones to catch. They can enjoy the lovely music and glimmering, delicate animation, while older kids can grasp the beautiful humanistic message of Arrietty: Every being is entitled to life, and to love.

Arrietty is in theaters now grossing hundreds of millions; be one of the families who sees it on the big screen. It’s worth it.

POSTED IN: Books
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