Fly on the Sky with 'Kiki's Service Delivery'
It's really refreshing to watch a kind of movie that was made before one's own time or just when one was born. Exactly how I felt when I watched Kiki's Service Delivery from Studio Ghibli in the year of the wooden snake—1989.
I'm simply amazed because it was created when I was just an infant inside a cradle when this movie was made and produced. This one's a total classic.
Kiki was a 13-year-old teenage girl who left home by flying off to another city to train herself as a witch. She has a black talking pet cat called Jiji. As she stopped in the city of Kikori, Kiki helped a bakery owner named Osono by returning a pacifier left by one customer. In return, Osono offered her a place to stay where Kiki lived and started her witchly service. With help from Osono, she received customers via phone calls and on her broomstick with Jiji, Kiki flew her delivery to customers' doorsteps.
On her first delivery, while flying past a forest, Kiki lost a black cat, a gift she was supposed to deliver to a little boy who was celebrating his birthday. So, instead she used Jiji as a replacement. Kiki met a young artist called Ursula in the woods as she searched for the lost item to retrieve Jiji back.
She also captured the attention of an adoring bespectacled kid named Tombo who was amazed seeing her fly on the broomstick while she was flying around the city searching for home. Kiki eventually became friends with him. Tompo's big dream was to fly on air someday. On one of their adventures, Tompo invited her to drive a bicycle built with a fan to fly above the ground.
However not everything was smooth flowing for our witch heroine, Kiki. One day she could no longer talk to her cat Jiji and she also lost her ability to fly. To help her during this ordeal, Ursula invited her for a short vacation in the cottage in the woods to recover. Ursula told her about her own artist's block and shared that she may be experiencing the same. Kiki came to understand and accept her situation better.
She returned home. As she was on the way back, she was invited by the old woman customer she delivered a cake for and was invited in her house. While visiting and catching up with the old woman, she caught on television her friend Tombo hanging midair as people gathered around to land the helium-filled Zeppelin that failed to land on ground and was floating on gravity instead.
Will Kiki regain her magical powers back to help her friend in peril while hanging on a single rope for his dear life?
Kiki's Service Delivery is an animated fantasy film set in a fictional city of Kikori. It is based from the novel written by Eiko Kodono. I didn't expect the movie to be different from the novel. Major changes has been applied from the novel to the movie, notably the long hair of Kiki chopped to a short crop in the film.
The movie gently delivered the story of one lively thirteen year old witch girl who was undergoing some minor and major issues in her adolescent life. Kiki was particular about the black dress that she wore.
As a witch she didn't really display surprising abilities that other witches possessed but the beauty of this movie is the simplicity that it portrayed on showing how Kiki, a magical witch dependent on her flying ability had to overcome a dilemma when she lost it and how she had to surpass the complexity of the situation away from her parents from home while depending on nearby newfound friends like Osono and Ursula.
The character illustration is a strong nostalgia of Disney classic movies but strongly marked by Miyazaki-sama's artistic touch. Background pictures like the architectural buildings and houses were beautiful and detailed. The overall theme maintained in this movie was subtle, gentle and very calm. It has a gentle breeze feel when you watch the flow of the story.
The voice actors and actresses were great. Listening to the Japanese voice actors and actresses retains the Japanese straightforwardedness of the anime though it had a different feel viewing it in the American manner. Kiki sounded more perky in an American way.
The music of the anime, especially the ending song is a strong reminder of magical shoujo fantasy before Sailormoon soared on air and Card Captor Sakura released her magical keys.
The movie was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Ghibli Studio in 1989. It ran for 102 minutes.
On her first delivery, while flying past a forest, Kiki lost a black cat, a gift she was supposed to deliver to a little boy who was celebrating his birthday. So, instead she used Jiji as a replacement. Kiki met a young artist called Ursula in the woods as she searched for the lost item to retrieve Jiji back.
However not everything was smooth flowing for our witch heroine, Kiki. One day she could no longer talk to her cat Jiji and she also lost her ability to fly. To help her during this ordeal, Ursula invited her for a short vacation in the cottage in the woods to recover. Ursula told her about her own artist's block and shared that she may be experiencing the same. Kiki came to understand and accept her situation better.
She returned home. As she was on the way back, she was invited by the old woman customer she delivered a cake for and was invited in her house. While visiting and catching up with the old woman, she caught on television her friend Tombo hanging midair as people gathered around to land the helium-filled Zeppelin that failed to land on ground and was floating on gravity instead.
Will Kiki regain her magical powers back to help her friend in peril while hanging on a single rope for his dear life?
Kiki's Service Delivery is an animated fantasy film set in a fictional city of Kikori. It is based from the novel written by Eiko Kodono. I didn't expect the movie to be different from the novel. Major changes has been applied from the novel to the movie, notably the long hair of Kiki chopped to a short crop in the film.
The movie gently delivered the story of one lively thirteen year old witch girl who was undergoing some minor and major issues in her adolescent life. Kiki was particular about the black dress that she wore. As a witch she didn't really display surprising abilities that other witches possessed but the beauty of this movie is the simplicity that it portrayed on showing how Kiki, a magical witch dependent on her flying ability had to overcome a dilemma when she lost it and how she had to surpass the complexity of the situation away from her parents from home while depending on nearby newfound friends like Osono and Ursula.
The character illustration is a strong nostalgia of Disney classic movies but strongly marked by Miyazaki-sama's artistic touch. Background pictures like the architectural buildings and houses were beautiful and detailed. The overall theme maintained in this movie was subtle, gentle and very calm. It has a gentle breeze feel when you watch the flow of the story.
The voice actors and actresses were great. Listening to the Japanese voice actors and actresses retains the Japanese straightforwardedness of the anime though it had a different feel viewing it in the American manner. Kiki sounded more perky in an American way.
The music of the anime, especially the ending song is a strong reminder of magical shoujo fantasy before Sailormoon soared on air and Card Captor Sakura released her magical keys.
The movie was directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Ghibli Studio in 1989. It ran for 102 minutes.
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