Title: The Secret World of Arrietty aka Kari-gurashi no Arrietti Genre: fantasy, adventure, drama Based on: The Borrowers by Mary Norton Producer: Toshio Suzuki Director: Hiromasa Yonebashi Screenplay: Hayao Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa Studio: Studio Ghibli Running Time: 95 minutes Release Date: July 17, 2010 Arrietty, a tiny 14-year-old girl, lives with her family under the floorboards of a another family's residence. They were living quietly, borrowing common household items from the humans, until Arrietty was discovered. | Title: From Up on Poppy Hill aka Kokuriko-zara kara Genre: drama Based on: Kokuriko-zara kara by Chizuru Takahashi, Tetsurou Sayama Producer: Toshio Suzuki Director: Goro Miyazaki Screenplay: Hayao Miyazaki, Keiko Niwa Studio: Studio Ghibli Running Time: 95 minutes Release Date: July 16, 2011 Umi Matsuzaki, a high school girl, lives in a boarding house up the hill. At school, she meets Shun Kazama, a member of the newspaper club. Together, they attempt to save the school's clubhouse from demolition. |
When I first saw Arrietty, I thought it was going to be like the story of the Elves and the Shoemaker. Good thing it wasn't. It's a simple story about a family of little people who borrow little things from humans like sugar or tissue. They walk through walls and other small passages to get to the things they need. Their scale against common household objects and how they used them makes it fascinating. The fun part is following them through their journey through the human world and their everyday life struggles through changes in weather and other wild animals outside their home. What else can I say? I love this movie and it's my first 10/10!
Studio Ghibli never fails to amaze me. I love how their movies always present everyday mundane chores into something special and wonderful. All of a sudden, doing laundry, stitching, cooking and cleaning seem fun, exciting and magical. Cute characters, nice background art and music is the perfect recipe for both Arrietty and Poppy Hill. Oh, how I'd love to live in a Ghibli movie! Haha!
From Up on Poppy Hill is very much like Whisper of the Heart because of the whole school romance theme. It's wonderful to see Ghibli movies like these every once in a while. It's a bit rare for the studio to make ones with normal people with fairly normal love stories that leave you with that warm and fuzzy feeling after watching. The only thing that bothered me is that the story ended up being so similar to a typical Filipino drama. But still, it deserves a 9/10.
From Up on Poppy Hill is very much like Whisper of the Heart because of the whole school romance theme. It's wonderful to see Ghibli movies like these every once in a while. It's a bit rare for the studio to make ones with normal people with fairly normal love stories that leave you with that warm and fuzzy feeling after watching. The only thing that bothered me is that the story ended up being so similar to a typical Filipino drama. But still, it deserves a 9/10.