2010 Japanese animated film
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 (Shida) befriending a human boy (Kamiki), 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 over $145 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. When Shō arrives, he gets a glimpse of Arrietty, a Borrower girl, hiding in the plants.
At night, Arrietty's father, Pod, takes her 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 her 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 saves her. On her return home, Arrietty is intercepted by her father. Realizing they have been detected, Pod and his wife 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 the 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 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.
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.
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.
Release.
"Arrietty" was first released in Japanese cinemas on July 17, 2010, by Toho. The film was officially released at a ceremony attended by the film's cast and Yonebayashi. Corbel performed the film's theme song at the event. In addition, Yonebayashi hinted that he wanted the film to beat the record of over 12 million audiences set by previous Studio Ghibli film, "Ponyo". The film was screened in 447 theaters throughout Japan during its debut weekend.
In the United Kingdom, the film was released on July 29, 2011, by Optimum Releasing. The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures under the Walt Disney Pictures banner in the United States on February 17, 2012, with the title "The Secret World of Arrietty". The North American dub was directed by Gary Rydstrom, produced by Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy and written by Karey Kirkpatrick.
A screening of the North American release was held on January 21, 2012, in New York City. The film opened in 1,522 screens during its general release.
Home media.
"Arrietty" was released as part of the "Studio Ghibli Collection" by Disney Japan in both Blu-ray Disc and DVD formats within Japan. The DVD version of the film consists of two discs in the region 2 format. The Blu-ray version consists of a single disc in the Region A format. Both versions were released in Japan on June 17, 2011, and both contain English and Japanese subtitles.
StudioCanal (previously known as Optimum Releasing) released the movie on both Region 2 DVD and Region B Blu-ray format in the United Kingdom on January 9, 2012. A DVD/Blu-ray Double Play "Collector's Edition" was also released, featuring art cards.
The film was released by Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on DVD and as a Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on May 22, 2012, in North America. GKIDS re-issued the movie on Blu-ray and DVD on November 21, 2017, under a new deal with Studio Ghibli.
Reception.
Box office.
"Arrietty" earned $19,202,743 in North America and $126,368,084 in other territories for a worldwide total of $145,570,827. It is the fourth-highest grossing anime film in the United States, and the highest not based on a game franchise.
"Arrietty" debuted at the first position in the Japanese box office. More than one million people went to see the film during its opening weekend. It grossed around 1.35 billion yen that weekend. Distributor Toho announced that as of August 5,