Based on Mary Norton’s 1952 novel “The Borrowers,” “The Secret World of Arrietty” has been on the mind of Japan’s Hayao Miyazaki, the great animator* of the modern age, for more than 40 years. He did not direct the film himself, but has planned and written the screenplay and handpicked director Hiromasa Yonebayashi.

    “Arrietty,” the feature debut of Yonebayashi, has many of the trademarks of Miyazaki’s Studio Ghibli productions, including a respect for the natural world and the ability to reproduce it in ravishing*, hand-drawn animation detail.

    Like the Oscar-winning “Spirited Away” and other Miyazaki works, this film also features a strong female hero, a brave 14-year-old girl full of energy and life. Only this time she is no taller than a teacup.

    That would be Arrietty, one of a tiny race who manages to live alongside standard-sized people by cleverly stealing small amounts of human supplies.

    “Borrowers take only what they need,” says Arrietty’s dad Pod, and he always follows the rule.

    Arrietty is bold*, however, and doesn’t really believe her parents when they tell her “the world is a dangerous place for a borrower.”

    Living with her family in a tiny but comfortable space below the floorboards of a Japanese country house, Arrietty runs through the garden in full daylight on expeditions*, fighting grasshoppers and outfoxing* a cat.

    One pleasure of this film is how sp阿lendidly* detailed director Yonebayashi and his team have made this small world.

    On her first official borrowers mission*, Arrietty finds a dressmaker’s pin that is the perfect size for a weapon. She also gets seen by 14-year-old Shawn. A sickly* boy, neglected* by his parents, Shawn has been sent to the country to rest before undergoing heart surgery*.

    Shawn is fascinated* by Arrietty, and though he and Arrietty would like to be friends, father Pod insists that this kind of thing never works.

    Though its overall tone is charming, the film has been able to work serious threats into its plot, both from the natural world and from humans, who create troubles for the borrowers without meaning to*.

    Under the title “The Borrower Arrietty,” it was 2010’s top-grossing* film in Japan.

    (SD-Agencies)