Kiki, entregas a domicilio

I kept hearing about how good this movie was, but I put off renting it for the longest time because I dismissed it as some dumb kid's film. Boy, was I wrong! This is a movie that appeals not only to kids, but to teens and adults as well. This is the kind of stuff Disney should be producing nowadays. I own my own copy now and whenever I pop it into my VCR, it always puts me in a good mood.

I happened to catch this movie on The Disney Channel last night. I had heard good things about it from my friends, but it's overall theme just seemed too kiddie for me to watch. But since Princess Monoke happens to be my all time favorite Anime, I decided to give it a chance.

Wow! I was blown away. Hayao Miyazaki is a genius and a true master of his craft. The animation is beautiful. Miyazaki adds so many little details to the animation that other movies don't bother with, that really sets his movies apart and gives them an amazingly real, natural feel to them. I was amazed by the scenes of Kiki flying on her broom; you really get a sense of flight unsurpassed by any other movie I've ever seen.

I was surprised I enjoyed this movie as much as I did. If you judge it from its cover you aren't giving it a chance. A story about a 13 year old witch who leaves her home to begin her training. Alright, that sounds like a great plot for a target audience of girls in the 6-13 year range. I'm a 24 year old male and I can't recommend this movie enough.

Go out and rent this movie as soon as possible. I saw the dubbed pan&scan version on t.v. and I thought the dubbing was actually pretty good. And I'm a die-hard subtitled anime fan. So do yourself a favor, rent this movie, and enjoy the experience. You won't regret it.

Kiki's Delivery Service is my favorite move. I have seen it at least 10 times and I laughed and cried each time. The animation by Hayao Miyazaki is wonderful, as always. The flying scenes and scenery of the generic European city are totally convincing. I think I really got a feeling of what it would be like to fly in on a broom over and through a European city. In each city scene, I feel like it is some place I have visited in my trips to Europe.

What I really appreciate about this movie is the simplicity of the characters and the plot. There are no robots, no psychotic megalomaniacs, no monsters, no superheros, no bratty smarty kids that are smarter than adults, no evil moron adults, and no fight scenes. No one is kidnapped or seriously injured. Even though the movie a about a witch, the only supernatural acts in the movie are Kiki flying on a broom and talking to her cat.

The movie is about a young girl witch who leaves home with her cat Jiji, moves to a new town, and starts a delivery service. In her business she has some adventures and meets mostly nice people who help her out. In the process she meets a boy named Tombo. Tombo does not have any special powers. He is just a nerdy guy who is trying to build a bicycle that can fly. Tombo gets in to some trouble and Kiki helps him out.

That sounds very dull, but by avoiding the supernatural and monsters, the story is much more easy to relate to. It is a story about leaving home and starting anew, meeting people, helping people, and have people help you when you get into trouble. It is very upbeat, even when things look bleak, they work out with a little help from friends. I liked Tombo's problems trying to be friends with Kiki because they seem like the problems people really have. One of the most beautiful scenes in the movie is Tombo silently waiting in the rain for Kiki who never shows up.

This movie is full of silent beauty. When the baker's wife invites Kiki to move in above the bakery, you get the impression that the gruff but silent husband does not care for Kiki. But in a later scene you see that he has baked a loaf of bread shaped like a girl riding a broom and mounted it in the bakery window. Nothing is ever said about it, but you see how he appreciates her.

I have both the dubbed and subtitled version of the movie. They are both great. This movie is one of the best dubbed I have seen. The dubbed version has a lighter, funnier tone because of the wise-cracking Jiji. I felt I could appreciate the animation better in the dubbed version because I did not have to focus on reading the subtitles. In general the voice acting in the dubbed version is excellent. The subtitled version is also the letterbox version, so you get to see the full beauty of the animation. In some of the flying scenes, Jiji is humorously complaining about the flying conditions in the dubbed version, where the subtitled version lets you silently appreciate the beauty of flying. Due to licensing problems the dubbed and subtitled versions have different theme songs. I think both songs are great. I recommend getting both versions.

I have loved all of Miyazaki's films that I've seen so far. He is one of my favourite directors and I believe one of the best out there. While the animation is amazing and the characters are colourful, the best thing about his films is that they have heart.

Miyazaki's beautiful 'Majo no takkyûbin' tells the story of a young witch who travels to a new city in order to make it on her own. The sheer beauty of this film lies in its simplicity, subtlety and detailed animation. It is truly a solid example of cinematic art. There is nothing complex about the story and the characters are very easy to relate to. They are wonderfully drawn. There is an innocence and purity about it that shines through. The vivacious European city is stunning to look at. Miyazaki's attention to detail is positively astonishing. There's always something happening in the background. The music flows beautifully with the story and setting as it adds to the mood.

Needless to say 'Majo no takkyûbin' is another gem from the Studio Ghibli factory. It's one of those movies I never tire of revisiting and one that draws a smile on the face. Those in search of something uplifting should give this one a chance otherwise you don't know what you're missing.

Having already been familiar with and a great admirer of some of Miyazaki's other Ghibli films, including Princess Mononoke, I turned to Kiki's Delivery Service on the recommendation of someone who suggested it as "light-hearted" fun. Being an eighteen-year-old male, I didn't think it would be much more than that—a guilty pleasure to indulge in once in a while, something I could watch and then say, "Aw, what a cute film!" But Kiki's Delivery Service is so much more than "light-hearted fun." For one, it is a beautifully animated work of cinematic art, with Miyazaki's usual flair for gorgeous landscapes and astonishing detail. As in his recent films Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away, Miyazaki's brush paints a beautiful world.

There is not much to be said about the plot itself: Kiki is a 13-year-old witch who has just left home to begin a year of training on her own, and she moves to a seaside European town, befriends a husband and wife baker, and sets up a flying delivery service.

What sets Kiki's Delivery Service apart from many of Miyazaki's other works is the personal, rather than epic, nature of the story. It wonderfully captures the day-to-day life of an aspiring 13-year-old girl moving into the life of a bustling town. While there is plenty to please the thrill-seeking adventurous spirit, the film's real beauty lies in its ability to portray the more introverted aspects of life. Most Western animated cinema centers around loud, pop-influenced music and a bad-guy-fighting action-oriented plot, but Kiki's Delivery Service has a charming and understated musical score, and lacks a traditional antagonist. Life isn't all excitement and fighting bad guys—something that this film seems to get across more than any Disney, Pixar, Fox, or other Western animated film I've ever seen. In fact, the doldrums of life are what form the heart of this film, as Kiki finds that she begins to lose her witch's abilities and can no longer fly.

Kiki's Delivery Service is a masterpiece, one of my all-time favorite films, and Kiki's search for the heart within herself is a tale that adults may appreciate more than their children. Indeed, Kiki is one of the most appealing characters that Miyazaki ever brought to life, which is certainly saying something. One of Miyazaki's great arts is in never talking down to his audience, and this fantastic story is no exception.