December 16, 2009

Ghibli's "The Borrowers"

Studio Ghibli's next project is Mary Norton's The Borrowers. Hayao Miyazaki will write the screenplay, direction is by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (who previously did key animation for Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away, and Ponyo), and longtime Ghibli veteran Toshio Suzuki will produce.

The setting is the Tokyo suburb of Koganei. This shouldn't affect the essence of the book. Quite to the contrary, the story demands exactly the kind of charm and whimsy that Miyazaki brought to My Neighbor Totoro (wrote and directed) and Whisper of the Heart (wrote and produced).

And one of Miyazaki's first projects was an adaptation of Anne of Green Gables.

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Comments
# posted by Blogger Kate Woodbury
12/16/2009 12:13 PM   
I am very excited about this! The BBC Borrowers series (1992) is pretty good. The 1997 movie looked so horrible, I couldn't bring myself to watch it (and I like John Goodman). I'm not a purist, but I do demand at least some respect for the original plot. The movie Howl's Moving Castle, for example, is really quite different plot-wise from the novel, yet it conveys the same vision as the novel. You feel that Miyazaki read and appreciated Jones' book. I'm betting he will do fine things with The Borrowers!
# posted by Blogger Angélica
12/26/2009 2:07 PM   
I´m excited as Kate! I can´t wait to watch this new film from Ghibli´s. This is the best christmas present ever!