Le mini Noël des Borrowers

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.

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.

I watched this on Boxing day in the UK on BBC catchup and was pleasantly surprised.

I wasn't expecting much after watching some of the other made for TV productions around Xmas although this did have Stephen Fry and Christopher Eccleston in it who I do enjoy watching.

Eccleston takes a back seat in a lot of the film as the over protective father " Pod Clock" and the focus is on Aisling Loftus who plays the daughter " Arrietty Clock " who has lived a rather restricted life inside the family home.

The Borrowers share their home ( in the floorboards ) with Mrs Driver ( Victoria Wood ) who's daughter has recently died. Her Grandson ( James ) and son in law ( Robert ) are now living with her because the son in law is struggling for work.

The story really starts when Arrietty decides to venture out at night on her own and forms a friendship with the young Grandson James just before Christmas. Unfortunately for the Clock family of borrowers Mrs Driver is suspicious of what is going on in the house and decides to investigate further.

Visually the film was excellent and they chose to use actual large size props rather than CGI to recreate the large world surrounding the Borrowers. This made the whole thing seem very real and I am sure kids will enjoy that fact ( as well as adults ). Overall the film was very well acted but the spotlight was clearly on Aisling Loftus playing Arrietty as the innocent young woman exploring a whole new world she has never seen before and coming from rather a spoilt background. She has appeared in a few British Drama's before but for me this was my favourite role I have seen her in.

If you did miss this Film on Boxing day then please check it out on BBCi player and for those outside of the UK I hope it appears on Syfy or a similar channel available to you soon.

I have not seen all of the versions, but of the ones I have seen, this was the best. It has aged well. It is funny and also charming. Very strong actors and good direction make it work.

I have not seen all of the versions, but of the ones I have seen, this was the best. It has aged well. It is funny and also charming. Very strong actors and good direction make it work.

I have not seen all of the versions, but of the ones I have seen, this was the best. It has aged well. It is funny and also charming. Very strong actors and good direction make it work.

Summary: A very good version of a classic.

Having read all of the Borrowers books and just loved them, plus having seen all of the different film versions, I have to say that is my second to least favorite, the least of all going to the horrid anime version. This one really wasn't even trying to be like the books, and just frankly bored me, although Stephen Fry did try to deliver a good performance. Everybody else was just going through the motions and the screenplay was just awful. Watch the John Goodman version or the old Hallmark version with Edie Albert and Dame Judith Evans. They are both far better.