(Not sure what constitutes a "spoiler." I don't give away much detail here but I guess any review is a bit of a spoiler on some level.)
Had a couple hours to kill after "The Descendants," so we slipped in to see "The Secret World of Arrietty." The trailers boasted its from the makers of "Howls Moving Castle," one of my all-time faves. Instead of that magical film experience, I would dub "Arrietty" to be "Extremely Close and Incredibly Disappointing." After a promising start this one flies off the rails. Mis-cast, mis- directed or just poorly acted voice work from Will Arnett and Moises Arias combined with poor writing ("Me Spiller. Me Hungry") and melodramatic score made the film increasingly tedious. I caught at least one huge continuity error (see girl standing next to flower and not talking to boy, cut to boy talking, cut back to girl, minus flower and note.) Why was the maid so evil and angry? Needed it for plot, is all I can guess. THE WORST was the end. Or what the filmmakers made of the end. They just made it end at the point which should have been the climax of the film. Not in an artsy, make-you-think ending but I DON"T KNOW WHAT. The studio said it was too long? Skip this one. "C-"
Had a couple hours to kill after "The Descendants," so we slipped in to see "The Secret World of Arrietty." The trailers boasted its from the makers of "Howls Moving Castle," one of my all-time faves. Instead of that magical film experience, I would dub "Arrietty" to be "Extremely Close and Incredibly Disappointing." After a promising start this one flies off the rails. Mis-cast, mis- directed or just poorly acted voice work from Will Arnett and Moises Arias combined with poor writing ("Me Spiller. Me Hungry") and melodramatic score made the film increasingly tedious. I caught at least one huge continuity error (see girl standing next to flower and not talking to boy, cut to boy talking, cut back to girl, minus flower and note.) Why was the maid so evil and angry? Needed it for plot, is all I can guess. THE WORST was the end. Or what the filmmakers made of the end. They just made it end at the point which should have been the climax of the film. Not in an artsy, make-you-think ending but I DON"T KNOW WHAT. The studio said it was too long? Skip this one. "C-"