The tiny borrowers looking upon an everyday world makes for compelling visuals from beginning to end. The typically magnificent animation of the Ghibli team brings vivid life to the setting through two very different sized perspectives. Most of the time, this is a joy to experience, and while you certainly become attached to the characters, it isn't the heartbreaker Grave of the Fireflies was despite a handful of moments of sadness or lingering concerns. Bold messages for any film, albeit ones that are handled with great care and subtlety. Drawing comparisons to the 'sick mother' plot thread in Totoro, Sho's illness (he has a bad heart, but a good heart - geddit?) is a brave decision for a family film such as this - it's a story that encourages the viewer to embrace the wild and imaginative, while never forgetting that reality can be extremely cruel at the same time. Arrietty's curiosity about the world around her is infectious. The threats faced by the borrower family are well considered, subtle and engaging, and it helps that the main characters are by and large a likable and colourful bunch. It predominantly takes place in and around a single house, and as a result the location becomes as much of a character as any of the humans or borrowers.

It's a plot handled simply and very effectively. However, Sho's maid Haru isn't so friendly. Despite her parent's objections - and the very real fears that they'll have to move away if the human family become aware of their presence - she lets curiosity get the better of her and forges a peculiar relationship with the friendly boy. While the borrowers take great pains to avoid being seen by human eyes, Arrietty accidentally reveals herself to Sho. Arrietty's first official 'borrowing' - where the small folk borrow (alright: take) unwanted or superfluous items from 'human beans' - coincides with the arrival of the ill but kind human boy Sho.

She lives with her father Pod and mother Homily in a home underneath an old Japanese house. Even more so than Ponyo, it shows Ghibli - specifically first-time director Hiromasa Yonebayashi, with Hayao Miyazaki himself taking writing and producing credits - channeling the simple joys and wonders of childhood imagination.ДЄrrietty is a wee borrower - about the size of a large insect. (The Borrower) Arrietty - based on Mary Norton's classic The Borrowers, which you've probably seen adapted a dozen times before - is one of the most subdued, thoughtful and innocent animated films in many a year. It seems only fitting that a week after Pixar unleashed their hyperactive automobile sequel upon Europe - to critical apathy - that Optimum Releasing decided to be cheeky and release Studio Ghibli's latest opus upon saturated multiplexes.

The borrowers movie stiller