- Kiki's Delivery Service relates the story of a fledgling witch named Kiki (Kirsten Dunst) and her adventures in the big city. After leaving home with nothing except her cloak, broom, and talkative black cat, Jiji (Phil Hartman), Kiki immediately discovers just how complicated urban life can be. Even crossing the street can be a challenge, and most city folk haven't seen a real witch before and don't quite know what to think. Fortunately, a simple act of kindness convinces the baker Osono (Tress MacNeille) to adopt Kiki, providing food and shelter in exchange for Kiki's rather unique method of delivering baked goods.
- While this is an accurate enough description of the film's plot, the underlying tale is one of a young girl growing up. Kiki is naively excited and optimistic when she first gets to the city, but it isn't long before the experiences of loneliness and hardship leave her quite literally disenchanted. Added to this is the presumably new experience of being around boys, the most interested of whom is the aviation aficionado Tombo (Matthew Lawrence). Fortunately, some of the people Kiki meets, particularly Osono, the independent artist Ursula (Janeane Garofalo), and the two old women (Debbie Reynolds and Edie McClurg) lend Kiki their support, although it is her final dramatic rescue of Tombo that truly restores Kiki's confidence.
- Unfortunately, I watched Kiki's Delivery Service during what literary and film historians hopefully won't refer to as the "Harry Potter era." As a result, the idea of a young witch living in the real world doesn't seem particularly novel, although I suppose fans of the Sabrina comics would have felt the same way in 1989. Still, the story manages to be fairly charming, although I found the little details to be more engaging than the plot itself. Consider the depiction of Kiki's flying style, for example, which is a much more ungraceful process than you'd ever see displayed on a quidditch court. The filmmakers could have had her perform dazzling feats of aerial aerobics, but would that really have been consistent with her self-image? I also greatly appreciated the incredible level of detail lavished upon the animals in the story, from the cantankerous crows to the world's most pleasantly lethargic dog. The city, too, is sufficiently intricate that it serves as far more than just a backdrop for the story. While not Hayao Miyazaki's best film, Kiki's Delivery Service proves that even his lesser works are vastly superior to the average animated fare.
- This was apparently Phil Hartman's last role.
- As with most of the earlier Miyazaki films, this was rereleased by Disney with different voices.
