Arrietty (Blu-ray) (2010)

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General		Extras
Category	Animation	Main Menu Audio & Animation Trailer TV Spots Storyboard Comparisons-Picture-in-Picture Music Video Interviews-Cast & Crew-Over 1 Hour
Rating
Year Of Production	2010
Running Time	93:54
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Hiromasa Yonebayashi
Studio Distributor	Madman Entertainment	Starring	Saoirse Ronan Mark Strong Will Arnett Amy Poehler Bridgit Mendler David Henrie
Case	Standard Blu-ray
RPI	?	Music	Cécile Corbel

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English-British DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS HD Master Audio 5.1 English-British Linear PCM 48/16 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 48/16 2.0
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.85:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	1080p
Original Aspect Ratio	1.85:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

     Studio Ghibli are renowned as being one of the best animation studios in the world, along with the likes of Pixar. Accordingly, a new Ghibli production coming to local Blu-ray & DVD is always an event of some note. Their latest production Arrietty or The Secret World of Arrietty is the first directorial effort from long time Ghibli animator, Hiromasa Yonebayashi although the studio's artistic leader Hayao Miyazaki was heavily involved being responsible for planning and the screenplay. This time around the film is based upon a famous work of children's literature, The Borrowers by English writer, Mary Norton.

     For those not aware of the source material, the story revolves around a young boy, Sho, who has a serious heart condition and goes to live in the country with his aunt. His mother is constantly travelling for work. He is mostly left in the care of the housekeeper, Maru. Soon after arriving at the house he sees a very small person in the garden. The person he sees is one of a family who lives under the house and she is tiny. The family includes a girl Arrietty, her father Pod and her mother Homily. They believe they are the last 'borrowers' in the world. They are referred to as borrowers as they must go up into the house they live under a take little things like sugar cubes or a small amount of tea to survive. They try to avoid being seen by humans as they believe if they are they will be hunted down. An unlikely friendship starts between Sho and Arrietty, which worries her parents.

     This is a beautiful and gentle film with lovely animation especially in the various little details which have been added. One example is that the pictures on the wall in the borrowers house are actually postage stamps. It is quite a straight retelling of the original story despite being transplanted to modern Japan. The music by Cecile Corbel is lovely and adds to the gently whimsical tone of the film. There are some exciting adventures for Arrietty and her family but the film suits its G rating and is suitable for small children. Despite being a lovely film, I don't think it quite hits the heights of other Ghibli productions such as Ponyo or My Neighbour Totoro. The film feels a little unresolved at the end and some of the magical feel of those other films is missing. I also missed the music of Joe Hisaishi which graces many of the other Ghibli productions.

     One very pleasing change on this Ghibli production is that there were two different English dubs created, one with UK voice actors featuring Saoirse Ronan, Geraldine McEwen and Mark Strong and one featuring a US voice cast. The English dub included on our local release is the UK one, which is great as far as I am concerned.

     Recommended.

Video

     The video quality is excellent.

     The feature is presented in a 1.85:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 1080p encoded using AVC.

     The picture is very sharp and clear throughout utilising the high definition format well. Colour is excellent.

     The only artefact is some minor shimmer.

     There are subtitles available in English which are a direct translation of the Japanese soundtrack rather than titles for the English soundtrack.

    There are no obvious layer changes during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is excellent.

     This disc contains four soundtrack options, the original Japanese in DTS-HD MA 5.1 plus PCM 2.0 and the English dubbed soundtrack in the same formats. As I mentioned above the English dub is the UK version.

     Dialogue was clear and easy to understand throughout.

     The music by Cecile Corbel is light and whimsical with stringed instruments being the dominant element including harp. It sounds lovely on this transfer.

     The surround speakers are used quite extensively for enveloping atmosphere and lots of directionality. The sound design accentuates sounds as if you were a little person yourself.

     The subwoofer was also well used supporting the action scenes and music.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Lots of extras which are mostly interviews. Most of the extras are standard definition.

Menu

     The menu included music and scenes plus allowing for scene selection.

Trailers (2:32)

     The original Japanese trailer plus 2 TV spots.

Storyboards

     As with most Ghibli films the storyboards for the entire film are available as a picture in picture extra.

Arrietty's Song - Promo Video (3:40)

     Promo Video of what I presume is the composer playing the theme tune.

Interview with Hayao Miyazaki (23:42)

     A surprisingly candid interview with the artistic leader of the studio where he makes fun of the director and talks about how he wasn't convinced he was up to the job. He also discusses his approach to children's animation, the story, the adaption and other topics. Japanese with subtitles.

Interview with Hiromasa Yonebayashi (40:46)

     Once you watch this interview you can sort of get why Hayao was concerned about this guy's ability to direct the film. He is very stilted and struggles to explain his ideas (he is speaking in Japanese so it’s not the language issue). He discusses how he joined Ghibli, other projects he worked on, the nickname he got given when he joined, the story and characters of the film and his own lack of confidence he could do it.

Interview with Tom Holland (5:28)

     EPK style interview segments with the young voice actor who plays Sho in the UK version. Mostly focused on character and story.

Interview with Geraldine McEwen (5:42)

     EPK style interview segments with the voice actor who plays Maru in the UK version. Mostly focused on character and story.

Interview with Saiorse Ronan (3:17)

     EPK style interview segments with the young voice actor who plays Arrietty in the UK version. Mostly focused on character and story.

Interview with Mark Strong (2:42)

     EPK style interview segments with the voice actor who plays Pod in the UK version. Mostly focused on character and story..

Interview with Olivia Coleman (4:31)

     Disorganised interview with the voice actor who plays Homily in the UK version.

    The Blu-ray seems to be the same in the UK, however the extras on our version mostly do not appear on the US version, so buy local. The US version only has trailers, music videos and storyboards. The interviews are not included.

     A gentle and whimsical Studio Ghibli production.

     The video quality is excellent.

     The audio quality is excellent.

     The extras are quite extensive but mostly interviews.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall