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The Borrowers

The Borrowers

Adventure · Fantasy · Action · 1997

The four-inch-tall Clock family secretly share a house with the normal-sized Lender family, "borrowing" such items as thread, safety pins, batteries and scraps of food. However, their peaceful co-existence is disturbed when evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter steals the will granting title to the house, which he plans to demolish in order to build apartments. The Lenders are forced to move, and the Clocks face the risk of being exposed to the normal-sized world.

Movie details

The Borrowers

“Little People. Big Trouble. Lots of fun.”

1997 Adventure · Fantasy · Action 1h 27m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.1 / 10

Community rating

The four-inch-tall Clock family secretly share a house with the normal-sized Lender family, "borrowing" such items as thread, safety pins, batteries and scraps of food. However, their peaceful co-existence is disturbed when evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter steals the will granting title to the house, which he plans to demolish in order to build apartments. The Lenders are forced to move, and the Clocks face the risk of being exposed to the normal-sized world.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Borrowers?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Shorts

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Peter Hewitt

Written by

Gavin Scott · John Kamps

John Goodman

John Goodman

Ocious P. Potter

Mark Williams

Mark Williams

Exterminator Jeff

Jim Broadbent

Jim Broadbent

Pod Clock

Celia Imrie

Celia Imrie

Homily Clock

Flora Newbigin

Flora Newbigin

Arrietty Clock

Tom Felton

Tom Felton

Peagreen Clock

R

Raymond Pickard

Spiller

Court is in session

Put The Borrowers on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Popcorn Loyalist

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.