Hayao Miyazaki:
Majo no takkyubin / Kiki's Delivery Service
Voice cast:
Minami Takayama - Kiki/Ursula
Rei Sakuma - Jiji
Kappei Yamaguchi - Tombo
Keiko Toda - Osono
Mieko Nobusawa - Kiki no haha (Kiki's mother)
Koichi Miura - Okino, Kiki no chichi (Kiki's father)
Haruko Kato - Rô-fujin (Madame)
Hiroko Seki - Barsa (Bertha)
Yuriko Fuchizaki - Ketto
Japan 1989
Kiki's Delivery Service introduces us another wonderful universe created by Hayao Miyazaki. The story is located in Sweden. The structures and architecture create fantastic immersion. Kiki is a 13 years old girl who has just became a wich and moves from home and finds a place to settle in with her cat Jiji. In her new hometown, she discovers a chance for starting a delivery service since she has always been a great piloting her broom. But then, love steps in, and Kiki loses her magical abilities only to discover that a huge airship is about to crash..
Movie has this really good and nice feeling around it. The artwork is as great as Studio Ghibli's other works. Kiki's world has a real immersion and feel in it, especially the 60's Sweden. It feels very realistic. Japanese voice cast is great as ever, especilly Jiji's voice (super!). Music is once again conducted by ever so great Joe Hisaishi who as also made music for Tonari no Totoro and Hanabi.
Kiki's Delivery Service is filled with hidden truths. How can Kiki regain her magical abilities? Miyazaki wonders the relationship between human and nature. And magic - a symbol of artistic inspiration.
In the scene where Kiki's wreight, a small stuffed cat (that resembles Jiji more than little) falls down to the forest, crows get all angry and won't let Kiki approach. This reminds me of Miyazaki's other work, Princess Mononoke which was very powerfull description of nature. Maybe Miyazaki wants to put a line under the sentence "if you respect nature, it will respect you".
Also there is another interesting detail - there are scenes where dangerously strong winds blow. As one of the character in the movie said "Strong winds blow in middle of summer". Wouldn't this be a typhoon in Japan?
The movie is really cheerfull but gentle. Almost every character shows at least a little bit of kindness, even the little snobby young wich who Kiki meets in the beginning. There is something very Japanese and gentle about this movie.
This film is great to watch with the whole family. I recommend the original Japanese soundtrack with a subtitles, rather than dubbed version, since the voice cast is very good and very unique. A wonderful story that has a lot of meaning. I wish there are more films like these are made.
See also: Kiki's Delivery Service at IMDB.
W A T C H I T !