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WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Hayao Miyazaki. Based on Kiki's Delivery Service by Eiko Kadono. Japanese vocal talents: Miniami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi and Keiko Toda. Music by Joe Hisaishi. Running time 102 minutes. Budget $6.9 million. Box office takings so far: $41.8 million. Originally released in 1989.
In a world where witches are just accepted, 13-year old witch, Kiki follows the time-honoured tradition of being a witch by flying off on her broomstick to find a town she can practice being a witch in. She sets off with her talking black cat Jiji and lands in an un-named French coastal town where she ends up living in a granny flat of a bakery run by a friendly couple. While she's there Kiki becomes friends with a boy her own age, Tombo, an artist who lives in the woods, and an elderly woman whom Kiki does deliveries for. She also briefly loses her magical powers and still helps to avert a terrible catastrophe when a huge Zeppelin-like airship crashes in the town square and then it ends. And you realise you're close to tears.
What an utter, utter treat. A hand-drawn animated classic of sublime charm, with a warmth and emotional core completely missing from most, if not all, CGI animated films of the past 36 years. Produced by the legendary Studio Ghibli and directed to perfection by the animation genius, Hayao Miyazaki. This is an exercise in artistic brilliance. The endless street scenes, the crowds, the lighting, the skies, the clouds, the small, tiny bits of artistry that if you blink you'd miss. It's all so wonderful. It fills your soul with joy and I found myself smiling all the way through. There's something about this film that actually enhances your soul, that makes you feel good about your fellow man. It's a film where there's no life lesson to be learned, no sassy, wise-cracking, girl boss beating up stupid male characters, there's just the story of a young girl trying to make her way in the world and encountering a group of people who try to help her. At times she is peevish, and even down right rude, on a couple of occasions she is sad and lonely, but each time there's reasons why and they feel organic and real.
Finally, just before the film there were the obligatory trailers and because Kiki's Delivery Service animated, nearly all the other trailers were for upcoming animated films all of which, with the exception of a new Shaun the Sheep movie, were generic, bland CGI sludge including a film called Forgotten Island, about two sassy, wacky teenage girls who get sucked into a magical realm and befriend a stupid werewolf boy who's there to provide the obligatory hilarious stupid male character. You just know that there'll be wacky adventures and valuable lessons to be learned before the two girls are returned to their real world. It's just another forgettable animated life-lesson featuring an off-the-rack plot and yet another cast of forgettable female characters, because god forbid a Hollywood animated film should ever have a male character like Tombo.
Give me Kiki's Delivery Service every time. This is an absolute animated classic and I loved every minute. There is not one thing wrong with this beautiful, joyful, life-affirming film and to see it, once again on the big screen, with Japanese subtitles and in all it's full 4k glory, was a dream come true.
10/10
What an utter, utter treat. A hand-drawn animated classic of sublime charm, with a warmth and emotional core completely missing from most, if not all, CGI animated films of the past 36 years. Produced by the legendary Studio Ghibli and directed to perfection by the animation genius, Hayao Miyazaki. This is an exercise in artistic brilliance. The endless street scenes, the crowds, the lighting, the skies, the clouds, the small, tiny bits of artistry that if you blink you'd miss. It's all so wonderful. It fills your soul with joy and I found myself smiling all the way through. There's something about this film that actually enhances your soul, that makes you feel good about your fellow man. It's a film where there's no life lesson to be learned, no sassy, wise-cracking, girl boss beating up stupid male characters, there's just the story of a young girl trying to make her way in the world and encountering a group of people who try to help her. At times she is peevish, and even down right rude, on a couple of occasions she is sad and lonely, but each time there's reasons why and they feel organic and real.
Finally, just before the film there were the obligatory trailers and because Kiki's Delivery Service animated, nearly all the other trailers were for upcoming animated films all of which, with the exception of a new Shaun the Sheep movie, were generic, bland CGI sludge including a film called Forgotten Island, about two sassy, wacky teenage girls who get sucked into a magical realm and befriend a stupid werewolf boy who's there to provide the obligatory hilarious stupid male character. You just know that there'll be wacky adventures and valuable lessons to be learned before the two girls are returned to their real world. It's just another forgettable animated life-lesson featuring an off-the-rack plot and yet another cast of forgettable female characters, because god forbid a Hollywood animated film should ever have a male character like Tombo.
Give me Kiki's Delivery Service every time. This is an absolute animated classic and I loved every minute. There is not one thing wrong with this beautiful, joyful, life-affirming film and to see it, once again on the big screen, with Japanese subtitles and in all it's full 4k glory, was a dream come true.
10/10
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