"Kiki's Delivery Service" Review

Have I mentioned before that I love Studio Ghibli? Because I love it to death. Their films consistently dazzle myself and millions of others around the world, and brings out the inner cold in all of us.

Kiki's Delivery Service, a relatively early film in the studio's history (but certainly not early in the career of director Hayao Miyazaki, already an animation master by 1989), centers around Kiki, a young witch-in-training who travels to a European city to live on he own for a year. While there, she makes new friends, gets a job as a delivery girl (using her ability to fly with a broomstick to make her trips), and embarks on a personal journey of self-discovery, with her friend Jiji the cat by her side.

Like most of Ghibli's works, Kiki moves at a slow pace and has little in the way of a major plot arc. Most of the film is just a collection of events in Kiki's life, up until around the film'a conclusion, where she begins to lose her witch's powers and must discover why. Also like most of Ghibli's works, the film would not be nearly as good if it moved any faster. It's soul is its simple looks at Kiki's life, and Kiki is such a wonderful, three-dimensional character that watching her is all the audience wants. She's full of energy and optimism, is always willing to help, and is immediately polite to all- except, of course, for that cute boy Tombo, who she treats with hostility because he's "rude". Along for the ride is Jiji, the wisecracking cat, who is voiced by Phil Hartman in the English version. Jiji is snarky, lazy, and snooty- a typical cat- and is incredibly amusing no matter which version you watch.

Speaking of which: Kiki's Delivery Service has an interesting history in regards to its English dub. The first dub was produced in 1990 by a company called Streamline Pictures, but it was only shown in Japan Airlines' international flights, and is very difficult to come by. Walt Disney Pictures created their own dub in 1998, starring an all-star voice cast including Kirsten Dunst as Kiki and the aforementioned Hartman. This dub also featured lots of added dialogue and music that was not in the original Japanese release, replaced the Japanese-language songs at the beginning and end with English ones, and very subtly altered the ending. Perhaps bowing to pressure from fans of the original, Disney's 2010 re-release removed all of the added sounds and reverted the two songs to the Japanese originals. In my opinion, the Japanese and 1998 English versions are both superior to the 2010 English version: the latter may be more accurate to the former, but the cuts made to the recordings are quite clear at some points, and unnecessary they may have been, but the changes added interesting elements to the film- such as Phil Hartman's amusing ad-libbed, dialogue, almost all of which was removed in the re-release. Most puzzling is the removal of the two English songs, which were both perfectly serviceable and easily stand as equals with the Japanese ones. And after all, it's an English dub, so why not have English songs?

Of course, if you want the authentic experience you could just watch the Japanese version.

Regardless of the version you watch, Kiki's Delivery Service is a nearly-flawless joy. It's good for all ages, so don't pass up the opportunity to show this to your kids- they'll love it just as much.

Awesome