Starring: Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda Directed By: Hayao Miyazaki Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Binding: DVD Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: April 15, 2003 Running Time: 103 minutes Studio: Walt Disney Video Theatrical Release Date: 1989
Product Description: Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 04/15/2003 Run time: 105 minutes Rating: G
Amazon.com: In Hayao Miyazaki's magical Kiki's Delivery Service, a 13-year-old girl meets the world head on as she spends her first year soloing as an apprentice witch. Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a cat Jiji (a gently subdued Phil Hartman) by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home. Miyazaki's gentle rhythm and meandering narrative capture the easy pulse of real life (even if his subject is a girl flying high upon a broomstick) and charts the everyday struggles and growing pains of his plucky heroine with sensitivity and understanding. Beautifully detailed animation and the rich designs of the picture-postcard seaside town of red-tiled roofs and cobblestone streets only add to the sense of wonder. This charming animated fantasy is a wholesome, life-affirming picture that doesn't speak down to kids or up to adults. --Sean Axmaker
Lovely children's film ^ The film starts at the beginning of a journey. As dictated by traditional custom, young Kiki is granted independence at the age of thirteen so she may begin the year-long training away from home to cement her status as a bona fide witch. She leaves behind her loving parents and small town and relocates herself to a large city, which (though nonexistent) has distinctly European features. However, she soon learns that the rules of the city (and life) are not quite as she imagined.
Eiko Kadono, author of the book on which the film is based, and Hayao Miyazaki, the screenwriter and director, are both Japanese. Although the film takes place in a made-up world, it can be said that those who craft the film leave their own mark on the story, demonstrating the proper values thought important. Kiki demonstrates the archetypal Japanese trait of showing respect for her elders.
Since she has no special talents (except for flying on a broom, which she does haphazardly at best), her training consists of learning how to support herself, which she accomplishes by establishing an air delivery service (via broomstick). Kiki's growth as a character evolves through her interaction with her customers. At least three of her female customers act as second mothers, aiding her in the gradual transition from the sheltered childhood she knows into the reality of young adulthood. This supportive network of parental-substitutes allows Kiki, and young viewers, as well, to explore her new environment safely. Kiki's work ethic is impressive in a child so young. She earns the respect of adults through her earnest and diligent behavior. She also learns that items she took for granted before (food, cooking implements) cost money and can be somewhat expensive. She cooks and cleans for herself, and finds herself scrimping when money is low. Although she longs to own nice clothes, she notices that even the price on a pair of shoes she admires in a store window is equal to, or more than, the amount she spends on groceries alone.
Even though Kiki serves as a role model towards young children, she also stands as a figure they can empathize with. She has the same doubts and disappointments as everyone else. Her stay in the city, for example, doesn't begin as well as she had hoped. The city is not warm and inviting like her hometown. Her attempts to introduce herself to strangers are at first met with indifference. She is insulted when an incredulous hotel desk clerk doesn't believe her when she asks to rent a room without her parents present. "No one seems to like witches in this town," she observes sadly. Her sense of alienation is present whenever she is around children her age. When her new friend (and love interest) Tombo introduces her to his usual gang of friends, she finds herself unable to relate to them. She feels herself to be "an outsider." Her insecurities and failed self-confidence affects her ability to do magic: she can no longer fly a broomstick, and she can no longer communicate with her black cat, Jiji. She feels lost without the very thing that makes her feel special. Her host family and friends give her the emotional support she needs to regain her self-confidence. It is put to the ultimate test when she is the only one who can save Tombo, who is dangling from a rope attached to a runaway dirigible and faces certain death if he falls.
Kiki's Delivery Service is a sweet, lovely film about what happens when life disrupts our preconceived notions, and the sense of loss and insecurity which takes place after. The pacing is sometimes slow and methodical, that might not work with younger elementary students. With its discussion of teenage independence, it will probably have the most developmental impact for children in their preteens. Recommended for 8-12 year-olds, this is also a film that parents, too, can appreciate.
first one to write a reveiw......magical movie ^ i sold this move a long time ago regrated it later but now i can have it for speacial edition i am hooked on hayao miyazaki movies i can watch them all day his movies very imaginative and speacial my favorite part when kiki meets the other girl who is also a witch i like the music they play when she is flying in the air. not miyazaki's best but still a good movie nice romantic story. this movie is pretty long his best i know every body would agree is spritied away. spritied away deserved an award
highlights the importance of independent, creative thinking and art! ^ Along with Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro this is one of my favorite films from director Hayao Miyazaki. All Miyazaki's films are absolutely beautiful, creative, and have such wonderful stories that captivate audiences of any age. Anyone who has seen Kiki, Spirited Away, or Totoro is sure to fall in love with these classic films which go so far beyond the usual Japanese animation. This movie, in particular, is perfect for any creative or artistic young woman, because it highlights the importance of independent and creative thinking along with arts and crafts (painting, bread baking, etc.). And of course, if you love cats you are also sure to love Kiki's little sidekick Jiji.
Magical Delivery Service ^ This was a wonderful and uplifting anime about a young and powerful 13 year old witch who moves in a new town with her magical cat to embark on a new life. At first she recieves a frosty reception when she tries to befriend the locals. Over time, she is taken in by a caring woman who is about to become a mother and owns a bakery with her husband. Kiki starts her own delivery service and eventually makes friends and connects with some of the people in the story on a deep spiritual level. Along the way, through her challenge of temporarily losing her power to fly she discovers that the key to her power lies in trusting her spirit and believing in herself. This is also a very happy and uplifting movie. I am very happy to have found out about this movie through amazon and I would highly recommend this magical gem of a movie if you love to watch anime that will help give you an emotional boost and feelings of joy and upliftment.
Just beautiful! ^ The story of a young witch out in the world to earn her broom, so to speak; another beautiful movie from the incomparable Hayao Miyazaki.
Fans of this director will need no introduction, nor even a review to buy this movie. My review title just says it all. The plot of the movie is benevolent, but the main thing about his movies from this period of his work is just that they are all so beautiful. This movie, and others are set in a romantic European-esque period about the turn of the last century. The buildings are stately, the people are beautiful and well dressed and for the most part well behaved, the scenery is wonderful. if I were a cartoon character this is the type of movie I would choose to inhabit too. It's just a real fairytale setting that you would imagine that a later date Cinderella would settle in, and something the polar opposite of Tim Burton.
The plot is nice and fun too, with just the right ingredients, benevolent witch folk, a young witch out to make her way in the world where witches are part of the ordinary world, just like doctors or postmen. She is befriended by a friendly baker, and is given a base from where she embarks on her career and makes new friends.
The dubbing is just great as well and provide just the right feel for the characters. They include the young Kirsten Dunst and the late Phil Hartman. A thoroughly enjoyable movie for the young and old.
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