Rating summary
| Movie |  | 4.0 |
| Video |  | 5.0 |
| Audio |  | 4.5 |
| Extras |  | 3.0 |
| Overall | | 4.0 |
The Secret World of Arrietty Blu-ray Movie Review
Reviewed by Dr. Stephen Larson November 20, 2017
From director Hiromasa Yonebayashi and screenwriter/executive producer Hayao Miyasaki, The Secret World of Arrietty was acquired by Shout! Factory as part of a distribution deal with Studio Ghibli/GKIDS. The two-disc Blu-ray/DVD set ports over the same extras that were on the 2012 Disney release. Shout! also licensed two filmmaker interviews from Studio Canal that appeared on the European and Japanese BDs. For thoughts on the award-winning animated feature and a/v specs, you can see my colleague Kenneth Brown's review of Disney's BD/DVD twin pack here. This edition comes with a slipcover, an Elite case for the discs, and a small booklet (see centerfold photo in Screenshot #3). Cover art on the slip and keep case covers is identical (see #s 1 and 10).
Front of slip cover and back of BD case.
The Secret World of Arrietty Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
Shout! presents The Secret World of Arrietty in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1. The MPEG-4 AVC-encoded video transfer carries an average bitrate of 30 Mbps, a marginal boost of the 27.65 Mbps encode that Buena Vista sported four years ago. The image is shiny, colors are rich and well saturated, and shadow detail is deep.
Shout! has provided twenty-two chapter stops for the film.
The Secret World of Arrietty Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
The three sound track options consist of an American English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix (4105 kbps, 24-bit), the original
Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Surround track (4154 kbps, 24-bit), and a Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround (448 kbps) dubbed in French. I was unable to obtain concrete data on the audio bitrates for the Disney disc but I would guess that Shout!'s encodes at least equal or more likely surpass them. Notably, The Secret World of Arrietty also had an English recording (also DTS-HD MA 5.1) with predominantly British actors that has been available on the Studio Canal and Madman Entertainment Region B discs in the UK and Australia. Voice actors included Tom Holland, Geraldine McEwan, Saorise Ronan, Mark Strong, and Olivia Colman. One reviewer whose heard this track indicated that it's very well-performed.
The Secret World of Arrietty Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
Shout! has added subtitled interviews with Miyazaki and Yonebayashi, which the Disney disc did not have. The new US package loses the brief interviews with Holland, McEwan, Ronan, Strong, and Colman that were on the UK/AU discs likely because it did not license the British sound track.
- Feature-Length Storyboards (1:34:23, 1080p)
- NEW Interview with Hayao Miyazaki (23:53, 1080p)
- NEW Interview with Hiromasa Yonebayashi (40:48, 1080p)
- "Arrietty's Song" Music Video (3:39, 1080p)
- "Summertime" Music Video (3:01, 1080p)
- Twenty-Seven Theatrical Trailers (13:53, 1080p)
- NEW 12-Page Booklet with Producer's Statement
The Secret World of Arrietty Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
The gorgeous Secret World of Arrietty has received a nice upgrade courtesy of Shout! Factory. While the transfer is likely sourced from the same print on the B.V./Disney, it receives a boosted encode and looks marvelous. It's also good that the label was able to get the rights to the Miyazaki and Yonebayashi interviews. The complete storyboards that were designed for the film appear hear as a standalone presentation rather than the picture-in-picture option with the main feature, which is the case on nearly all the European Blu-rays. It would have been an added bonus to also have the British recording but this is still a fantastic package that comes HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.
