Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

            Kiki’s Delivery Service           

NETFLIX SYNOPSIS:  In director Hayao Miyazaki‘s gentle, animated adventure, young witch Kiki (voiced by Kirsten Dunst) moves away from her family to practice her craft, but she finds that making friends in a new town is difficult. With her cat, Jiji (voiced by Phil Hartman), in tow, Kiki puts her broom flying skills to work for a baker’s wife by starting an express delivery service. She quickly discovers, however, that she can’t take her abilities for granted.

REVIEW:  When John Lasseter (genius behind the Pixar films) provides the introduction for an animated film, you know it has to be good – and Kiki’s Delivery Service does not disappoint.  It’s no secret that John Lasseter adores the brilliant animation master Hayao Miyazaki (he provides the intro to other Miyazaki films also).  Kiki’s Delivery Service is the earliest Miyazaki film I’ve seen to date.  As with many later Miyazaki films, the main character is a strong-willed, independent young girl, and the story revolves around her emotional development.  I’m liking it already!  Here, young Kiki is a “witch-in-training,” and per witch custom, she must set out at 13 years old to find a town that will adopt her so she can begin her training.

Accompanied by her funny and cynical cat, Jiji, and with her mom’s “more experienced” broom as her vehicle, she says goodbye to her family and friends and takes off to find a warm, welcoming seaside town.  She happens upon the perfect town (after a big rainstorm causes her and Jiji to camp out in a train) and flies confidently into the town – only to cause several car accidents in the busy streets!  Needless to say, the townsfolk aren’t too happy, and Kiki begins to rethink how easily the townspeople will accept her.

So she has nowhere to live and no purpose in the town, but she keeps her chin up and finds an opportunity to help the owner of the local bakery deliver something to a customer (by broom no less – bringing a new meaning to the term “air delivery”).  Little by little, she begins befriending the townsfolk, but suffers setbacks too – namely caused by her own insecurities and lack of confidence.  The movie, while ostensibly about a young girl, has themes that adults can appreciate as well and made me really root for Kiki, elated at her ups and sad at her downs.  The music is a lot of fun and really adds to the scenes.

I really hate dubbing, being a big believer in the tenet that a film should be seen in the original language in which it was filmed, so I naturally watched this in Japanese and loved it.  The subtitles lose nothing in translation and it was easy for me to understand the humor, the warmth, the insecurities.  Great special features on the disc also.

The animation is early Miyazaki, so it’s not as blow-your-mind intricate as, say, Spirited Away or Howl’s Moving Castle.  But that’s like comparing “excellent” and “more excellent.”  The story is beautiful and warm, heartening and inspiring, funny in parts and touching in parts.  The ending will put you on Cloud 9, like where Kiki is when she’s riding through the skies.  Miyazaki sets the bar again very high in both animation and story.

4.5 stars
Audrey