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Friday 23 December 2011

Children's DVD Review: Arrietty


As a child I loved Mary Norton's book The Borrowers, about tiny people who lived under the floorboards and came up to borrow things that the human folk may not need, such as sugar lumps and tissues.  So hearing it had been made into a modern film was exciting news. Arrietty is an animated family feature film which runs for approximately 90 minutes.  Made by the Ghibli studio that produced Spirited Away and Ponyo, it is the tale of a young boy called Sho who is seriously ill and comes to stay in a mansion in the leafy outskirts of Tokyo whilst he awaits treatment.  During his time there Sho meets a tiny little girl called Arrietty who lives in the depths of the house in her own diddy house with her parents. Sadly once her parents realise that a human has seen her they need to move away to keep themselves safe but before this we get a delightful story of an unlikely friendship and a slightly kooky housekeeper!

This is a beautiful film, which was enjoyed by all the family from my 4 year old girls through to my husband and I. The animation is just lovely, I commented to dh that it is not at all garish like some children's films.  It is muted and very realistic and the story unfolds in a very touching and captivating way.  This film has provided a couple of happy afternoons viewing for us so far.

Arrietty will be available to buy from all good retailers from 9th January 2012.  I would happily recommend it as a good investment to add to your family films library.  You can pre-order on Amazon for £11.99 for a DVD at the moment.

Take a peek at the trailor -



Certificate : U
Run Time:  90 minutes
Language:  English or Japanese with English subtitles
Actors: Saoirse Ronan, Olivia Coleman, Mark Strong, Tom Holland
Directors: Hiromasa Yonebayashi

Disclaimer:  This is a  review post, I received the DVD free of charge. I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.

Sunday 11 December 2011

Review: Scotch Pop-Up Tape

Now I have to be honest with you and say this is going to be a pretty concise post, let's be honest, how much can I say about sticky tape before you click away?

I have been using the Scotch pop-up tape strips for probably 2 or 3 years now.  They do work out to be a little more expensive than tape on a roll but I find the faff of finding lost ends on tape rolls a complete put off and that just never happens with these nifty little strips.

When you need to wrap about 20 shoe boxes in Christmas wrap for Operation Christmas Child you need something that actively helps you rather than hinders and Scotch pop-up tape does the job really well.  Look, I even modelled my little dispenser in action for you -


The dispenser filled with 75 strips in a pad retails for £2.49 and refill packs of 3 tape pads are available for an RRP of £2.69 but I have to be honest and say that I always buy mine when they are on discount or 2 for 3 type offers.  I do like a bargain and you can pick them up in most good stationers, supermarkets and general retailers. Thea re 2 for £3.00 at Tesco at the moment.

So will I be using tape strips this Christmas to do my wrapping, oh yes I will, in about 10 minutes in fact.  All the kids are now asleep so it is the perfect time to grab dh and get in a bit of wrapping action - it is all rock and roll here!


Disclosure:  I received a dispenser and some strips for the purposes of doing this review.  I have not been instructed what to write and I remain honest.