Kiki's Delivery Service
Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli coming of age film offers the story of a young witch named Kiki (Minami Takayama | Kirsten Dunst) who sets off with her talking black cat Jiji (Rei Sakuma | Phil Hartman) to a new town for a year of learning to be a witch away from her family. Kiki settles on a large seaside community where she struggles to fit in until helping a baker (Keiko Toda | Tress MacNeille) and discovering how she can put her broom flying to use across the city.
Along the way, Kiki will make friends with the eager young Tombo (Kappei Yamaguchi | Matthew Lawrence) who she initially rebuffs, a reclusive painter (Minami Takayama | Janeane Garofalo), and and old woman (Haruko Kato | Debbie Reynolds) who is one of Kiki's first clients. While I'm not sure the film succeeds in Kiki learning more about witchcraft (she doesn't pick up any other witch skills over the course of the film other than getting more comfortable with her flying, which comes and goes), it does certainly work as a story of a young woman carving out her own path and discovering a deeper understanding with magic (which is threatened after her ability to fly and connection to Jiji begins to disappear).
Re-released in theaters for a limited run as part of Studio Ghibli Fest, Kiki isn't my favorite of the Ghibli films, but it's a strong story with a likable protagonist who is easy to root for as she takes her first steps into a wider world.
Watch the trailer- Title: Kiki's Delivery Service
- IMDb: link
