Arrietty is whimsical and playfully sensationalist and that adds an amount of epicness to the film. Normal childhood events like being sick, playing with dollhouses or toys, making a friend who is different from you, or simply being outside, are presented as glorious occurrences.
A child is just a tiny human and they are dwarfed by the world around them. They’re little compared to just about everything. Objects can be too high to reach, arms are too short to carry everything without something spilling over, legs too little to get anywhere fast enough. But when you’re little, I think you have a more concentrated sense of wonder. Have you ever taken a child for a walk? The distance it would take an adult 15 minutes to walk could take the child an hour to do. Kids notice the smallest of details and get distracted by them, easily. They’ll take it all in: cool rocks, big sticks, weird bugs, you name it. Maybe it’s simply their proximity to the ground but the world looks cool and overwhelming when you’re little and you notice all the little details. Maybe being distracted isn’t such a bad thing sometimes.
Detail is a virtue of Ghibli films, especially with Miyazaki’s work or in this case, Miyazaki-associated work. Like mentioned before, children notice things adults pass by everyday. How fun for a child to watch a film and feel like they’re playing a game of iSpy! I’m talking specifically about The Borrower’s makeshift home because the borrowed objects (buttons, pins, tissue paper) are being repurposed to fit their needs in a way that is different from the humans. Their home looks like a shoebox diorama that 10 year old me would make, using objects around my home to create a new space.
(I spy an aluminum pop tab, a button, a stamp...)
For The Borrowers, ants are the size of rats and crickets are as big as dogs. Watching liquids behave on a small scale is beautiful to watch. They all have surface tension, so water beads from their teapot in droplets, and melted cheese forms big round balls. Wouldn’t it be lovely to look at my own food that way? It’s a shame that age seems to deprive most people of their ability to look at the most mundane elements of their life and see something extraordinary.
Arrietty’s parents teach that discovery equals disaster but she let’s her curiosity get the best of her anyways. This is an adventure film that allows children to take their own fantastic journeys within the realms of their own homes and yards and neighborhoods (although, that does sort of feel like an adult’s version of adventure.) Pod is stern yet fair. Homily may be a bit more easily hysterical and anxious when it comes to safety. It’s kind of like saying, “Go have an adventure and discover new things but don’t go too far away from safety.” Nevertheless, I think that’s a pretty good compromise.
Arrietty’s size is seen as a challenge at points but it never impedes her (i.e climbing up the drapes). It’s also an advantage sometimes (i.e fitting through a crack in a locked window.) What a nice thing for kids to see! You have a little body and can still do things, perhaps even things big people can’t do. And her unwavering enthusiasm makes her the perfect vessel for the spirit of childhood adventure.
I couldn’t help but think about Honey I Shrunk The Kids while watching this and how much I loved that movie as a kid. It recognizes that most kids are able to look at their own backyards and see a world of infinite adventure. This movie does so much with its relatively simple premise by throwing nearly every obstacle at these kids that could possibly occur. By turning our small heroes even smaller, these stories become epics. And as frightening as their adventure was, I didn’t know a single kid who saw this movie that wouldn’t have gladly embarked on that journey at least once if they could.
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