Arrietty, known in Japan as The Borrower Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ Kari-gurashi no Arietti?) and in North America as The Secret World of Arrietty, is a 2010 Japanese animated fantasy film directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi , written by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa and produced by Studio Ghibli, based on Mary Norton's novel The Borrowers. The film tells the story of Arrietty, a young Borrower, who lives under the floorboards of a typical household. She eventually befriends Sho, a human boy with a heart condition since birth, who is living with his great aunt, Sadako. When Sadako's maid, Haru, becomes suspicious of the floorboard's disturbance, Arrietty and her family must escape detection, even if it means leaving their beloved home. The film stars the voices of Mirai Shida as the titular character, Ryunosuke Kamiki as Sho, and Tatsuya Fujiwara as Spiller.
Ghibli announced the film in late 2009 with Yonebayashi making his directorial debut as the youngest director of a Ghibli film. Miyazaki supervised the production as a developing planner.The voice actors were approached in April 2010, and Cécile Corbel wrote the film's score as well as its theme song.
Released in Japan on July 17, 2010, Arrietty received very positive reviews, all of which praised the animation and music. It also became the highest grossing Japanese film at the Japanese box office for the year 2010, and is currently grossing over US$141 million worldwide.[1] The film also won the Animation of the Year award at the 34th Japan Academy Prize award ceremony. Two English language versions of the film were produced, a British dub produced by Studio Canal which was released in the United Kingdom on July 29, 2011, and an American dub released by Walt Disney Pictures in North America on February 17, 2012.
