The most surprising thing about Hayao Miyazaki’s latest movie, The Secret World of Arrietty, is how small it is. Possibly not, given the subject matter - it’s about little people who live under the floorboards at a house in the country - but still, this is the guy that introduced new worlds with Princess Mononoke, and Spirited Away among others.
That said, maybe this is the direction the Director is moving in? With last year’s Ponyo, Miyazaki adapted The Little Mermaid, adding his own wit and wisdom... That movie too had a relatively limited scope, essentially taking place in two or three locations, and focusing on the relationship between the title character and her one true love. Here, we’re even more limited: there are set pieces, but again, Miyazaki gives us an adaptation (this time of the classic children’s novel “The Borrowers”), and an even more limited space to play in, essentially one house and its backyard. Read More...
