The Borrowers Review
by "Luke Buckmaster" (bucky AT alphalink DOT com DOT au)April 30th, 1998
REVIEW: The Borrowers
by Luke Buckmaster
3 stars out of 5
If you re reading this review, the chances are you ve seen the posters and perhaps even trailers for The Borrowers. So I ll address the question that everyone wants answered: what exactly are they? Do they bear close similarities to the mouse in Mouse Hunt, or are they perhaps a Home Alone Macaulay Culkin type being? Well they re a little bit of both.
The Borrowers like to consider themselves as cautious, alert, inconspicuous and good at climbing. But if this is the case, why do they end up being chased across the town by a greedy lawyer, a clumsy exterminator, a smelly hound and a big-eyed kid on a bike?
Pod (Jim Broadbent), Homily (Celia Imrie) and their kids, Peagreen (Tom Felton) and Arrietty (Flora Newbigin) are our Borrowers. They live under the floorboards of a big house and borrow items from the residents living there. But when the human being family s Aunt dies (who previously owned the house), the greedy and self righteous lawyer Ocious Potter (John Goodman), tells the family that a will was never found and the house was now officially his. As they begin to move out, the confused Borrowers get tangled up in these human matters and stumble into danger when Peagreen and Arrietty get up to mischief and attempt to foil the evil Potter s plans.
It came as no surprise to me to find The Borrowers a fairly ordinary collection of thrills and spills for kids, with a few exceptions. One of my obvious highlights was a tense scene involving a couple of borrowers, John Goodman, a light bulb and ruler. Sound exciting? Probably not, but is a treat to see simple everyday household items turned into life saving objects for these tiny little people.
Although The Borrowers may seem at first to be a delightfully different kids flick, but really it s very similar to what we ve seen many times before. The bad guy, John Goodman, will chase the little critters all over the place but when he finally catches them, rather than simply stepping on them he ll conjure up some evil and deranged death plan. Of course, as he turns his back on them they will miraculously escape to freedom just to be caught again later on.
But poor John the first time he gets caught out by these tiny beings is his last that s kids flicks for you, eh?
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