Borrowers, The

You know how the washing machine always seems to swallow odd socks? Well, the secret is out. The Borrowers have been taking them all these years. The Borrowers are the little folk who live under the floorboards. But they must never be spotted by beans, Human Beans. However, in the Lender household young Pete does meet up with Arietty and he`s fascinated. It`s very timely really because the Lenders are about to be evicted by evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter - John Goodman who`s diddled them out of the house that their Aunt left them. The Borrowers however are a resourceful lot.

I`ve actually grown out of kiddie films but this one I liked. It has a lovely energy and some quite tense moments. Even though the humour is based on getting the bad guys in cruel ways - much like the Home Alone films - the young borrowers are much more likeable than that smug little American. The special effects are really well done and don`t overwhelm the film, they`re there for a purpose which is to tell an entertaining tale. Performances are uniformly charming with John Goodman being a rattlingly good sport with his participation. Director Peter Hewitt has kept the narrative hopping and the action slick. Parents don`t have to shy away from The Borrowers, and it`s so good finally to have tracked the source of the missing socks.