Willem (age 10) and Miranda (age 9) put a capstone on their extended marathon of Studio Ghibli viewing. After taking both the heaviest Studio Ghibli film, Grave of the Fireflies, and the lightest entry, The Cat Returns, they end the 15 film marathon with The Secret World Of Arrietty.
The 2010 film is one of the studio's most recent films, directed by Yonebayashi Hiromasa, vividly adapted by Miyazaki Hayao from Mary Norton's series of novels, The Borrowers. The kids talk about the eponymous heroine's relationship with her parents, the proximity of the 'tiny' family to the human 'beens' who live above them, as well as the all encompassing natural world which threatens to engulf them. Lastly, they marvel at the small-scale physics realized by the animation house with all cylinders humming along.
Twitch is certainly not the youngest of movie websites, and a several writers have children who are old enough to understand and consume media in a way that is raw and fresh, but also with the inklings of consideration. In short, this is the age where many of us fall in love with the movies. Thus, we are offering you the perspective of children as they react to seeing classic animation on the big screen.
TIFF Bell Lightbox has finished their run of an another Studio Ghibli retrospective in December and January. They wrapped the series with an expanded the number of titles (old and new) and screenings from the very successful previous 2012 run in Toronto. We hope you have enjoyed this deep dive back into Japan's most beloved animation house. All the previous entries can be found either in the ScreenAnarchy archives, or at the Vimeo channel for The Kids Talk Film.