Kiki's Delivery Service

Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service" was my first Miyazaki film- which apparently makes me an outcast at Ringling. I was skeptical of his films because of their style... I really don't like the appearance of anime- but the story distracted me from constantly judging the movie's art. Actually I found the animation to be quite fluid and I wasn't at all bothered by the style. The backgrounds and scenery are unbelievable. When Kiki met Ursula in the forest the detail was astounding. So by visual means this movie definitely went beyond my standards.

I appreciated the positive light that Kiki was given, especially for being a witch. There was nothing remotely creepy or scary about Kiki or any other witch in this movie. I felt like I was watching "Casper- The Friendly Ghost" except with a witch. Everything was over the top sweet and Kiki always wanted to help- for a thirteen year old she was very selfless and by that I mean out of the norm. Kiki also had to have the classic staples for being a coming of age witch: the dress, the broom, and of course the black cat, Jiji. Jiji is quite honestly what the story needed; his dry humor and sarcasm worked well with the overtly sweet dialogue.

The quality or direction of this film was what made the experience worth while. All in all the movie is about witchery and magic. The movie made magic seem innocent and not at all harmful, in the same sense that Harry Potter does. Kiki's delivery service was the way that Kiki went about making her magic just and she used her power for good.