Karigurashi no Arrietty | The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

[starlady]

Karigurashi no Arrietty | The Secret World of Arrietty. Dir. Yonebayashi Hitomasa, 2010.

This movie is so bad. The English dub is awful, the underlying movie is terrible, this movie is bad. I have seen almost every movie Studio Ghibli has made, and this has to be the worst.

There, I said it. I cannot understand how this thing had a 97% on Rotten Tomatoes! I cannot understand how it is an NYT Critics' Pick! It is a bad movie. I went with four of my friends, and all five of us independently considered (and rejected) walking out during the first third, except for my one friend who just fell asleep, because the movie is not good.

No, okay, I can be rational about this, I swear. The movie is based on Mary Norton's The Borrowers, and it was written and planned by Miyazaki Hayao himself, so it's not like it's totally without pedigree. Sickly child "Sean" goes to stay at the house of his aunt "Jessica" in the countryside of western Tokyo before his heart operation, and there he discovers the borrower Arrietty and her family living in secret inside his house. "Sean" is more or less a moron (or, to be more fair, a privileged idiot), so he manages to screw up the lives of Arrietty and her family but good in trying to "help" and "protect" them (why he thinks they need his help and protection? Because they're smaller and weaker than he is, obviously!), no thanks to the inexplicably evil creeper housekeeper Hara.

As you may have guessed from my liberal use of quote marks in the above, the English dub (directed by Gary Rydstrom) is ham-handed at best and flat-out terrible at worst. None of the characters are well done by in their translated dialogue, and whoever wrote it has a lead ear, because the dialogue is just terrible. Even worse, Disney apparently couldn't be bothered to shell out the big bucks for people who can actually voice-act this time around, so almost everyone delivers their lines in a monotone or without much affect. Combined with the ridiculous dialogue, we were cracking up at how bad it was by the halfway point, after we started being appalled enough to realize that we could laugh.

So, the dub is terrible, but the movie itself is not good either. There is no plot for the first third or so, and what plot that emerges is inexplicable and boringly predictable. Characters (Hara) have no explicable motivation for their actions, and all in all it really just feels like Ghibli is phoning it in--Hara is cribbed off Yubaba in Spirited Away, Arrietty's future husband the caveman borrower is cribbed off Ashitaka in Mononoke, and Arrietty herself is a generic retread of every other Ghibli heroine ever, without the benefit of a personality or, again, discernible motivations to explain her behaviour. I liked the cat best of all in the end, partly because the cat looks just like the Cat Bus. You thought I was joking about this movie being auto-derivative.

Ugh. We did get some good laughs out of how bad it was in the end, at least.

Massive disclaimer: Obviously I saw the U.S. version. It may well be that the U.K. version isn't atrocious! In which case, I am jealous, though as I said, I don't think even a stellar dub could rescue the movie from its underlying problems.

Comments

[laceblade]

I watched the subbed version of this a couple months ago, and while pretty, I thought the story was incredibly weak.

I kind of want to go see it in theaters to support the theatrical release of anime films, but I also.....don't want to spend money to see it if the English dub is that terrible? ^^;

[(Anonymous)]

It's a shame that the dub possibly soured you to the movie. I know the commercials themselves annoy me enough to not want to see it in the theaters. I'll probably buy it (as long as it has the jp track & subs).

It's like when I see CCS fanfic with Sakura, Madison, Tori and Julian. I wonder if that audience will be able to unsee the American version.

Anyway, I did like the original movie as is. Not Ghibli's best, but certainly not bad. They do tend to lean towards certain character personalities and plot omissions. Reviewers thought Howl had a bad story, too, but in combination with the original book, it's a good story. Never read the Borrowers, but I have it on my list..simply to fill in the gaps from the Ghibli movie.

-seichan (who can't remember her pw right now):)

[troisroyaumes]

Ahaha, okay, I just emailed to ask if you were interested in going to see the movie and then I saw this post...

I think I still want to see it anyway but now I am prepared to be underwhelmed.

[contrary]

[Argh I always accidentally post anonymous and then remember.]
""Sean" is more or less a moron (or, to be more fair, a privileged idiot), so he manages to screw up the lives of Arrietty and her family but good in trying to "help" and "protect" them (why he thinks they need his help and protection? Because they're smaller and weaker than he is, obviously!), no thanks to the inexplicably evil creeper housekeeper Hara."

I'm now going to take the opportunity to pimp out TH White's _Mistress Masham's Repose_ again because this is basically the theme: that's exactly what the "big" child does to the little people in MMR, but then she is CALLED ON IT TOTALLY and learns stuff abut autonomy and respect and how people can have dignity and self-agency even if they are smaller than you and talk funny.

[ninj]

Good to know how bad it is. I was considering going to see it with Mom as we enjoyed Spirited Away together very much. However, now I will just not go. It's always a shame when a well respected studio screws up this badly.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Huh. Kyle and I almost went to see that last night, when we decided the things we ought to be doing should go screw themselves. I was going off the NYT review, which was pretty glowing. I guess I'm glad we chose This Means War instead? It was flawed in a number of ways, but at least it was entertainingly flawed, rather than boringly so.

kwviola in disguise as anonymous

[(Anonymous)]

The kids down the aisle from me were reprimanded to turn their videogames down in the theatre.

It did make me want to go back and watch Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away.... $17 down the drain. At least my movie card got me a free popcorn!

[louderandlouder]

Boy, that's depressing -- this was an important childhood book, and I don't want to see it wrecked so badly, and I've got plans to see it that I'm not sure I can skip. :-/ At least I've been warned.

[unjapanologist]

I ran away when I saw the US trailer, because it had "Around Us" as theme music and that was wroooooong because it's one of my favorite songs ever and nobody is allowed to slap it on some random movie! Cough.

But I'm sorry to hear it's not good, I was hoping to see it soon... Oh well.

ETA: Oh, I'm curious, how did you find the movie's liberal agenda? http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2012-02-22/fox-commentator-decries-arrietty-for-anti-one-percent-agenda

[merin-chan.livejournal.com]

I just saw it last weekend too, and was definitely less enthralled than when I saw it in Japan the summer before last. (It's such a summery movie, it felt odd to see it in the dead of winter.)

I was bothered even more this time around by Spiller, who isn't just cribbed from Ashitaka, but is a much less sensitive walking, talking Native Stereotype. It's a disappointing misstep enhanced by a bad dub.

Still, I have a kind of fondness for the film. I LOVE the music, the watercolour backgrounds, and I do like Arrietty's passion for exploration and friendship (rather than princes and marriage). It wasn't a total howler in my books, just not up to the high level we've come to expect.

[oyceter]

Ahahaha, I went in watching it yesterday with this review in mind.

First part: "Oh hey, this isn't epic Ghibli greatness, but it's cute and charming, and I like the music and all the exploration of the world. Maybe starlady has sufficiently lowered my expectations and I can enjoy this!"

Sean Gets Involved: "OMGWTFBBQ despite Starlady's review I was still not prepared for this level of bad."