Kiki's Delivery Service (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]
by Hayao Miyazaki
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VHS Tape Cover Information
Actor: Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda, Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei SakumaDirector: Hayao Miyazaki
Producer: Hayao Miyazaki
Writer: Hayao Miyazaki
Producer: Jane Schonberger
Producer: Mikihiko Tsuzuki
Producer: Morihisa Takagi
Producer: Toshio Suzuki
Writer: Eiko Kadono
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Subtitled); Japanese (Original Language)
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Letterboxed, NTSC, Widescreen
Running Time: 103 minutes
Release Date: 2000-03-28
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Publisher: Buena Vista Home Video
Studio: Buena Vista Home Video
VHS Movie Reviews of Kiki's Delivery Service (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]
Movie Review: Lovely children's film
Summary: 5 Stars
The film starts at the beginning of a journey. As dictated by traditional custom, young Kiki is granted independence at the age of thirteen so she may begin the year-long training away from home to cement her status as a bona fide witch. She leaves behind her loving parents and small town and relocates herself to a large city, which (though nonexistent) has distinctly European features. However, she soon learns that the rules of the city (and life) are not quite as she imagined.
Eiko Kadono, author of the book on which the film is based, and Hayao Miyazaki, the screenwriter and director, are both Japanese. Although the film takes place in a made-up world, it can be said that those who craft the film leave their own mark on the story, demonstrating the proper values thought important. Kiki demonstrates the archetypal Japanese trait of showing respect for her elders.
Since she has no special talents (except for flying on a broom, which she does haphazardly at best), her training consists of learning how to support herself, which she accomplishes by establishing an air delivery service (via broomstick). Kiki's growth as a character evolves through her interaction with her customers. At least three of her female customers act as second mothers, aiding her in the gradual transition from the sheltered childhood she knows into the reality of young adulthood. This supportive network of parental-substitutes allows Kiki, and young viewers, as well, to explore her new environment safely. Kiki's work ethic is impressive in a child so young. She earns the respect of adults through her earnest and diligent behavior.
She also learns that items she took for granted before (food, cooking implements) cost money and can be somewhat expensive. She cooks and cleans for herself, and finds herself scrimping when money is low. Although she longs to own nice clothes, she notices that even the price on a pair of shoes she admires in a store window is equal to, or more than, the amount she spends on groceries alone.
Even though Kiki serves as a role model towards young children, she also stands as a figure they can empathize with. She has the same doubts and disappointments as everyone else. Her stay in the city, for example, doesn't begin as well as she had hoped. The city is not warm and inviting like her hometown. Her attempts to introduce herself to strangers are at first met with indifference. She is insulted when an incredulous hotel desk clerk doesn't believe her when she asks to rent a room without her parents present. "No one seems to like witches in this town," she observes sadly. Her sense of alienation is present whenever she is around children her age. When her new friend (and love interest) Tombo introduces her to his usual gang of friends, she finds herself unable to relate to them. She feels herself to be "an outsider." Her insecurities and failed self-confidence affects her ability to do magic: she can no longer fly a broomstick, and she can no longer communicate with her black cat, Jiji. She feels lost without the very thing that makes her feel special. Her host family and friends give her the emotional support she needs to regain her self-confidence. It is put to the ultimate test when she is the only one who can save Tombo, who is dangling from a rope attached to a runaway dirigible and faces certain death if he falls.
Kiki's Delivery Service is a sweet, lovely film about what happens when life disrupts our preconceived notions, and the sense of loss and insecurity which takes place after. The pacing is sometimes slow and methodical, that might not work with younger elementary students. With its discussion of teenage independence, it will probably have the most developmental impact for children in their preteens. Recommended for 8-12 year-olds, this is also a film that parents, too, can appreciate.
Summary of Kiki's Delivery Service (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]
In Hayao Miyazaki's magical Kiki's Delivery Service, a 13-year-old girl meets the world head on as she spends her first year soloing as an apprentice witch. Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a cat Jiji (a gently subdued Phil Hartman) by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home. Miyazaki's gentle rhythm and meandering narrative capture the easy pulse of real life (even if his subject is a girl flying high upon a broomstick) and charts the everyday struggles and growing pains of his plucky heroine with sensitivity and understanding. Beautifully detailed animation and the rich designs of the picture-postcard seaside town of red-tiled roofs and cobblestone streets only add to the sense of wonder. This charming animated fantasy is a wholesome, life-affirming picture that doesn't speak down to kids or up to adults. --Sean AxmakerArt House & International VHS Video
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Kiki's Delivery Service (Widescreen Edition) [VHS]Buena Vista Home Video; Release date: 2000-03-28; VHS Tape; VHS Video
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