Walt Disney Pictures released The Secret World of Arrietty in North America on Friday, and the vast majority of film critics have reviewed the film positively.

As of Friday evening EST, the film scored a 92% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with 100% of the site's selected "Top Critics" turning in positive reviews. Among the critics, Peter Rainer of Christian Science Monitor newspaper calls the film "marvelously captivating." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times newspaper notes that both Studio Ghibli and the film "have a way of taking you where you may not expect," and Los Angeles Times' Kenneth Turan calls the film "beautiful, gentle and pure - but not without elements of genuine menace - it will make believers out of adults and children alike."

The film also scored an 84% approval rating among audience members. Another review scoring site, Metacritic, rated the film at 80 out of 100 based on 24 reviews, and listed a user score of 7.9 out of 10.

ANN posted its review on Friday.

In his directorial debut, Yonebayashi re-imagines Mary Norton's 1952 novel The Borrowers by moving the story to a Tokyo suburb. The story revolves around Ar rietty, a member of the "little people" who live under the floorboards of a regular human family's home. Arrietty's family tries to remain hidden from the human "beans." Walt Disney Pictures released the film on 1,522 screens, the widest opening for a Studio Ghibli film in North America to date.