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Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki's Delivery Service (1998)

May. 23,1998
|
7.8
|
G
| Fantasy Animation Family

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

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Reviews

VeteranLight
1998/05/23

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

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Intcatinfo
1998/05/24

A Masterpiece!

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Aubrey Hackett
1998/05/25

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

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Roxie
1998/05/26

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

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nihar142
1998/05/27

Coming of Age Story of a Young Witch who must spend a customary one year away from her parents.She arrives in a modern big city which is unlike her traditional home town in every way possible. She initially receives cold responses from the city's residents but is later embraced by a kind Pregnant Lady who owns a Bakery. Kiki begins to live and starts a delivery business from the Bakery's attic. The people, adverisities and self-doubts that she faces in her Journey to becoming a self-independent individual, shape the movie's narrative.As Expected of Maestro Miyazaki the details in the animation are intricate and visually soothing. Even in a Children's Film he leaves us with some unanswered questions, that requires the viewer to come up with their own interpretations. Another Highly Recommended Miyazaki Classic.

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Ramneek Suri
1998/05/28

May contain spoilersBravo!!! This gentle deceptively mild film left me stunned. A superb character study as well as a detailed examination of depression hidden inside a charming children's animation about a 13 year old witch! Yes its hard to believe...There are so many great scenes here and the animation is just perfect. Some may carp about the slight story or the action climax but for me this is studio Ghibli's best. Easily one of the all time great movies.10/10

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ElMaruecan82
1998/05/29

The misfortune of Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki Delivery's Service" is its release the same year than Walt Disney's "Little Mermaid". Disney Renaissance wasn't definitely established and Miyazaki wasn't totally unknown, his "Nausicaa" and "My Neigbor Totoro" pleased both audiences and critics although their commercial success was notable at best, but there's something of a 'missed opportunity' in Kiki.Indeed, everyone praised "Princess Mononoke" and "Spirited Away" as Miyazaki's greatest achievements but to put it simply, the 1989 offering of Stuido Ghibli is nothing short of masterful. It might not play in the same league of escapist fantasy than the story of a little mermaid who dreams to discover the world of humans, but this is a field Miyazaki isn't interested in. He doesn't explore a witch story to satisfy some enthusiastic craving for magic and special effects, his maturity flies over predictability. And what Miyazaki accomplishes is a little miracle: a witch story set in a realistic environment, with a set of rules and limitations Kiki must either obey or overcome, and fantasy as a set-up but not an excuse for plot contrivances."Kiki Delivery Service" can in fact be regarded as a reverse "Spirited Away". While the 2001 journey involved a 'normal' girl evolving in a fantasy universe, Kiki is a 13-year old trainee witch who must find her place in the real world. Her age is obviously a nod to adolescence (the most suitable life chapter for a coming-of-age story) where Kiki will fit in the tough 'normality' of the world and learn the value of hard work, independence and interactions with kids of her age, especially Tombo, a geeky little boy passionate about aviation and Kiki's flying skills. By the way, her magical broom is the only concession made to fantasy archetypes, otherwise, Kiki is as 'limited' and 'normal' than any girl.And that's precisely what makes her evolution so captivating. Kiki looks like a living archetype with the broom, the black dress she must be wearing, not to mention the black cat, a funny little sidekick named Jiji, but at the same time, she has many 'average girl' attitudes, she hates her dress and wears a big pink bow as an accessory. She's not even your typical anguish outsider, she comes from a very loving family and everyone celebrates her departure from the village to discover the world, as a ritual for every witch at the age of 13. Miyazaki intended to make Kiki the embodiment of little Tokyo girls in transitional phase, looking for emancipation.And it doesn't take a Harvard philosophy degree to see in her flying, less a magical power than a real metaphor of girls' emancipation over the burdens of tradition. It might even symbolize Miyazaki's own emancipation from the usual archetypes of animation as his story features no villain, it doesn't overplay the magical elements, Kiki doesn't go to some sorcerer's school à la Harry Potter, but she'll learn to accommodate her powers with a real place in the world by providing a delivery service for a gentle pregnant baker named Osono... and many other things. There's a mix of escapism and realism that could have been a real revolution if it wasn't for thunder-stealer Disney. Yet, the more I saw Kiki (four times in the same weekend) the more old- fashioned "Little Mermaid" appeared.Indeed, Ariel starts as a girl who wants to get off the sea, but once she (literally) sets the foot in human world, her quest turns into a romance with Prince Eric. Kiki might be younger than Ariel, but what Miyazaki offers us is all the steps between childhood and youth: finding your path, your role, your place and gaining enough self-esteem to open yourself to people. The arrival in the city contains many interesting elements such as Kiki's enthusiasm being immediately spoiled by people's carelessness and a policeman's anger. But once Tombo approaches her, she's shown as capable of rejection and their relationship will take time to build.And as usual in Miyazaki's world, like in all the anime I grew up, there are many scenes that (on a script level) shows nothing "special", scenes involving Kiki buying furniture, giving money, asking for receipt, scenes where she goes to the bathroom, scenes that have no other intent than setting the story in realistic world and highlighting the maturity of Ghibli studios over Disney, where even static moments are hypnotic. Time is also capital in the way it can affect Kiki's self-confidence and undermine her power. Miyazaki took liberties with the original story was made of little episodes and needed stronger ordeals for Kiki, and what worse for a witch than losing the ability to fly?That moment is paralleled with a similar story that happened to her friend, a young painter named Ursula, who went through an artist block, and realized it helped her to put in more discipline in her work, to find herself, her voice and style. Losing the ability to fly and communicate with her cat will cause Kiki to lose confidence, but it will also help her to overcome her own personal demons and be able to fit within the others, by staying true to herself and in the process, save Tombo during the film's climax. And in this time where female power is evoked, it's interesting to note that the heroine is a female and she's the one who ends up saving the boy, I don't know if she was meant to be feminist but she genuinely is.If there's ever a world I would associate with "Kiki Delivery Service", it's emancipation, Kiki discovering the world, overcoming her demons and Miyazaki showing that even in the most banal settings, he could draw the most beautiful and poetic stories, proving that Japan wasn't just the land of the rising sun but of a rising awareness of what animation should stand for: beautiful, mesmerizing but respecting people's intelligence, adults and kids.

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BlackCharger
1998/05/30

Wow... I have no words to describe this film... I can't think of the right one for it. So I have a few suggestions: perfect, perfect, amazing, beautiful, and did I forget to mention perfect? This is one of my favourite movies ever. The film is very appealing not only towards kids but for adults too, you feel for the characters because you can relate to them. Jiji is pretty funny in the movie, it has stunning animation that always feels active everywhere, the music is composed beautifully, the story doesn't need to be super intense or fantasy based, because the tension for me comes from relating myself to Kiki and imagining I have to face through what she does. Kiki is such a likable character as well, and like I mentioned, feels believable... despite the fact she's a witch, she is definitely a good role model. The writing is great, especially the conversations between Jiji and Kiki. The tone is very nice, and I definitely got absorbed into the beautiful atmosphere. I highly recommend people watch this film, I just cannot recommend it enough. It gets a 10 out of 10, although I wish I could rate it higher.

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