Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Original title

魔女の宅急便

Directed by

Hayao Miyazaki

Genre

fantasy film, coming-of-age film, children's film

Country

Japan

Runtime

1h 43m

Rated

G

Rating

7.8 of 10 from 4,630 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A young witch moves to a new seaside town to start her life on her own. She begins a delivery service using her flying broom and meets a variety of townspeople.

gentlewhimsicalcozyoptimisticquietly determinedwarmbittersweetleisurely paced

What happens

Kiki's Delivery Service is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film written, produced, and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, based on Eiko Kadono's 1985 novel Kiki's Delivery Service. Animated by Studio Ghibli, the film stars Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, and Keiko Toda. The story follows Kiki (Takayama), a young witch who moves to the port city of Koriko with her cat Jiji (Sakuma) and starts a flying courier service. In 1987, Group Fudosha asked Kadono's publishers for the rights to the novel to be made into a film by either Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. Production began near the release of My Neighbor Totoro (1988). Miyazaki initially worked as producer, but took over directing from Sunao Katabuchi as he became more involved in the project. As the novel is based on a fictional northern European country, Miyazaki and his team traveled to locations such as Visby, Sweden, to research its landscape. Miyazaki altered the story, adding new scenes to emphasize the theme of independence and growing up. According to Miyazaki, the film portrays the gulf between independence and reliance among teenage Japanese girls. Kiki's Delivery Service was released in Japan on July 29, 1989, by Toei. It was the first Studio Ghibli film to be successful on initial release, grossing a total of ¥4.3 billion ($31 million). It received critical acclaim and multiple awards. An English dub was produced by Streamline Pictures for Japan Airlines international flights in 1989. The Walt Disney Studios produced an English dub in 1997, which became the first film under a deal between Tokuma and Disney to be released in English. It was released to home media in 1998. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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