Kiki's Delivery Service
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Movie Reviews of Kiki's Delivery Service
Movie Review: "We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it's not easy."
Summary: 5 Stars
Kiki, a 13-year-old restless, spontaneous, brave, and kind girl is witch-in-training. She follows the traditions of her craft that require her to fly away using a broom as the means of transportation from her loving family and friends on a yearlong journey to complete her apprenticeship. She will need to find a place where no one knows her and to support herself while becoming a full-fledged witch - just like her mother did when she was 13. It's a charming as well as highly entertaining story of self-discovery, taking responsibilities, becoming independent and mature, and following and achieving one's dreams. The film is (I will not be original and just repeat what countless reviews have said already) breathtakingly beautiful. I've been watching movies all my life, and I've seen thousands but rarely have I wanted to stay and live in the imaginative movie's world. Hayao Miyazaki's kind and magical, lovely and sweet without being sappy or patronizing animation made me dream of the place like Korico. I did not want to leave the romantic magic seaside town that Kiki and her ironic talking black cat Jiji chose to stay, where everyone (well, almost) seems to respect, like, and to help to one another, where Kiki established reliable "Witch Express Delivery" using her flying skills and where "the things are sometimes difficult but she is fine". Yes, I wanted to stay in the dreamy sparkling world that Hayao Miyazaki created by the gentle power of his incomparable talent.
I want to join millions of grateful viewers and to thank Walt Disney Company for having introduced the films of Hayao Miyazaki to the rest of the world. They are invaluable treasure and will be enjoyed equally by the adults and the children. I also appreciate the choice Disney Company provided releasing on the same disk the dubbed version and the original Japanese one with the English subtitles.
Movie Review: Old-School Animation for the Whole Family
Summary: 5 Stars
The American release of Kiki's Delivery Service contains two great movies: the American version with superb new voices by Dunst, Garofalo, Hartmann, et al. and the original Japanese version. Common to both is the beautiful old-school animation and a story that will delight adults as well as 13-year-old girls. But the two differ in the way they portray the characters and set the tone of the story, most notably in the way Hartmann and Sakuma play the cat in their respective versions. I recommend this film to anyone who enjoys animation and especially to parents to watch with their daughter. Try watching it first with the English voices, then with the Japanese voices and no subtitles to experience the original version.Movie Review: What's up with the chapters
Summary: 5 Stars
Lovely movie about a 13 year old witch leaving home to complete her training. Nothing to add beyond what has already been said.
However, I have found that on my primary DVD player, the last chapter (Gonna Fly and End Credits) will not play at all. It will play on other players, just not on mine.
Movie Review: Fresh, Lovely, Humorous, Uplifting: Another Miyazaki Delight
Summary: 5 Stars
Kiki's Delivery Service has the same sort of optimistic delightfulness as that other much-beloved and much-praised Miyazaki offering, My Neighbor Totoro. It has a way of making you not only wish you were young again, but it actually makes you feel as if a few years (or decades) have fallen away and the world is all shiny again, and so are you.
There is no villain. There is no terrible abuse or viciousness. This is a totally sparkly story of a young witch who is sent from home to get her training, which means traveling to a new town and living there for a year. (To some, that might sound rather harsh, like child labor or a dangerous lack of parenting wisdom.) You have to surrender yourself to the idea of this rite of passage, and that Kiki will be all right.
She ends up with her cat, her radio, her purple witch's dress, her mother's trusty broom, in a new city, where she befriends a kindly bakery shop owner who lets her live in the attic. From there, Kiki embarks on a delivery service, taking packages on her broom. The story follows that journey in setting up her business and learning about her capabilities and flaws, as wella as her new city world.
The magic is in the details of both the story and the artwork. The city is beautifully done, and the city feels like a welcoming European city, with some buildings as stately and rich as Viennese jewels and others having a more Mediterranean seaside feel. It's a city that you'd want to visit, and the artwork makes it accessible. The sky takes on astounding colors and depth at times. Small details of characterization in expression and movement--in both humans and animals--or in the setting--a bit of grocery that falls to the floor, the way toes are depicted--add to the richness and are so charming.
And Kiki's a typical 13 year old of a more innocent age--she can be hasty, emotional, enthusiastic, helpful, worried about fashion, respectful of elders, and she is inately good and kind and industrious. (Miyazaki's films seem to uphold the value of kindness, compassion, and hard work quite a bit.) She finds out things about her own abilities, and she makes friends.
Kirsten Dunst does a terrific job of voicing Kiki, and the tone has the ebullience and girlishness that's perfect for the characer. The late Phil Hartman is an amusing black cat familiar.
It's a gentle story, but it's never boring. Even my 47 year old engineer husband found it a fun, sweet, watchable tale.
There is this enveloping magic that I've found in Mr. Miyazaki's movies, whether it's My Neighbor Totoro or Spirited Away or Howl's Moving Castle, there is something in the combination of story and character and artwork that makes you feel the wonder again of being young and diverted by the adventures in magical worlds where good, ultimately, wins out over bad.
This is the sort of film parents and kids can treasure together. And if you've seen or read or heard too many dark and terrible things, this is the sort of movie that restores a bit of youthful innocence.
Highly Recommended.
Movie Review: One of the VERY rare movies I can watch over and over
Summary: 5 Stars
Other reviews go into great detail about the plot, and how the voice casting and dubbing are great (they are!), and how Hayao Miyazaki is great (also true!) so I'll skip all that.
The main point I'd say to prospective buyers of any age is that this is a NICE movie you will enjoy for years, no matter your age. Kiki has troubles and setbacks, but this is not a dark disturbing movie at all, and the animation itself has a kind of light tone.
After viewing this with my kid for I think the 11th time, I'm compelled to observe that not only do I not get tired of this movie at all, but each time I notice new things and enjoy it all over again. I believe you will too.