starring Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Keiko Toda, Kappeo Yamaguchi
screenplay and directed by Hao Miyazaki
102 minutes
in Japanese with English subtitles
Kiki (Minami Takayama), a young witch, leaves home at the age of 13. She takes Jiji (Rei Sakuma), her talking cat, with her. She moves to a seaside town where she makes a living delivering packages and helping to run a bakery. Osono (Keiko Toda), the bakery owner, lets Kiki stay in the attic, in return for her help.
Kiki experiences some ups and downs while she is living in the city. She makes friends with a boy named Tombo (Kappeo Yamaguchi), a painter named Ursula (also voiced by Minami Takayama), and loses her powers only to regains them in a moment of crisis.
Thoughts
There are two English dubbed versions of this movie. The first was done in 1989 and the second in 1998. The casts for the two English language versions are completely different. The first was never released theatrically and can only be found on laser disc.
It's a little unclear to me what year or even decade this movie is supposed to take place. There are dirigibles and biplanes but there is also television.
I noticed that there were a few moments where there were subtitles when no one was talking. I assume that the subtitles were an indication of places where the English language version added a line or two.
I like how no one in this movie seems freaked out by Kiki's abilities or the fact that she is a witch. There is no talk of persecuting her because she is a witch. Some people express amazement but that's as far as it goes.
I was very impressed by this movie. It is a coming of age story of sorts as Kiki transitions from childhood to adolescence. I found it to be very moving, especially the last third of the movie when Kiki is struggling to hold on to her powers that seem to be fading away.
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