Review of The Secret World of Arrietty

This review contains *SPOILERS*. Watched in Sub/Dub: Dub Story: 6/10 In a coming of age story, The Secret World of Arrietty follows two young teens, Shou and Arrietty. Shou is a human being who’s living with a heart condition, Arrietty is a “borrower” which is essentially a tiny version of a human. Through an unexpected meeting, Shou becomes aware of Arrietty’s existence along with her parents. The two teens begin a cautious friendship. The climax occurs when Hara, Shou’s nurse, discovers Arrietty’s family and calls exterminators. Everything works out and Arrietty’s family moves away, Shou never sees her again. The story is really simple and easy to follow butit is fairly boring in my view. There’s no real tension in the story since Arrittey’s family seems perfectly capable and can move out of Shou’s house at any time. Even Shou discovering Arrietty was very climatic since he accepts her immediately with open arms.

Art: 8/10
The art is nice but not extraordinary.

Sound/Soundtrack: 7/10
Same with the art, nothing wrong with the soundtrack it’s just not that interesting.

Character: 7/10
Shou is a genuinely sweet boy and is pretty well written. The other characters feel more like empty vessels/caricatures. I’ve noticed this issue in most of the Studio Ghibli films and The Secret World of Arrietty is apparently no exception.

Enjoyment: 6/10
I was bored. I ended up watching it at 1.25x speed.

Overall: 6/10
The Secret World of Arrietty is a cute little film for kids but I’d say is likely to be boring to other demographics. There’s nothing wrong with the movie, it’s just not that interesting even though it has a cool premise.