Manic Expression

          Now unlike most of Ghibli’s films, Hayao Miyazaki didn’t direct but wrote the screenplay and it shows for me quite a fair bit. Arrietty is a very small plot, based only around the summer home where she and Shaun live. This leaving plenty of opportunity to give plenty of character development but the writing clearly stumbles on this point. Some of the characters motivations and characteristics go unexplored leaving me somewhat confused at some points in the story. An example being Shaun, Shaun is supposed to be this rather hopeless kid who is trying to help Arrietty before his operation to find some peace within himself but the story doesn’t really flesh out this character trait well enough and it goes almost unnoticed until Shaun just states that’s what he’s doing. 

          The characters however aren't less likable or funny due to this writing. Shaun is still my favorite character in the movie by far because I feel his struggle is quite complex and interesting. Characters like Arrietty’s mother and Arrietty are very fun characters. But again some of the most important characters’ character isn't explored enough to leave a lasting impact. Shaun was a good character but he really isn’t a character I reference when speaking my all time favorite. One character actually only has 2 scenes and the result I remember nothing about him including his name and he could have not been written in at all and the story would have been pretty much the same.

          But after all that the rest if the movie is great. Ghibli’s artwork and human animation is still as beautiful as always with backgrounds looking very colorful and visually pleasing if only a bit washed out. Also, using mostly subtle facial animations to express emotion making the characters feel slightly more real. The antagonist Hara while a little underdeveloped is very funny. Hara is so funny in fact that when she gets her comeuppance at the end almost every child in the audience was laughing their heads off and when you do that you know you made a great comedic villain. The background music is very soothing and lays the thick atmosphere of calming serenity that I love to hear. Finally the movie has a good sense of humor leaving me giggling at its jokes. The key word for this film is slow it takes its time with the story and characters but slightly fails to utilize all that time gained to flesh out the characters fully but I still prefer this slow style of story telling. There are dozens upon dozens of movies in general that feel if they aren’t filling the entire screen with non-stop action they’ll bore their audiences to death. Children’s movies like Yogi Bear and Marmaduke and shows like Johnny Test are one of the most despicable disgusting examples of “non-stop action.” Doing this just bloodily sacrifices any sort of steady pacing to forcibly entertain the audience but The Secret of Arrietty clearly shows that even with a slower paced plot it can still fully entertain adults and kids fully.

NEXT TIME: Whyboy Spotlights... The Triplets of Bellville

Illustrations by Jordan Tucker - Deviant Art Account 

Written by: Taylor "Whyboy" Wyatt

If you have any requests for a movie or show to spotlight please contact me at cartooncorner.whyboy@gmail.com