Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Brisk
- Intensity
- Mild
- Complexity
- Simple
- Violence
- Mild
- whimsical
- spirited
- warm
- family movie night
- lazy sunday
What critics said
Critics broadly found the film to be a spirited, inventive children's adventure whose storybook look and amusing effects provide substantial charm.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The four-inch Clock family lives beneath floorboards and repurposes human household scraps as tools, furniture, and resources.
The Borrowers' tiny bodies make household interiors, objects, and human activity the source of physical humor and suspense.
Ocious P. Potter seeks to destroy the house for luxury apartments, forcing the Borrowers and Pete to defend it.
Pete helps the Clock family oppose Potter after discovering the little people beneath the house.
Films like The Borrowers, and why
The Borrowers (2011)
inventive family fantasy, miniature-scale adventure, and playful household world-building
Arrietty
family-friendly fantasy comedy centered on tiny people navigating an oversized human environment
Honey, I Shrunk the Kids
warm children's adventure with imaginative practical-scale effects and a threatened home
The Witches
spirited family fantasy combining eccentric characters, comedy, and a struggle against an adult antagonist
Movie Details
- Director
- Peter Hewitt
- Release Date
- 1997-12-05
- Runtime
- 87 min
- Rating
- 6.1 / 10 (543)
Cast
- John Goodman
- Mark Williams
- Jim Broadbent
- Celia Imrie
- Flora Newbigin
- Tom Felton
- Raymond Pickard
- Bradley Pierce
- Aden Gillett
- Doon Mackichan
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is The Borrowers about?
- Tiny residents beneath a family home enlist a human boy to outwit an unscrupulous developer and save their miniature world.
- What is The Borrowers like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of The Borrowers as brisk, its intensity as mild and its storytelling as simple.
- Is The Borrowers violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in The Borrowers as mild.
- What did critics think of The Borrowers?
- Critics broadly found the film to be a spirited, inventive children's adventure whose storybook look and amusing effects provide substantial charm.
- Which films are like The Borrowers?
- Films with a similar feel include The Borrowers (2011), Arrietty, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, and The Witches.
- How long is The Borrowers?
- The Borrowers runs 87 minutes.
- Where can I watch The Borrowers?
- In United States, The Borrowers streams on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads.
Browse Ember's collections
Movies like The Borrowers
- *batteries not included1987
- The Thief Lord2006
- Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue2010
- The Secret of Moonacre2009
- The House with a Clock in Its Walls2018
- Arrietty2010
- A Babysitter's Guide to Monster Hunting2020
- The Magic Faraway Tree2026
- Arthur and the Invisibles2006
- Arthur 3: The War of the Two Worlds2010
