Review: Kiki's Delivery Service

Kiki and Jiji fly to a seaside town

Yesterday morning I watched the remastered 4K version of Kiki's Delivery Service at the Park Theatre. Sadly the cinema only had about 20 people, but the little girls who came had bows in the hair; one child even had her dad have a bow clipped to his head.

I hadn't watched this Hayao Miyazaki feature length animation before and purposely didn't research it much before I went to see it on the big screen.

It's about Kiki, a 13-year-old girl who must leave her parents for at least a year to complete her witch training. She gathers some belongings in a satchel along with her cat Jiji and they fly off on her broom at midnight with her parents' blessing.

Kiki finds a job working in a bakery

She finds a seaside town and tries to survive day-to-day and make new friends as she starts a delivery service.

What's wonderful about this film, based on a book by Eiko Kadono's 1985 novel, is that most of the main characters are women who readily welcome Kiki and support her in her endeavours. 

There's Osono, the owner of a bakery who gives Kiki and Jiji a room in exchange for work; Ursula, an artist who helps the young witch, who in turn inspires her painting; and an elderly woman who is grateful for Kiki's help around the house.

It's so refreshing to see female characters encouraging Kiki, while Tombo is a boy who takes an instant liking to her because she can fly on a boom stick, and he wants to know how she does it.

Kiki is a strong character, resourceful and kind. When she starts meeting her delivery customers she begins to see the personalities of the recipients, in particular ungrateful children, which sharply contrasts with how she was brought up. 

Tombo is interested in Kiki as a witch

Even though Tombo is from a privileged background, he is more impressed by her independence than her dowdy appearance, unlike his pretentious friends.

Jiji is a sarcastic cat, providing most of the humour in the film; it's as if he speaks what the audience is thinking at times.

We watched the English-dubbed version, which meant the voices were of Kirsten Dunst, Jeanane Garofalo, Phil Hartman, and Debbie Reynolds. The credits had a tribute to Hartman, who was tragically killed in 1998.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

102 minutes