The Borrowers (1997)

A secret family of four-inch people living inside the walls of a house must save their home from an evil real estate developer.

Director:

Peter Hewitt

Writers:

Mary Norton (novels), Gavin Scott (screenplay),

Stars:

John Goodman, Mark Williams, Jim Broadbent

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 1 win & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
John Goodman	...	Ocious P. Potter
Mark Williams	...	Exterminator Jeff
Jim Broadbent	...	Pod Clock
Celia Imrie	...	Homily Clock
Flora Newbigin	...	Arrietty 'Ett' Clock
Tom Felton	...	Peagreen Clock
Raymond Pickard	...	Spud Spiller
Bradley Pierce	...	Pete Lender
Aden Gillett	...	Joe Lender
Doon Mackichan	...	Victoria Lender
Hugh Laurie	...	Police Officer Steady
Ruby Wax	...	Town Hall Clerk
Andrew Dunford	...	Dustbunny Binn
Bob Goody	...	Minty Branch
Patrick Monckton	...	Swag (as Patrick Monkton)

Storyline

The Borrowers are four-inch high "little people" who live under the floorboards. When the owner of the house they live in dies and evil realtor Ocious Potter wants to destroy the house to build luxury apartments on its place, they start to fight him with the help of the son of house owner, Pete.

---

Plot Keywords:

lawyer | little people | deception | family relationships | lifting person in air | 

---

Taglines:

Little People. Big Trouble. Lots of fun.

---

Genres:

Comedy | Family | Fantasy

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG for mild peril and some crude humor

Details

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

13 February 1998 (USA)

Also Known As:

Lånerne

Filming Locations:

Ealing Town Hall, Ealing, London, England, UK

Box Office

Budget:

$29,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$16,600,000 (Non-US) (20 February 1998)

Gross:

$22,359,293 (USA) (8 May 1998)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Polygram Filmed Entertainment, Working Title Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

89 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The villain's name is Ocious P. Potter. Costars Jim Broadbent, Mark Williams, and Tom Felton later starred prominently in the "Harry Potter" series of movies.

---

Goofs

Although the film is set in "a fictitious time and place", they are driving on the wrong side of the road. When we see an aerial view of the streets, the junctions are marked out for driving on the left-hand side of the road UK style, but the cars are driving on the right.

---

Quotes

Pod Clock: We're not vermin. We're not creeps. And we're not pests. We're Borrowers.

---

Crazy Credits

During the end credits, there is a scene shown where Potter tries to explain to the police about seeing the Borrowers.

---

Connections

Version of The Secret World of Arrietty (2010)

---

Soundtracks

"Weird"
Written by Desmond Child and Hanson
Performed by Hanson
Courtesy of Mercury Records
By Arrangement with PolyGram Film & TV Licensing

User Reviews

Inventive And Real-Looking

When this first came out, almost a decade ago, I thought it was the best job I had seen of making miniature people look real. This showed how far technology had come in films and now, of course, we see a lot more amazing special effects.

It was fun to view how these "borrowers" moved about, using ordinary household items to propel themselves around a normal-sized house. It's all pretty ingenious.

John Goodman plays a cartoon-like role, a role that is generally funny to watch. The cast has a mixture of American and English actors, with a setting of 1940s Britain. I first saw this on VHS and then later on DVD, which was improvement not only video-wise, but audio, too, as it somehow went from mono to surround sound. This might be considered a kids movie but a lot of the humor is more adult-oriented.