The Secret World of Arrietty (***1/2 out of ****)

A problem many face when watching films these days is immersion. Often it becomes very apparent one is watching a film just to pass time. Everyone does it so there's no shame in it. However think of the times when you were so entranced with the story and images on screen it felt like your standing right by the characters in their struggle. The Secret World of Arrietty is one of those rare films that simply being in its presence is a treat.

Arrietty (Bridgit Mendler) is a borrower along with her parents. Borrowers are little people (about the size of a finger) that live under the floor and in the walls of homes. They borrow small things, items people won't miss (a cube of sugar, a tissue etc). They live in the crawl space of a country house in a darling miniature home. Arrietty's parents are Pod (Will Arnett) and Homily (Amy Poehler), Pod goes into the house to borrow the supplies they need and Homily stays at home and worries about him getting squished. A young kind boy arrives at the house to rest before a heart sugary. The boy is Shawn (David Hernie) and one night he sees Arrietty in the house. The borrowers worry that when a human sees them that their curiosity will consume them to destroying these tiny people's lives.

Studio Ghibli films are always spectacular (with the exception of Tales from Earthsea). They contain a wondrous imagination with youthful tales to entertain children. However adults too can take the sophisticated stories and beautiful colors/music to heart. The Sercret World of Arrietty is blessed with a lovely soundtrack, majestic colors and interesting characters. There are never true villains in films Hayao Miyazaki films (He wrote this film but decided to let a friend Hiromasa Yonebayashi to take the helm in directing it). Just characters that have conflicting interests. Here is another example in how human these characters seem. This is an engrossing film for all ages. It's only February but I feel that this will be one of the highlight films of the year. I hope you'll see it and think so too.

***1/2 out of ****