Rent Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)

Broomstick Burnout - Kiki's Delivery Service review by griggs

I watched this twice in a row — the Japanese version first, then the English dub — and got genuinely emotional both times watching a cartoon teenager lose the ability to talk to her cat. Make of that what you will.

Witches leave home at thirteen to find their way in the world. Bar mitzvahs, the Amish Rumspringa, First Nations Australian initiatory journeys — every culture has a version of the moment your elders shove you out the door and wish you luck. Miyazaki could have played this for fantasy spectacle. Instead he made a film about a kid who starts a courier business and promptly discovers that independence is mostly loneliness, bad weather, and clients who don’t tip.

Kiki’s burnout arc rings true — the magic stops working because she stops working — but Miyazaki lingers on it a beat too long. Tombo is a drip, the townsfolk are furniture, and the dirigible finale feels like it parachuted in from a different film entirely.

The English dub doesn’t bother copying the original — it just does its own thing. Dunst nails Kiki’s wobbly confidence. Hartman turns Jiji into a full-on sarcastic scene-stealer, miles from the gentle Japanese version, and it absolutely works. Hisaishi’s score rescues the final act from its own chaos. A film that whispers when everything else shouts — even if it occasionally mumbles.

A step out of reality! - Kiki's Delivery Service review by CP Customer

Hayao Miyazaki has pulled this one out of the bag, what could of been an object of ridicule actually turns out to be a really good film. Kiki is a child we all wish we could of been never giving up on what we believe and as with all of us having to learn the hard way.

Thumbs up for this film

very very disappointing - Kiki's Delivery Service review by pete b

i'd heard good things about studio ghibli work. this film, however, had very little to suggest that it was made anywhere but disney, argh.