The Borrowers (2011)

Sadly Over-hyped

A Masterpiece!

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Adapted from the 1952 book, this is the latest version of this classic. This was a BBC TV production, and as such is limited in its scale. The borrowers are secretive little tiny people that live under the floorboards. This one stars Christopher Eccleston, Robert Sheehan, Stephen Fry, among others. Aisling Loftus plays the lead Arrietty Clock. She's a sweet girl most notable for her big eyes. All the actors in the movie do a fine job. While the lower production value is understandable, it is still distracting. All in all, it's a nice little family movie.

Normally BBC are unbeatable in this type of presentation but sadly, although this second BBC production of The Borrowers was watchable and somewhat entertaining it was nowhere near as perfect as their first production in 1992. I must say that the first production was in fact a series as opposed to a 'one off'.Christopher Eccleston (Pod), Victoria Wood (Granny Driver), Sharon Horgan (Homily), Aisling Loftus (Arietty), Robert Sheehan (Spiller) and the inimitable Stephen Fry (Professor Mildeye) were certainly adequate in their respective roles but there just was not enough 'oomph' to the production.For those who have never seen The Borrowers or read Mary Norton's book or her sequels below is a brief synopsis of what The Borrowers are about.SPOILER BEGINS The Borrowers are tiny people who co-exist in the human world, mainly under floorboards of human homes and 'borrow' from the human occupants in order to survive. They borrow whatever they need but do not appear to ever intend giving what they borrow back.Their main fear is being discovered by human beings and they do everything in their power to avoid this.Professor Mildeye is convinced that these little people exist and all he wants is to capture one in order to prove it.The Borrowers is a cat and mouse game with the tiny people making sure that they are not discovered or captured by humans, but inevitably this does happen and they must rely on the help of a human boy to save them.SPOILER ENDS I do love The Borrowers and feel that it was written for everyone, whatever age they are.Even the 1997 film starring John Goodman and Jim Broadbent I feel was better than the BBcs latest version of The Borrowers.Sorry Auntie Beeb but that's the way I feel.

I have not read the book, but since I have seen two versions of the story and they are both fairly similar, I can say that I know what it is about now. I have to say that the Christmas released British version was not exceptional in any way, even if casting Christopher Eccleston and Robert Sheehan from the Misfits.The story is about a race of small humans that live underneath the floorboards of a house and "borrow" stuff in order to survive. They are basically human vermin, but intelligent and benign. The focus of the story is Arietty, a borrower teen girl who wants to explore like her father and therefore exposes her family to the human "beans" and almost gets them killed. In the end, all is good.I have to say that the Japanese version was much better, even if from Hayao Miyazaki's animations it was probably the weakest. I can't stop from thinking that the story itself is not very good, due to its simplicity and lack of character development, but not having read it, I cannot give an informed opinion.Bottom line: a small fairy tale like story, but not exceptional and a wee bit boring.

I haven't read the books, but this was certainly a pleasure to watch. The story was great for kids, and even adults and teenagers will have a laugh at the more sly yet subtle jokes that manage to make it even great than it is. There could have been a bit more content, and it did feel slightly rushed, but i think that this TV film really was something that I'd recommend to watch with family. Robert Sheehan, Christopher Eccelston and Stephen Fry all brought laughter to 'The Borrowers' and the cast couldn't have been any better. It was certainly great to see Robert's 'Misfits' type of character be involved in this, only less crude. The special effects are incredibly clever and well placed, the story is easy to understand and is quite simple and it's just a great watch! A must see TV film!