Kiki's Delivery Service
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Movie Reviews of Kiki's Delivery Service
Movie Review: Not only a great film, but a DVD treasure
Summary: 5 Stars
Hayao Miyazaki (better known in America for "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away") produced "Kiki's Delivery Service" before either of those films, and by their standards, it might seem tame. However, I rank this at the top of the list of children's films I have seen (a long list, with a 3 year old!), for a myriad of reasons. It is appropriate for even the youngest kids, although its gorgeous animation style and well-paced story will keep adults intrigued as well.The 13 year old witch Kiki must, in accordance with tradition, set out for a year on her own to hone a special witching skill. She departs her hometown and her family with her best friend, the traditional black cat Jiji, and finds herself in a seaside city that is reminiscent of both Europe and Japan. This acultural locale is just the first of dozens of breathtaking imaginative achievements; Kiki faces trials along the way that are neither fantastical nor pedestrian. If you accept Miyazaki's universe at its face value, nothing that happens in the film seems the least bit unlikely.
Owning the film on DVD really opened my eyes - both to the incredible detail in the art, and to the original film as compared to its Disney-produced American version. Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman provide the voices of Kiki and Jiji in the American version, and they both do extremely well - but the "traveler and sidekick" Disney formula has been applied to something where it did not originally exist! I saw the film first on the Disney channel and thoroughly enjoyed Hartman's performance as the somewhat neurotic Jiji. However, the DVD contains the original Japanese language track with English subtitles, and the Jiji of Miyazaki's film is a calm and sparingly-employed counterfoil to Kiki's experiences. Note how rarely Jiji is in the frame when Hartman is speaking, or the occasional cases where Jiji speaks but his mouth does not move - all additions of Disney.
One of the most beautiful things about this film in its original version is its willingness to be silent - to be about a young girl and her cat, alone in a new place, without a constant patter of dialogue. They are allowed to simply "be". Later adaptations of Miyazaki's work for American audiences have been more respectful of this element of his stories. Finally, with this DVD, we have the opportunity to see Kiki as she was meant to be seen.
Movie Review: This film is an absolute charmer!
Summary: 5 Stars
Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service" is based on a series of children's stories by Eiko Kadono. Kiki is a thirteen-year-old witch, and must go out into the world to begin her training. Her mother is also a witch, a vanishing breed. Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) and her black cat Jiji (voiced by Phil Hartman) set out to find a town to call their very own. After a disheartening evening of meeting up with a snooty witch-in-training and getting caught flying in a thunderstorm, the pair wakes up to a sunny day and new adventures.
Kiki finds herself in Koriko, a beautiful seaside city modeled after Europe's genteel capitals, and in the capable, grateful hands of Osono, a pregnant baker. Her new talent seems to be delivering items on her broomstick, and "Kiki's Delivery Service" is born. Kiki and Jiji take up lodgings at the bakery and soon are delivering every sort of item imaginable, from fish pies to stuffed cats to heavy boxes, and naturally, get into scrapes along the way. Young Jeff is fascinated by Kiki and her ability to fly (he is in a young pilots' club), and the two begin a bashful courtship of sorts. But one day, Kiki finds that her magical powers are fading--she can no longer fly or talk to Jiji....
Many of Miyazaki's films feature strong female heroines, and Kiki is no exception. From Kiki's mother mixing potions, to Osono's successful bakery, to Ursula's career as a female artist and Kiki's own quest for independence, "Kiki's Delivery Service" promotes a message of "girl power" and believing in oneself that makes it a good role model for young girls. Part of Kiki's charm is her awkwardness at becoming a teenager, and her magical troubles stem from self-doubt that, when corrected, finds her in flying form once again.
Beautiful artwork, an old world musical score full of Parisian accordion and European charm, and a timeless story are enhanced by Disney's choice of A-list actors for the English dub (Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Janeane Garofalo). DVD comes in English, Spanish, and the original Japanese dub (with two choices of subtitles: the literal translation and the captions used in the English version), along with several extras (original Japanese trailers, "Behind the Microphone" with John Lasseter).
Movie Review: The first of Hayao Mayazaki's films I fell for...
Summary: 5 Stars
years before I even knew what anime was. I fell in love with it then and I have fallen in love with it all over again. As I have gotten older sense I originally saw it, and lost my copy a few years ago, I like the subtitled version a lot more now. I was 12 when I originally saw it (6 years ago), its still as good as ever though. And even though I realize how much these studio's edit out and such, now that I am a anime fan myself and have compared many TV series and movies (this or course included), I still love the english version because I fell in love with it first so I can't really [take] it out of my heart. Note though for people that are not aware of how much they edit, the DVD accually has 2 seperate films on it, because they cut scenes and such. The Original uncut Japanese version with English Subtitles or not (choice), and the English version.
They have done a great job with the DVD!
The dvds rule!
It has the neatest extra on disk 2 (this extra is fills the whole disk 2),
*DVD EXTRA SPOILER*
for a animated film I've ever seen! You can watch the whole lay out of the movie as its being made with its original concept drawings and sketches with the movie's voices playing in the back round, in English or Japanese! ^_^ And for a film like this is really something to watch, of course it takes the whole length of the movie to go through but thats what fast forwarding to your fav parts are for or speeding it up to get a little glimpse of everything.
Over all 10 out 10 for this masterpiece of storytelling, and a great DVD adoption! The film makes you soar with Kiki, and DVD makes it even better! ^__^
Sinceres to all I hope I've helped, and for future reference see all of Hayao Mayazaki's films but be warned not all are for kids, Princess Mononoke (3rd highest grossing film in Japanese history) is not a kids movie.
Film List: Princess Monononke, Castle in the Sky, Spirited Away, and My Neighbor Totoro.
Petition for his other masterpieces to be released in the USA Nausicaa, Whisper of the Heart, and Only Yesterday are only 3 of the other wonderful films that have yet to be released! You can get them imported though subtitled from Hong Kong. They do a good job to subtitling!
Movie Review: Absolutely Amazing!
Summary: 5 Stars
Miyazaki's films never disappointed me, this one is not an exception. The movie, like Totoro, is a heartwarming one, it does not involve war, fighting, ghosts, whatsoever, which may be a disturbance to the hardcore war movie fans... but learning to appreciate different types of movies is importantThis movie is released in Japan in 1989, a fairly old film if you ask me, but the drawings are no where near the line of "old", the background is amazingly detailed, every brick on the roof is drawn with care and attention, which tells you how much work Miyazaki has put into this film. The characters' facial expressions are reflected perfectly with the animation, even without the voice acting, you can tell how they are feeling by looking at their faces.
The story adds fantasy into reality, in an instrial world where cars and planes dominate, there are still witches and magics, which are believed to exist during the 16th century... this is past vs. present, magic vs. science scenario, but with Miyazaki's imagination, these seemingly contradicting factors melt and fuse together, giving the audience an experience they never had before... the story presents themes related to stepping into adolescence, living in a new environment independently, making new friends with a sincere heart, etc. As an environmentalist, Miyazaki also portrays the problem with polution caused by factories and car exhaustions in many parts of the film, which is a message people should understand.
The voice acting in the US version is great, some anime fans that prefer original Japanese soundtracks may find the English dub sucked, but keep in mind that English and Japanese are two different languages, you cannot simply expect something in Japanese to be fully translated into English, plus with the cultural differences, what is presented in the Japanese version may not be understood by the western audiences, so a few comments and lines added into the movie in the English dub don't hurt the overall storyline. From what I heard and experienced, I can tell the voice actors in the US version have put their feelings and emotions into the film, unlike some dull dubbings such as Gundam Wing. After all, Disney does not want to ruin its reputation.
Movie Review: "We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki."
Summary: 5 Stars
Before the wonderful animated films "Princess Mononoke" (1999) and "Spirited Away" (2001) were produced, director/writer Hayao Miyazaki co-wrote and directed the very charming 1989 animated film now known as "Kiki's Delivery Service". Based upon a book written by Eiko Kadono, the film was originally titled "Majo no takkyubin", which translates literally as "The Witches Express Mail". As the original implies, the film is about a young, 13-year-old witch named Kiki, who, like all other witches in the story, is required to spend one year away from home and live an independent life. At the beginning of the film, Kiki (whose English voice was done by Kirsten Dunst) is still at home and very excited about her impending year away. On the night of the full moon, Kiki decides that it is time to leave. Her parents (voices done by Kath Soucie and Jeff Bennett) watch Kiki rise into the air upon her broomstick with her talking black cat Jiji (voice of Phil Hartman, 1948-1998) and travel to a city along the ocean. There, Kiki eventually finds a place to live: a bakery owned by Osono (voice of Tress MacNeille), where she starts her own delivery service. Along the way, Kiki meets an artist named Ursula (voice of Janeane Garofalo), a boy named Tombo (voice of Matthew Lawrance) and an elderly woman named Miss Dora (voice of Debbie Reynolds).Like many of Miyazaki's films, there is no "bad guy" in "Kiki's Delivery Service", but there are some exciting moments and the story tends to focus on self-discovery and interpersonal relationships. The film is very charming and is sure to entertain any child that watches it and adults will more than likely enjoy it too. The quality of animation isn't quite as spectacular as in Miyasaki's later animated films, but like looking at paintings by the same artist, "Kiki's Delivery Service" is in Miyasaki's beautiful artistic style. Overall, I rate "Kiki's Delivery Service" with 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it to everyone.