MotW: Kiki's Delivery Service

I've rewatched it recently! Frankly, I don't know if I have anything interesting to say about most Ghibli movies: they're usually gorgeous, have both funny moments and good action scenes, besides a great, well-written story. Very few of their productions are below those criteria (Tales from Earthsea, Earwig and the Witch and the tv show Ronja).

In Kiki's case, the story is quite simple: she is an apprentice witch that must live alone in a big city; there, after helping a pregnant woman who has a bakery and lets Kiki take a room there, she discovers that her abilities can be used for a delivery service. Most of the movie is she dealing with each delivery and helping various characters, all the while she and her cat are learning to grow up.

Huh, I guess it's appropriate that I'm playing Death Stranding right now.

It's one of the simpler entries in Ghibli's catalog, not as epic or impressive as Mononoke, Nausicaa, Chihiro or Ponyo, but fun to watch all the same. The thing is that Ghibli nails how to portray the best side of humanity, both in animation and in how the characters react to each other, so it feels like a bright world that looks fun to live in.

I just got this from the library today, and I re-watched it with my daughter. She loved it. I've always liked this movie, but I haven't seen it in years.

I had to look up the movie's setting, because I couldn't put my finger as to where it was located. There was a zeppelin in a city with electric line trolleys that were sandwiched between Model Ts and various luxury cars from the 40s and 50s. Then I saw the double headed eagle of the Hapsburgs. Apparently it is supposed to be in an amalgamation of European cities in a 1950s world that did not suffer from World Wars 1 and 2. What an interesting idea.

Of course the animation is fantastic. It is a bit more simplistic than the likes of Spirited Away or Ponyo, but it is really good. The music is fun, but nothing really stands out. The English dubbing was pretty good. I completely forgot that Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman were Kiki and Jiji respectively. I really wish Hartman had more lines as JiJi the Cat. They both did a good job overall.

In the end, I like the overall happy feeling of the movie. The overarching theme for kids is to never give up on yourself, even when you've lost confidence. I can definitely get behind that. Studio Ghibli is great. 

The last two movies had me thinking about seeing more, so I have my library getting me My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies for me, so I can delve into the more serious side of their work.  I think I've seen Totoro, but it seems like a vague memory.  I have yet to see the Grave of the Fireflies.  Of course, I'll report back here after I have.

Thanks for the heads up.  She's in kindergarten.  She was in awe of Spirited Away, but I don't want to push it yet.