Le Petit Monde des Borrowers

I have to be honest, I was not looking forward to this movie. I never heard of it nor know anything about those in it, except for John Goodman. However, this selection was for my daughter and did not want to see a repeat of another cartoon-type movie. My wife and I found the movie to be good clean fun with some mild but acceptable violence and virtually no language. A good combo for a family film and for a child. My daughter said it was "good" and my wife and I thought it was cute. In this day and age, it can be hard to find good movies around. While this movie may not be a keeper in your own collection, it is worth renting. The behind-the-scenes on the DVD was good and the DVD also contained both letterboxed and Pan-and-scan versions.

I, for one, very much enjoyed this movie, so much so, that I even purchased it on DVD. Of course, I'm a big fan of British Comedy and Sci-Fi, and always enjoy any opportunity to see the work of Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams. This was the first time I'd seen anything with Jim Broadbent, but went on to watch some of his other work, and have grown to appreciate him, as well. Ruby Wax was charming, and I'd like to see more of Flora Newbigin, however, it appears she isn't doing much in the industry, except for an appearance in one episode "Holby City."

I find this movie charming in it's escapism. Sure, it mixes times and cities, making it impossible to identify where and when it takes place, but does it even have to be anywhere on Earth? It's fantasy, and I found it entertaining.

I loved the "Borrowers" books when I was a kid, and the movie is a quite good adaptation of the concept. There were a few minor bafflements [such as what time period the movie was supposed to be in, and where it was set], but those aren't major. Overall, quite enjoyable.

When this first came out, almost a decade ago, I thought it was the best job I had seen of making miniature people look real. This showed how far technology had come in films and now, of course, we see a lot more amazing special effects.

It was fun to view how these "borrowers" moved about, using ordinary household items to propel themselves around a normal-sized house. It's all pretty ingenious.

John Goodman plays a cartoon-like role, a role that is generally funny to watch. The cast has a mixture of American and English actors, with a setting of 1940s Britain. I first saw this on VHS and then later on DVD, which was improvement not only video-wise, but audio, too, as it somehow went from mono to surround sound. This might be considered a kids movie but a lot of the humor is more adult-oriented.

Reading some of the other reviews you get the impression that the Special Effects in the Borrowers are somewhat mediocre, well I feel I must stand up for them. The effects in this film are on the whole superb. The problem is that some of them are so good you just don't notice them unless they are pointed out to you. In my opinion the effects in the Borrowers are vastly superior to things like say Titanic, which rather unbelievably won an Oscar. Any effect which you're inclined to say "That's a good effect" too, is not a good effect, it is a poor one because you can tell it's an effect. The best effects go unnoticed, not only by the movie going public but also by the Academy it seems.