Mary Norton's charming 1950s children's stories about a diminutive family (the "Borrowers" of the title) are here turned into a delightful family film. Jim Broadbent is on good form as the father of the tiny Clocks who live beneath the floorboards of an old house, and John Goodman delivers a large slice of ham as the unscrupulous full-sized lawyer who intends to demolish their home. Peter Hewitt (Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey) directs this fun children's adventure, which features a host of British comedy talent (including Hugh Laurie, Mark Williams and Celia Imrie) alongside Broadbent. But it's the clever special effects that steal the show from the cast (miniature or otherwise).

The four-inch-tall Clock family secretly share a house with the normal-sized Lender family, "borrowing" such items as thread, safety pins, batteries and scraps of food. However, their peaceful co-existence is disturbed when evil lawyer Ocious P. Potter steals the will granting title to the house, which he plans to demolish in order to build apartments. The Lenders are forced to move, and the Clocks face the risk of being exposed to the normal-sized world.