It is quite a day for promising upcoming animated features. We shared an international trailer for Aardman Animation’s The Pirates! Band of Misfits and now Disney’s domestic trailer for the next Studio Ghibili’s project, The Secret World of Arrietty, has arrived.

The film has already been released overseas with import DVDs easily available and I got to check it out a few months back. Based on Mary Norton‘s series of children’s novels The Borrowers, one of my favorites as a kid, it follows people who are 10 centimeters tall, living under the floorboards of a human household. When one of them comes in contact with a full-size humans, things start to unravel.

The animation is beautiful and it is a simple story, well-told and free of many of the annoyances in children’s animations nowadays. I’d actually recommend not viewing the below trailer since it was a joy knowing absolutely nothing about it before seeing. Directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi, and co-written by Hayao Miyazaki, the film features a strong American voice cast including Mark Strong, Saoirse Ronan, Will Arnett, Amy Poehler and Carol Burnett. Check it out below Apple.


Synopsis:

Residing quietly beneath the floorboards are little people who live undetected in a secret world to be discovered, where the smallest may stand tallest of all. From the legendary Studio Ghibli (“Spirited Away,” “Ponyo”) comes “The Secret World of Arrietty,” an animated adventure based on Mary Norton’s acclaimed children’s book series “The Borrowers.”

The Secret World of Arrietty hits theaters February 17th, 2012.

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