Kiki's Delivery Service (Animated) (DVD)

...better film to review than Kiki's Delivery Service, first released in 1989 (and the fifth of the Studio Ghibli releases) & directed by the Dappa Don that is Miyazaki.

~The Plot~

Kiki is a young witch who is approaching her 13th birthday. Now it is tradition that every young witch has to leave home at the age of 13 and establish herself in a town or village where there are no other witches, the reasoning is that witches ...
...bit bumpy at first) on Kiki's mothers broom with Kiki's Dad's transistor radio hanging from it, to find their new home. There are a couple of small humorous adventures on the way and eventually Kiki and Jiji end up in a lovely little seaside town called Koriko. Initially Kiki finds it hard to adjust to town life, as she has come from a tiny little village, but she needs to find a job and start to develop her skill.

After a couple of ... more

Having just posted my Studio Ghibli review, I am now confident that I have whetted your appetite enough to submit my first review on a Ghibli Film. Seeing as it was Halloween last night, what better film to review than Kiki's Delivery Service, first released in 1989 (and the fifth of the Studio Ghibli releases) & directed by the Dappa Don that is Miyazaki.

~The Plot~

Kiki is a young witch who is approaching her 13th birthday. Now it is tradition that every young witch has to leave home at the age of 13 and establish herself in a town or village where there are no other witches, the reasoning is that witches are now very rare and their powers are very weak, and by spreading themselves out it ensures the survival of their species.

Now the main purpose of moving to a new town is so that young witches can become full witches and develop their own special skill. The only problem is that Kiki doesn't have a skill to develop, the only skill that Kiki has is flying, well she can fly, but not really that well!

The film opens with Kiki listening to her father's transistor radio (it appears to be 1950's) and upon hearing that the night is going to be a perfect night for flying decides that tonight is the night and rushes off to her bedroom to pack, where we meet her talking (obviously black) cat - Jiji. Jiji is cute, with very appealing large googly eyes and huge ears, and a ridiculously dry sense of humour.

Anyway, that evening Kiki and Jiji set off (admittedly it is a bit bumpy at first) on Kiki's mothers broom with Kiki's Dad's transistor radio hanging from it, to find their new home. There are a couple of small humorous adventures on the way and eventually Kiki and Jiji end up in a lovely little seaside town called Koriko. Initially Kiki finds it hard to adjust to town life, as she has come from a tiny little village, but she needs to find a job and start to develop her skill.

After a couple of mishaps and finding that people don't really remember witches anymore or really understand them, she is wandering past a bakery where a heavily pregnant lady (Osono) is trying to return something one of her customers has left in the shop, so Kiki offers to return it for her. Osono takes Kiki & Jiji in and helps Kiki to adjust to life and helps Kiki decide to start a delivery business, her special skill will be flying!

~Where & when is it set?~

Ok not a normal thing to put in a film review as a separate point on its own, but this is actually quite interesting. Miyzaki claims that Kiki's Town, Koriko is a mishmash of lots of different cities and countries. Koriko is mainly based on Stockholm & Visby - 80 rolls of film were shot for inspiration, and a street called Gamla Stan is one of the many models that appear in the film. Other parts of the town can be found in Ireland, Paris, San Francisco (lots of trams) and Tokyo.

*Tazzy fact alert*
The first country that Mizaki ever went to was Sweden, it was in 1970 to find locations for a Pippy Longstocking TV series, unfortunately they never managed to get permission from the author.

It is said that Kiki's Delivery service was set in an alternate Europe in the 1950's where World War II never happened, this answers the questions as to why some characters are watching black and white TV's and why some planes that appear to be Handley-Page HP42's are spotted - back in the real world, there were 8 HP42's and they were all decommissioned or destroyed by 41.

~Who is it aimed at? What did I love about it?~

This is a brilliant film for young children, it is rated U and I would say it is suitable for children as young as 3 (I have no children of my own and not really sure if younger children will sit through a film - but if they do, then suitable for them too), there are plenty of things to keep children's attention such as Kiki flying on her broom, Kiki's friend Tombo's home made flying machine, a talking cat and much more. For slightly older children there is a message of responsibility, self-reliance and independence, and of course, as with all good children's films hope & above all strong spirit.

This is also a brilliant Sunday afternoon film for adults - I will go into a bit more of the story (no plot spoilers don't worry) in the next bit, but this is definitely a film that the whole family can sit and watch together and thoroughly enjoy. The whole story and plot is heart warming, even though not much happens in it, all the characters are strong and you warm to each and everyone of them. I would highly recommend this film to anyone.

~How does the film translate into English?~

For any of you that are either already aware of Studio Ghibli's works or any of you who have read my Studio Ghibli review (G = hot wind blowing through the Sahara Dessert) you will know that these films are all Japanese anime and obviously are originally in Japanese. This is the first film that Disney released, on Ciao there is also another Kiki's Delivery Service listed, which is the original, but more about that in a minute. Unfortunately, a lot of the detail has been left out of the Disney version, but it does not make the film any less enjoyable. This film was based on a children's book, which I believe was quite a popular book, so there are something's that we, as foreign viewers are not aware of.

The first instance is Kiki's cat Jiji, in the book, witches and their black cats are bought up together, which is why they can talk to each other, this also lends to the suggestion that Jiji may actually be Kiki's "other-self". In the film Kiki looses her powers after a spell of sickness, her broom breaks and from that point on can no longer speak to Jiji. Kiki and Jiji never manage to speak again, but Miyazaki intends this to show that Kiki has grown up and become independent, so has no need for her "other-self".

During the film Kiki meets an older sister figure named Ursula who lives in the woods and is an independent character who knows exactly who she is and is very comfortable with herself. In the Japanese version Kiki and Ursula are voiced by the same actress to indicate that they are the same character, Ursula is an older Kiki, but this is lost in the Disney Version.

In the Japanese version Kiki flies along listening to her radio and it is in English, which would obviously be foreign to the viewers, this is to symbolise her lonliness and the foreigness (is that a word?) of the situation.

I mentioned earlier that Ciao list two DVD's when searching for Kiki's Delivery Service, the other is the original version and was dubbed especially for JAL flights and is now only available on a box set, which I can't seem to find for sale.

~Bits you might want to know~

Kiki is voiced on this version by Kirsten Dunst & her smart talking cat Jiji is voiced by Phil Hartman, this was to be his last performance before he was murdered by his wife.

Running time is approx 103 mins

Computers were not used on this film and 67,317 cells & 462 colours were used.

Available widely at your local HMV, Virgin, Amazon or whatever you want to use. If you order off Amazon it is going for £8.97 or you can buy it with Laputa, Castle in the Sky (brilliant film) for £19.94 and qualify for free delivery (unfortunately not by Kiki herself).

This is not at all related and is a bit of a Tazzy fact, but in the original version you can see Miyazaki (director) watching a TV screen towards the end of the film, this for some reason is not visible in the Disney version!

Thanks for reading guys x

p.s. when released in spain they renamed the Kiki Nicky as Kiki is slang for sex(!) 

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