Kiki's Delivery Service

Rating:
Summary: Not only a great film, but a DVD treasure
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: This movie is very simple. The animation isn't fancy. The story is simple. And that's why it works. A great story of a little girl learning life lessons.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent film, but technical difficulties
Review: My daughter and I loved the movie, but the last scene never would play. I am returning the film and will try again and hopefully get a better copy.

Rating:
Summary: There's magic in the air with Kiki's delivery service!
Review: One of the fortuitous results of "Spirited Away" ("Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi") winning the Oscar for Best Animated Film for the great anime director Hayao Miyazaki is that his other works are becoming readily available on DVD in the United States as well. A case in point is "Kiki's Delivery Service" ("Majo no takkyubin," literarlly "The Witch's Express Mail"), which tells the story of Kiki O'Connell (voice by Kirsten Dunst), a young witch who has turned 13 and has to go off on her own for a year of training, accompanied only by her black cat Gigi (voiced by Phil Hartman). "Training" is actually a misnomer, because what Kiki does is get on her broomstick, fly off towards the ocean and finds a beautiful European styled city that does not have a witch. Instead of serving some sort of formal apprenticeship to an older witch, Kiki has to survive on her own, and when she helps Osono (Tress MacNeille) return a pacifier to a customer who left I behind at the bakery, she stumbles upon a job that will help her earn her way.

What makes "Kiki's Delivery Service" work is that fact that everybody in the city accepts Kiki's presence. It has been years since the city had a witch, and the police think she has to obey the rules just like everybody else and not cause accidents flying around on her broomstick, but everybody accepts Kiki at face value and offers her encouragement and support. Included in this group would be Ursula (Janeane Garofalo), an artist living in the forest, Madame (Debbie Reynolds) and her housekeeper Bertha (Edie McClurg), a couple of old ladies who take a liking to the young witch, and especially Tombo (Matthew Lawrence), a young boy who would like to fly just like Kiki. Ultimately "Kiki's Delivery Service" is not about what others think about Kiki but rather what she thinks about herself, especially when she starts confronting the doubts of adolescence that could ground a young witch who starts doubting herself.

True, this film suffers in comparison to "Spirited Away," but then that is going to be true of most animated films. The important thing is that "Kiki's Delivery Serivces" represents Miyazaki's vivid imagination and his painstaking attention to detail and insistence on putting in as much into each frame of animation as possible. The result is not great, but utterly charming, which is high praise given what most animation is like even today where computers are doing too much of the heavy lifting. Note: I am not sure if this was Phil Hartman's last work before his death, but it should be noted that his Gigi has a lot more lines than in the original Japanese version (you will notice this and other changes when you watch the film with subtitles instead of the dubbed track, which, of course, is something you always want to do with anime at some point while watching the film again).

Rating:
Summary: Sweet Movie
Review: ALthough I do not watch a lot of Japanese movies, I have to say this was a real treat for me. I thought Kiki was a great character for young girls, and the relationship she had with everyone was so warm and sweet, almost corny, if you will. Nevertheless, I thought Kiki to be an intelligent, fun, and hard working young girl that you just couldnt dislike. I also liked her pet cat. I think this is a cute movie that everyone should own.

Rating:
Summary: Brilliant movie!
Review: A young witch in training named " Kiki" ( Kirsten Dunst) has turned 13 and now heads off to a city so she can start her training and adventures there to become a full fledge witch.

Excellent animation with great artwork, humor and terrific music that makes a definite gem of animation.

Rating:
Summary: Cute!
Review: I love every thing to do with witches and I love Anime. So this is a great combination. I would suggest this for any on eyoung or young of heart.

Rating:
Summary: hooray for Kiki!
Review: We just love this one - so charming!

Rating:
Summary: DVD Japanese/Spanish track confusion
Review: The Japanese Language audio track has a critical mistake. The final chapter is not in Japanese, but it is in Spanish! The Spanish track has this chapter also in Spanish, so it is not merely switched. This is the final musical number where the animation describes what has happened to the characters after the main story has completed.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent children's movie!
Review: This is an excellent children's movie. My niece loves to watch it all the time. I recommend it along with My Neighbor Totoro for young children.

I gave it 5 stars, but I do have one grip. I watched it in Japanese, with subtitles (my niece watches it in english), and well, the translations didn't match up. Doesn't matter in english though.