Another amazing film from studio Ghibli (Kiki's Delivery Service (DVD))

Member Name: lady_natalie

Product:	Kiki's Delivery Service (DVD)
Date:	01/09/09 (27 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: animation, storyline, cute characters

Disadvantages: a bit slow, the subtitled version is way better than the dubbed

Released in 1989, Kiki's Delivery Service is the fourth film released by Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation studio. It is produced, written, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, which should mean a lot to anyone with an interested in Ghibli films as he's well known for his unequalled skills in creating beautiful animation to match outstanding stories.

Kiki's Delivery Service is the story of a 13 year old witch called Kiki. She is following the witch's tradition of leaving home on a full moon whilst a witch is 13 to go to another town on her own where she will establish herself as a witch. Her mum did the same thing when she was 13 and is now the herbalist of the rural town where they both currently live. So whilst Kiki isn't sure what she'll do when she arrives in her new town, she's excited to go and do things on her own. She sets off on her broomstick with her black cat Jiji, but as she soon encounters a thunderstorm she seeks refuge in a passing train. When she wakes up next she sets off again and soon finds the beautiful sea side town of Koriko, and its here she decides to stay. Kiki meets a baker who lets her a room in her house. As Kiki's only current skill is flying she decided to start a delivery sevice based from the bakery, aswell as helping out its owner from time to time. Kiki soon gets a variety of jobs and gets to know the town and to meet its residents, including Tombo, a boy around Kiki's age who is obsessed with aviation and flying, and a local artist called Ursula.

This film has received a variety of awards, including 'best animated film' and 'best Japanese film of the year', and well deserved they are too. The animation is simple but effective, the town that Kiki moves too looks very European although you can never really tell exactly where it's meant to be, but it has a really calm and peaceful feel, you can really imagine yourself wondering across somewhere like it on a summer holiday. The film really focuses on Kiki and Jiji, and kind of passes the other characters by. But by doing this you feel like you really get to know Kiki and what she's feeling, how she must be excited to be going it alone but the downfalls that come with it. Like not knowing anyone at first, not knowing the town she's in, not having much money, and not fitting in with other children her age. For a film about a witch, there's really not the amount of magic that you'd expect. But I think that's nice. Of course if Kiki was a really magical witch, this would have been a different film altogether. But this just isn't an action films. It's quite slow moving and is lovely to watch. I don't watch it as much as some of the other Studio Ghibli films, but I love it when I do.

There is really two different versions of the film, the Japanese version, and the American one. I prefer the Japanese one, as I think it's how it's 'meant' to be, and the American version is slightly different, and I don't really like that it's been changed. But then, if you're someone of doesn't like watching films with subtitles, it is worth watching the dubbed version. No matter how you watch this, it's a wonderful, heart warming film.

Summary: follow the adventures of a year in the life of a 13 year old witch out to make it on her own