The Secret World of Arrietty, Hayao Miyazaki, and Ghibli Studios

Have you ever heard of Hayao Miyazaki or Ghibli Studios? Well, let me give you the dirt, because believe me, you'll want to know. Ghibli Studios was co-founded by an adorable and hugely imaginative Japanese man named Hayao Miyazaki. Miyazaki and Ghibli create traditionally animated movies that are beautiful in visuals and in content. Most people I talk to have at least heard about his Academy Award winning movie, Spirited Away, but they are unaware of the rest of his delightful filmography.

Hayao Miyazaki, adorable animator.

My first Miyazaki was My Neighbor Totoro, and I was immediately hooked. It's about a little girl who is dealing with a new house and the emotional strain of a mother who is in the hospital, but she finds distraction and comfort with Totoro, a big creature that lives in the forrest.

My Neighbor Totoro

Luckily my sister had already started collecting Miyazaki films, so in quick succession I watched Castle in the Sky, The Cat Returns, and Kiki's Delivery Service. Over the years Miyazaki films have become more popular in America, which led to celebrities lending their voices to the American releases (Billy Crystal, Christian Bale, Tina Fey, Kirsten Dunst, Anna Paquin, Cary Elwes, to name a few), and a partnership with Disney for distribution.

All of the Miyazaki movies I have seen are full of whimsey and charm. They are not typically action-packed, but the animation is a detailed visual feast, and Miyazaki often deals with complex emotions and situations as seen from the viewpoint of a child. Basically they are the "art films" of animation.

Tonight I saw The Secret World of Arrietty, Studio Ghibli's newest release, and it stayed true to Miyazaki's general filmography. (Miyazaki usually writes and directs his movies, but he only wrote the script for Arrietty.) Arrietty is based on The Borrowers books by British author Mary Norton. The Borrowers are tiny people that live in the nooks and crannies of the houses of regular-sized people, or "human beans." They "borrow" things the Beans won't miss, like lumps of sugar or a piece of tissue. But if Borrowers are seen by a Bean, they must pack up and move, because the Beans become too curious and always end up destroying the Borrowers. The movie was whimsical, adventurous, and thoughtful, with great character arcs. It also includes the voices of Carol Burnett, Amy Poehler, and Will Arnett. (And yes, Poehler and Arnett voice a married couple!) I highly recommend this movie, and I hope you will enjoy Miyazaki as much as I have.

P.S. If you like the movie Dune, watch Miyazaki's Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I coincidentally watched those two movies in the same week, and the plot and style of each film is funnily similar.