Thursday, September 11, 2008

Have broom, will travel

“Kiki’s Delivery Service” is a vintage Miyazaki coming-of-age story set in a Europe where, according to the master animator-director, “World War II never happened”. The film opens with 13-year old Kiki (voiced by Kirsten Dunst in the dubbed US release) becoming a witch. As part of her training, she has to move to another town where she has to help people out for a year. Seeing as her only real skill seems to be flying, Kiki decides to offer her assistance to a kindly baker.

There is no villain in “Kiki’s Delivery Service” and little suspense, but it’s as gorgeously animated as it was upon its initial release in 1989, and the story and characters are sweet and charming. Whimsical and surprisingly low on magic, this is a fully protagonist driven feature, with a rather odd cat thrown in for measure.

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