THE SECRET WORLD OF ARRIETTY
RYAN: Aren’t you just beside yourself with joy there’s a new cartoon movie opening today?
CAROLINE: I honestly hadn’t even heard of this film until you told me you were going to the screening. How embarrassing is that?
RYAN: Well LBH, you’re more than out of the loop when it comes to animated films, let alone Japanese animated movies. However, this one is voiced by American actors and distributed by Disney. And it’s by the powerhouse team that made animated insta-classics like Spirited Away, Howl’s Moving Castle, Ponyo, among others…
CAROLINE: No shocker, it’s like you’re speaking a foreign language to me.
RYAN: They’re all great titles and this is another one to add to the bunch. When released in the UK, it was voiced by Mark Strong and Saoirse Ronan and I would have loooved to see that version but I’m also quite content with the American cast.
CAROLINE: Who’s in it?
RYAN: Disney Channel stars Bridgit Mendler and David Henrie are the main voices.
CAROLINE: I’m still lost.
RYAN: But then there’s Amy Poehler and Will Arnett.
CAROLINE: OK good.
RYAN: They play hubby and wife and she’s comedic but his voice is very serious throughout.
CAROLINE: That’s a bummer. Anyone else?
RYAN: Carol Burnett! And she’s actually high-lar. She doesn’t have a ton of scenes but the character she voices is quite shrill and comical and she brilliantly goes with it.
CAROLINE: We don’t normally give away plot but what’s this basically about?
RYAN: It’s based on the popular children’s’ book The Borrowers about little people who live in the walls and beneath the floor and borrow things from the house to survive. It’s also like the 80s animated TV series The Littles of which I was a fan as a kid.
CAROLINE: I can’t say it rings a bell.
RYAN: Well the little people in this are different characters but it is very similar. There’s actually a lot of heart to the story and the script gets kinda deep.
CAROLINE: So what age range would you say this is for?
RYAN: I was thinking it was a bit slow and tedious in some parts so I would have recommended this for the more mature child, if that makes sense; but there were kids of all ages at the screening and they weren’t restless at all. So it must work on all levels. It’s also refreshing seeing classic animation again.
CAROLINE: Yeah that’s a rare treat for animation fans these days.
RYAN: It’s a really sweet, nice movie for kids with enough depth to engage the adults in the audience. I’m a fan of this team so I’m saying see it though I don’t think it would loose too much sparkle with a home screening on DVD.
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