Le mini Noël des Borrowers

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 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.

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.

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!

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.