But we are here to talk about Kiki's Delivery Service, Miyazaki's tale of a young witch who goes on a journey of self discovery and struggles with the real world for the first time. Kiki, the young witch, has reached the apt age of thirteen, and following witch's tradition, Kiki must leave home for a year as part of her last trial in becoming a witch.
Kiki grabs her broomstick and black cat, Jiji, and takes off from her quaint little cottage to see the ocean in the big city. With no place to stay and no money, Kiki soon finds her magical ability to fly on her broomstick is her meal ticket. She starts a small delivery service out of the back of a baker's shop and from there, she gains new customers and a budding social life including a foolish young boy, Tombo, who desperately attempts to court Kiki. Kiki also grows quite fond of an old madame whom she befriends and visits often.
The magic of Kiki's Delivery Service is in the believability of the characters with excellent voice acting. In the English dub, Kiki is voiced by Kirsten Dunst while her feline friend is played by Phil Hartman. The situation that Kiki finds herself in is made believable because Kirsten Dunst makes Kiki sound and behave like you would expect a spoiled thirteen-year-old girl to behave. Some of the supporting cast includes great performances by Debbie Reynolds as the old madame and Janeane Garofalo as a reclusive artist that wants to paint a picture of Kiki.
The two-disc set has a pretty robust amount of extras including a behind the scenes tour of animation powerhouse Studio Ghibli with multiple documentaries on different topics and specific featurettes for other Miyazaki films as well. The color remastering and audio transfer is superb, making this twenty year old animated feature feel like it was released last year.
While it may be slow in the middle, Kiki's Delivery Service is a great film for all the members of the family. Kiki's charming story of responsibility and maturity is told in such a way that the message becomes endearing. As I said at the top of the review, no one knows how to capture the honesty of being young again like Miyazaki. If you never experienced one of his films before or haven't watched one in years, Kiki's Delivery Service is one of the best films in his truly remarkable collection.
