Surprisingly incoherent and boring

It is a performances centric movie

Yo, there's no way for me to review this film without saying, take your *insert ethnicity + "ass" here* to see this film,like now. You have to see it in order to know what you're really messing with.

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It started as a novel, for the older generation it became a television series, then there was the 1997 film with John Goodman, and I was surprised there would be a new television made all British film, but I was up for it. Basically the Clock family, father Pod (Christopher Eccleston), mother Homily (Sharon Horgan) and sixteen year old teenage daughter Arrietty (Aisling Loftus) are the four inch high people, The Borrowers, who live in secret under the floor boards of the human world, or rather "bean" (human "bean") world. To get by the family borrow the household items of the world above, e.g. sweets, lights, pennies, etc, but of course this is no easy task with the bean of the house, Granny Driver (Victoria Wood) trying to catch them. It is near Christmas, and one night Arrietty decides to explore the bean house, and that is when the young boy, James Millman (Charlie Hiscock) catches her, but he is amazed that people of her size exist, and they become good friends. When the Granny wants to try and catch them rather hastily though for "stealing" stuff, the Clock family are forced to go through the sewers and find a new place to live. With the help of other Borrower guide and biker Spiller (Misfits' Robert Sheehan) the family find the city of Borrowers, and this becomes their new home, and Arrietty confirms that they were never the only of their kind left in the world. In the human world, London University Professor Mildeye (Stephen Fry) is seen by others as a fantasist trying to prove his seemingly ridiculous theory that little people exist, but after befriending Granny and hearing of sightings he is determined to prove people he is right. So he sets some traps in the sewers where the Clock family were thought to be heading, and he manages to catch Pod and Homily and takes them back, and Spiller agrees to look after Arrietty and help her get her parents back. His desperation to show his "specimens" makes Professor Mildeye very mad and very bad, but his opportunity is snatched from him as the Clocks are reunited, they return to the Borrower world safe and sound, and in time to enjoy Christmas together. Also starring EastEnders' Shaun Dooley as Robert Millman, Anne Hirsch as Jenny, Warona Seane as Dean Karen Richards, Jane Hill as BBC News Presenter, Jonathan Blake as BBC Reporter and Catherine Burns as Radio Voice-over. Eccleston gives a good worried but also substantial father figure performance, and I have never seen Fry become such a nasty villain character, and so well, it is a marvellous modern retelling of the story, with really good special effects to inject you into the tiny people world, a fantastically fun family fantasy adventure. Very good!

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 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.