Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

A watercolor, paradisal coming-of-age story about a teenage witch in training

The Very Best

8.5

Movie

Japan
Japanese
Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family
1989
HAYAO MIYAZAKI
Akio Otsuka, Chika Sakamoto, Haruko Kato
103 min

What it's about

A young witch, on her mandatory year of independent life, finds fitting into a new community difficult while she supports herself by running an air courier service.

The take

Hayao Miyazaki is no stranger to the fantastical. Howl’s Moving Castle and Spirited Away conjure worlds of spirits and demons, monsters and witches, imaginary wars and extraordinary heroes. But in Kiki’s Delivery Service, the real magic arises from the mundane.

The titular teenaged Kiki leaves home, setting out to become a better witch. She arrives in the idyllic seaside town of Koriko with only her broom and best friend, a black cat named Jiji. When she serendipitously meets Osono, the gentle owner of a bakery, Kiki begins a delivery service as part of her training.

Kiki’s Delivery Service may be one of Miyazaki’s more understated films, but it’s a beautiful reminder that believing in oneself is a magical act of courage that we should all undertake.

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