The Secret World of Arrietty (DVD+Blu-Ray Combo-Pack) Review

DVD+Blu-Ray Combo-Pack Review of animated film The Secret World of Arrietty adapted from the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton

The Secret World of Arrietty Blu-Ray/DVD Image © 2010 GNDHDDTW, © 2012 GNDHDDTW. All Rights Reserved.

Dir: Hiromasa Yonebayashi - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Bridgit Mendler, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett, David Henrie, Carol Burnett, Moises Arias
Japan, 2012

Reason to see: It's a selection for the 2012 Movie Moxie Book to Film Club, based on the book The Borrowers by Mary Norton which was our January 2012 Reading Selection

I absolutely adored The Secret World of Arrietty. I know I'm not the first person to jump out of the gate for animated films, but this one truly spoke to my heart. It follows Arrietty, a young girl in a family of 'borrowers', who are tiny people who 'borrow' things from humans like sugar and such, but need to remain unseen by the human eye. Arrietty is an adventurous and brave young girl who is very much looking forward to her first borrowing.

The film is based on the children's fantasy novel The Borrowers by Mary Norton, and was our first book in the 2012 Movie Moxie Book to Film Club. I love started the year off with a kicks book, and this one was a wonderful way to start the year as it has a lovely sense of wonder and nesting. The film does a great job of maintaining that sense of wonder and inventiveness, but shakes up the narrative style. In the book it's more of a story-within-a-story, and in the film we get to see the world purely from tiny people's perspective of Arrietty (voiced by Bridget Mendler) and her mom Homily (voiced by Amy Poehler) and dad Pod (voiced by Will Arnett). From them we see the different perspectives of their day to day lives which include the excitement of possible adventure from Arrietty, the day-to-day gathering of Pod and keeping the home fires burning with Homily. But as time goes on, it's time for Arrietty to learn the skill of borrowing from her dad Pod, and see that not only adventure, but danger, lies ahead.

I loved how the film blended the sense of adventure with the everyday, the inventiveness of creative re-purposing the borrowers do with the human items but it also acknowledges the challenges and dangers they face. There is an amazing relatability of what they go through, and I love how Arrietty gets to opportunity to grow, learn and develop new skills in this big wide world that's above them. And I absolutely adored the animation, it gives a great sense of the scale and vastness of the world and brings to life all creatures be they big or small, happy or cranky or even a bit of both. Truly magical.

It was great to see such a wonderful adaptation that maintains the spirit of the film, but also is brave enough to take liberties as well. A bold move that pays off and enriches the viewer's experience. I was happy to see that the DVD/Blu-Ray release includes a Japanese audio with English subtitles, which was very interesting to watch as well the differences between the versions and how the sentiment can change ever so slightly with different words, but always maintains the same spirit in the film and the journeys of the characters. I truly loved The Secret World of Arrietty, it was joy to see this wonderful world come to life and to see an spirited young female character take centre stage braving adventures in the big, wide world. Easily one of my favourite films of the year by far.

DVD Extras:

• Bridgit Mendler "Summertime" Music Video (3 minutes) film tie-in video including film clips
• The Making Of "Summertime" (2 minutes) music video clips, behind the scenes on filming the music video and interview with Bridgit Mendler including the inspiration for the song, the process of making the music video and
• Audio Options: English, French or Japanese Audio
• Subtitle Options: English, English for the Hearing Impaired and French
  

Blu-Ray Extras:

• All DVD Extras (noted above) plus: Storyboard presentation of the film; Trailers - Original Japanese and Television Commercials and “Arrietty’s Song” Music Video The films theme song, performed by singer, songwriter and harpist Cécile Corbel

The Secret World of Arrietty is available on DVD, DVD/Blu-Ray Combo as of May 22, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I loved it
I can't wait to watch it again
I widely recommend it

See also:

• Listen to my interview with Bridget Mendler, who voiced the character of Arrietty
• Read my interview with Bridget Mendler
• Vlog review of The Secret World of Arrietty on DVD+Blu-Ray Combo-Pack
• The Borrowers by Mary Norton as our January 2012 Reading Selection
• The Secret World of Arrietty as our February 2012 Film Selection
• The 2012 Movie Moxie Book to Film Club, which you can join us at any time

© Shannon Ridler, 2012

First Squad: The Moment of Truth (DVD Review)

Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Dir: Yoshiharu Ashino - film directorial debut
Voices: Various as there are 3 audio versions available
Russia/Japan/Canada, 2009

Reason to see: It has me at 'supernatural warriors'

Wow, First Squad: The Moment of Truth was very different than I expected starting from before I even got to watch it! There are not one, not two, but three different language options from English Audio, Japanese audio with English subtitles or Russian Audio with English subtitles. What a plethora of choices! I pondered which to pick for quite a while but ending going with Russian with English subtitles as it is following the Russian Army.

Normally I stay far, far away from war films because I find them too upsetting. That being said, I thought I could stretch my comfort zone with First Squad: The Moment of Truth as it goes a very different route for a war film being Manga style animated and follows a 14 year old psychic girl to take on the German occult forces. Yep, supernatural battle of Germans vs Russians travelling though different realms/consciousnesses to duke it out through the power of supernatural spirited and gifted people was definitely up my alley. Not only is the film a total awesome genre-twister, it's completely gorgeous visually which is a great combination because it engages you on multiple levels. I actually love that combination, the pure enjoyment of the visual spectacle as well as engaging with the brilliant ideas and the beautiful place where the two meet. I also found it quite amazing how they worked in a subtle, sweet romantic thread of the story amisdt the war torn setting, battles and bizarre between time and space and consiousness. But maybe that's exactly the kind of time where you need to have some romance to get you through!

I loved the concept, I loved the characters and I adored the visuals; the only thing I if left out was ... more. It was very short and did have an introductory to the idea & world feel to it. But if that was the hook, it totally hooked me. And I hope First Squad: The Moment of Truth was only the first hook as I would love to see more.

DVD Extras:
No Extras

First Squad: The Moment of Truth is available on DVD as of January 17, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca & Amazon.com

Shannon's Overall View:
I enjoyed it, but I wanted more First Squad!
I'll watch it again
I'd recommend it animated film fans, supernatural film fans & fantasy film fans

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© Shannon Ridler, 2012

Redline (DVD Review)

Image Courtesy of Anchor Bay Entertainment

Dir: Takeshi Koike
Voices: Takuya Kimura, Yû Aoi, Tadanobu Asano, Yoshiyuki Morishita
Japan, 2010

I've been aching to see Redline ever since the credits rolled after seeing it on the big screen at the Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011 last October. With it's power pulsing music, crazy locations and science fiction vibe plus the wild and crazy adventures of racers JP (Takuya Kimura) and Sonoshee (Yû Aoi).

Redline is a Japanese animated film centred on car races in the future which gives it an oddly nostalgic for current-ness vibe to it, as although they've progressed beyond there is still joy for the oldskool ride and racing of race cars. I think one of the strongest things I took from the film was realizing how rarely I watch anything animated, which made it suprizingly refreshing and engaging as I was less familiar with the patterns of the genre and/or style and could only just keep the characters straight but had no idea where the story would go. Given that it's a far-future set film it felt like it could, and did, go anywhere and everywhere across the galaxy and beyond so much so I most of the time had no clue where it was or if the characters where human (dogs? robots? aliens? all of the above?) or not, or if that even mattered.

The awesome thing is, it was completely fun to watch even with only being able to barely cobble together what was going on, but the good news is I found that became clearer over multiple viewings which is something I was completely happy to do & highly recommend. Personally, I could have done without the cartoon nudity (although I'm likely in the minority with this crowd!) but I adored the sheer audacity of the racing sequences that were completely intensive & immersive. Even after repeat viewing, I keep looking forward to seeing it again & again. Redline was a fantastic spectacle that has to be seen and experienced. I highly recommend it.

DVD Extras:

• Quick Guide to Redline (24 minutes) trailer/promo describing not only the film itself as an anime film that defines all logic by hand-dawn and taking 7 years to produce, but also puts together clips of the film describing the race, character profiles (which are awesome) with back stories & motivations; plus profiles on Redline staff including interviews with Katsuhito Ishii and director Takeshi Koike on on the inspiration of the film, working together, the theme of Redline, the music & sound choices and their incorporation into the film, and lots of love for the voice cast, the affect they wanted the audience to have; plus behind the scenes in the studio seeing hand-drawn animations and going against the conventions of the times, as well as interviews with some of the animators and showing the amplification of the images through special effects and taking on new visual challenges . This is a really cool extra, I love that it explains the characters and goes behind the scenes and all the time has a extremely enthusiastic announcer taking us through all these exciting aspects of the film; absolutely fantastic - just like the film itself.
• Redline 2006 Trailer
  

Redline is available on DVD & BluRay as of January 17, 2012. Check it out over at Amazon.ca (DVD, BluRay) & Amazon.com (DVD, BluRay)

Shannon's Overall View:
I loved it
I'll watch it again, repeatedly
I highly & widely recommend it to all film fans

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© Shannon Ridler, 2012
See also: Original review from Toronto After Dark Film Festival 2011