"Neither a Borrower nor a Lender be," Shakespeare once advised. He might have advised differently if he'd seen Peter Hewitt's often delightful children's movie, The Borrowers, or read the Mary Norton stories from which the movie was adapted. Borrowers, for those of you who still haven't had the pleasure, are teeny-weeny people who live in our houses with us and steal--er, borrow--our household goods. The next time you can't find your keys? Check inside the walls, or under the floorboards. The Borrowers are probably using them as cupboard shelves. But don't expect to see the Borrowers. Like mice, they're hard to catch.
In the movie, they share a house with the Lenders, including young Pete Lender (Bradley Pierce), but there's trouble brewing: Ocious P. Potter (John Goodman), the local fat cat, is about to have the house demolished. Pete tries to help transport his little friends to their new home, but they keep falling through the cracks, so to speak. And that's about it, as far as plot goes. Luckily, it's all the movie needs. Hewitt and his crew have created an enchanting land--it's like '30s England, only with Pringles potato chips and Breyer's ice cream--that's both Lilliputian and Brobdingnagian. And the special effects, for once, are pure magic.
