One of Hayao Miyazaki's masterpieces, 1989's Kiki's Delivery Service tells the story of a teenage witch trying to find her way in the world. She goes off to an oceanside town and starts up a delivery service. Each delivery has Kiki making new friends that will play important roles as the story unfolds. The story also shares a theme with Spider-Man 2, as Kiki begins to lose her witching abilities while she searches for inspiration as to why she really wants to have those powers. There are also themes similar to the non-fantastical Whisper of the Heart, which also has a teenage girl trying to decide who she wants to be.

Maybe this sounds dull, and while the film is "good old fashioned clean entertainment" (as long as you arent some anti-witchcraft in movies nut), it is actually quite engaging. Like other Miyazaki films, Kiki's Delivery Service contains beautiful flying sequences, a female protagonist, and a leisurely pace. And while the film spends time introducing characters and building relationships rather than trying to stuff in one extra action sequence, there are also some suspenseful moments.

The American dub features the voice of Spider-Man's own MJ as Kiki and of The Simpson's Troy McClure as her cat Jiji. Both of these voices work quite well as does the character played by Janeane Garofalo (who I don't really like in live action, but she was also good in Ratatouille). While not the tip top cream of Miyazaki's crop (a pretty high standard), Kiki is still a gem worthy of an A-.

A stunning story about a girl who is a witch, and leaves home, she trys to make money. Sometimes, when things go wrong, she has to take action. Fantastic anamations. GHIBLI ARE THE BEST!!! If you like this film you will probably like ' my neighbour totoro' also by ghibli.

Wow. This was one of the first Miyazaki films I had ever seen, and it's been my favorite Miyazaki film ever since.

The simple story of a young witch traveling to a new town far from home to train for a year is well told and animated. It's amazing to see young Kiki handle each situation from beginning to end and sense her growing a little bit every time.

The story gets a tad bit slow about halfway through, but Kiki's struggles through life as a teenage witch will be sure to keep you awake. The many characters that Kiki encounters add a nice mix of dialogue to her adventures.

I've only seen the English dub, and it was one of the first really-good dubs that I had ever seen.

This is a magical anime film that will make you feel like watching it again. Because it's that good.

Four stars!

First of all, 10 points to Ghibli for Variety. Producing this and 'Grave of the Fireflies' inside a year of each other would be like Disney doing 'Mary Poppins' and 'Judgement at Nuremberg' back to back.

Words that spring to mind after watching Kiki include 'delightful', 'light', 'bouyant', and so forth. It's obvious Miyazaki has refined his craft considerably from the early movies, which somehow seemed a bit... I don't know - stuttery. Kiki, though just flows effortlessly. Combine this with the beautiful use of lighting and colour to produce that summertime, mediterranean sort of feel, and Kiki is a movie that is just thoroughly uplifting, never getting bogged down in complexities or dark intrigues.

Unfortunately - and this is the only thing holding it back from 4 stars from me - what it does get slightly bogged down in, is its own lightness. There were just a few sections where the lack of a villain, of any real action, of anything other than people being nice to each other, took the top 10% off what was otherwise a masterful movie. I suppose there were a few other flaws, too: some characters and situations which came into it were just not developed at all. And there was one moment that teetered on real poignancy - the old dog with what he thought was a stuffed toy - but it sort of didn't happen.

BTW, as someone who lives in Tasmania, which is alledgedly the inspiration for much of the setting of this film, please come here by all means, but don't expect it to look like that. The bakery in Ross which supposedly inspired the one in the film is in one of the few Tasmanian towns that you _can't_ see the ocean from, and the general look of the movie is distinctly southern European, though I guess some of the rural shots look a bit Tasmanian.

Whatever the case, Miyazaki's attention to detail is, as usual, stunning. The town may have been cobbled together from his favourite bits of Italy, France, Tasmania and wherever else, but its nothing less than a labour of love nonetheless.

Anyway, 8.5 out of 10.

A joyous hit! Utterly charming and funny to the fullest degree! Kiki's Delivery Service is Japan's most celebrated animated movie, and it's easy to see why. It's probably the best I've ever seen. The animation is wonderful and fluid, especially during the flying scenes. Maybe it's not as flashy as Princess Mononoke or Spirited Away, but I was completely taken by surprise when I found out this movie was made in the 80s. I much prefer animes that don't use or overuse CGI and flashiness anyway.

The characters and story are just perfect. The pacing is very relaxed. It gives the characters time to do their own thing and you really warm up to the characters because they feel real and colorful. You can especially get a sense of the main character's emotions. And the humor of this movie is also brilliant. It doesn't rely on jokes but the charms of the characters. Jiji the cat is especially hilarious with his snide and sarcastic remarks. All in all this is a wonderful movie.

After seeing Miyazaki's Princess Mononoke, I was surprised at how low key this story was. It's good--a cute, charming, makes-you-smile kind of good--but it's really a very simple story about a young girl trying to fit in. I liked the concept of the witch in training and I liked how it was done so realistically... so Kiki has money worries and makes mistakes like everybody else even though she is a witch.

I've heard some bad things said about the Disney dub of this movie but I thought it was well cast and well done. I am a huge fan of Janeane Garofalo, and it was great hearing her as the Kiki's friend the painter, however I think my favourite character in the movie is Osono's husband, the baker. He's this great hulking guy who doesn't say much but he's so sweet to Kiki and Jiji. All and all, a worthwhile film.