From the studio that brought us Ponyo and Spirited Away, and now teaming up with Disney, is a delightful animated film about the little people who reside beneath the floorboards in a secret world. Arietty (Voice of Bridgit Mendler), is a tiny but tenacious 14-year-old, who lives with her parents (Will Arnet and Amy Poehler.) The parents are just plain weird – the father like a robotic Indiana Jones, and her mother looking more like his grandmother in dowdy ankle socks and scruffy slippers.
But the family shares a deep love and lots of secrets as they’re “Borrowers” a polite term for “Robbers” who go upstairs to take gadgets, safety pins and sugar cubes. The housekeeper (Carol Burnett) is wicked fun, and wants them exterminated, but they’ve won the heart of a young boy, Shawn (David Henrie) who has a blossoming friendship with Arietty. The problem is his “heart” is actually failing and he has his own set of secrets. Just in time for winter school break the film ignites all five of our senses heightening our fears, phobias and perspectives. The soundtrack and sound effects are magnificent and the story so unusual it will keep you mesmerized from beginning to end. Three and a half tiaras