The Secret World of Arrietty

[Whippet Angel]

Hey Randall, I agree with just about everything you said in your review for the film, but I'm curious about one thing; how exactly did you feel that Summertime actually reflected the film's theme?

My general dislike for that genre of music aside, I felt that the lyrics were totally irrelevant to the film. The song is about a teen girl reminiscing about her fling and the idyllic summer that they spent together. This really didn't seem appropriate for Arrietty, given the serious nature of the film. Both of the main characters were in life or death situations, and the bond that they eventually form is something much more deep and meaningful. It doesn't seem like the song was even written with this particular film in mind, they just decided to insert it, because it was a close enough fit.

Eh... I guess it really isn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but its inclusion in the film bothered me for some reason.

[Randall]

I don't disagree, but the disconnect between song and film is hardly unique to Arriety (Seal's song had nothing to do with Batman Forever, either, to list one of a million examples). In a (very broad) sense, the song still reflects a girl-meets-boy story, and though it's not a perfect match by any means, I still found it to reflect the story to some extent.

I would have preferred to keep the teeny pop tune out altogether, mind you. Not a bad effort for a youngster, however, even if it wasn't written for the film.

[Ben]

Disney only distributes Ghibli films in the US. StudioCanal/Optimum have UK rights, the others being split worldwide to other companies.

Often a studio will license a dub from another but as I understand it in this case the UK one was done first and Disney didn't want to use it (probably mindful that they wouldn't "own" it outright).

By the way, we call 'em hoodies too!