anime review: kiki's delivery service
Mar. 31st, 2010 05:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wingblossomKiki's Delivery Service
Summary: (again, from IMDB) A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
I'll keep this short. Kiki's Delivery Service is a charming movie; one of my favorites from Ghibli (that doesn't involve soul-crushing sadness like Grave of the Fireflies), one of Miyazaki's best, and a personal favorite of mine. I rewatched it with my mom on Netflix recently.
Based on a book by Kadono Eiko of the same name -- literally titled Witch's Special Express Delivery -- it follows its central character, Kiki, a thirteen-year-old attempting to navigate the intricacies of a new town and deal with growing up at the same time. She's also a witch, but this point doesn't take up as much importance as it could; instead, the story deals with her magic in surprisingly subdued, realistic ways.
Technically, this film doesn't have a whole deal of plot. There aren't any monumental tasks for Kiki to overcome, except for the climactic sequence at the end. This isn't a drawback, however; the film is soft and gently paced, deriving a lot of warmth from the strength of its character interaction. It also showcases Miyazaki's love of flight -- there are plenty of scenes with Kiki soaring through the sky on her broomstick, propeller-powered machines spinning in the air, and aerial views of the scenery below. The town that Kiki lives in, Koriko, is vaguely Germanic in nature, with its bustling streets and tall brick buildings. I really loved the attention to detail here: the town looks properly "lived-in," a quality that often eludes a lot of animators.
I should also note that this movie was produced in 1989, more than twenty years ago! And yet, it doesn't look dated at all. The colors in Kiki's Delivery Service may not be as vibrant as say, Howl's Moving Castle or Spirited Away, but the fluidity of movement is still top-notch (and in fact, much better than the majority of stuff produced today). Along with that, it also has my favorite Hisaishi Joe score. Besides the orchestral background music, there are two pop songs from the 60s that are really earwormy and addictive.
Did I mention that there's a lot of joy in this movie? It's hard not to like Kiki: she's earnest, hardworking, and sweet, a bonafide Cute Witch. Her development as a witch is tied to being like that of an artist's, gradual and quietly meaningful. (In fact, I wonder if Miyazaki was paralleling her own character growth to his own efforts as a director, since a lot of the dialogue between Kiki and another character, Ursula seems to point towards this being the case.) Her source of inspiration comes from both herself and the people around her, with an idealized humanism that somehow makes it impossible to approach this movie in any cynical way. The other characters are also very likable, especially the adorable aviation geek, Tombo.
For a Ghibli film, this one's surprisingly underrated, in the sense that it's often looked over or ignored. Nonetheless, I think it's definitely one of Miyazaki's strongest efforts, with its unassuming, relatable story and knack for displaying all the qualities that make his movies stand out from the pack.
Basically, I love this movie. See it if you can!
Summary: (again, from IMDB) A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.
I'll keep this short. Kiki's Delivery Service is a charming movie; one of my favorites from Ghibli (that doesn't involve soul-crushing sadness like Grave of the Fireflies), one of Miyazaki's best, and a personal favorite of mine. I rewatched it with my mom on Netflix recently.
Based on a book by Kadono Eiko of the same name -- literally titled Witch's Special Express Delivery -- it follows its central character, Kiki, a thirteen-year-old attempting to navigate the intricacies of a new town and deal with growing up at the same time. She's also a witch, but this point doesn't take up as much importance as it could; instead, the story deals with her magic in surprisingly subdued, realistic ways.
Technically, this film doesn't have a whole deal of plot. There aren't any monumental tasks for Kiki to overcome, except for the climactic sequence at the end. This isn't a drawback, however; the film is soft and gently paced, deriving a lot of warmth from the strength of its character interaction. It also showcases Miyazaki's love of flight -- there are plenty of scenes with Kiki soaring through the sky on her broomstick, propeller-powered machines spinning in the air, and aerial views of the scenery below. The town that Kiki lives in, Koriko, is vaguely Germanic in nature, with its bustling streets and tall brick buildings. I really loved the attention to detail here: the town looks properly "lived-in," a quality that often eludes a lot of animators.
I should also note that this movie was produced in 1989, more than twenty years ago! And yet, it doesn't look dated at all. The colors in Kiki's Delivery Service may not be as vibrant as say, Howl's Moving Castle or Spirited Away, but the fluidity of movement is still top-notch (and in fact, much better than the majority of stuff produced today). Along with that, it also has my favorite Hisaishi Joe score. Besides the orchestral background music, there are two pop songs from the 60s that are really earwormy and addictive.
Did I mention that there's a lot of joy in this movie? It's hard not to like Kiki: she's earnest, hardworking, and sweet, a bonafide Cute Witch. Her development as a witch is tied to being like that of an artist's, gradual and quietly meaningful. (In fact, I wonder if Miyazaki was paralleling her own character growth to his own efforts as a director, since a lot of the dialogue between Kiki and another character, Ursula seems to point towards this being the case.) Her source of inspiration comes from both herself and the people around her, with an idealized humanism that somehow makes it impossible to approach this movie in any cynical way. The other characters are also very likable, especially the adorable aviation geek, Tombo.
For a Ghibli film, this one's surprisingly underrated, in the sense that it's often looked over or ignored. Nonetheless, I think it's definitely one of Miyazaki's strongest efforts, with its unassuming, relatable story and knack for displaying all the qualities that make his movies stand out from the pack.
Basically, I love this movie. See it if you can!
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on 2010-03-31 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
on 2010-04-01 01:55 am (UTC)