Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
"Majo no takkyûbin" (original title)

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.

Director:

Hayao Miyazaki

Writers:

Eiko Kadono (novel), Hayao Miyazaki (screenplay)

Stars:

Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi

4 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Minami Takayama	...	Kiki / Ursula (voice)
Rei Sakuma	...	Jiji (voice)
Kappei Yamaguchi	...	Tombo (voice)
Keiko Toda	...	Osono (voice)
Mieko Nobusawa	...	Kokiri, Kiki no haha (voice)
Kôichi Miura	...	Okino, Kiki no chichi (voice)
Haruko Kato	...	Rô-fujin (voice)
Hiroko Seki	...	Barsa (voice)
Yuriko Fuchizaki	...	Ketto (voice)
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Bakery worker, policeman (voice)
Kikuko Inoue	...	Beautiful designer girl (voice)
Yûko Kobayashi	...	Young sempai witch (voice)
Mika Doi	...	Ketto's mother (voice)
Takaya Hashi	...	Ketto's father (voice)
Chika Sakamoto	...	Baby (voice)

Storyline

This is the story of a young witch, named Kiki who is now thirteen years old. But she is still a little green and plenty headstrong, but also resourceful, imaginative, and determined. With her trusty wisp of a talking cat named Jiji by her side she's ready to take on the world, or at least the quaintly European seaside village she's chosen as her new home.

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Plot Keywords:

witch | talking cat | cat | broom | courier service | 

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Taglines:

I was feeling blue, but I'm better now.

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

G

Details

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

29 July 1989 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Kiki's Delivery Service

Box Office

Budget:

JPY 800,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$735,603 (France) (2 April 2004)

Gross:

$735,603 (France) (2 April 2004)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Nibariki, Nippon Television Network Corporation (NTV), Studio Ghibli

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Hayao Miyazaki:  [flying]  Kiki can fly using a broomstick. The plot revolves around Kiki setting up a flying delivery service. An airship also features prominently in the last segment of the film.

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Goofs

The Disney dub refers several times to the airship as a "dirigible", which is correct, but also as a "blimp", which it isn't; it is a zeppelin, a rigid airship with an internal skeleton that holds it in shape, not a blimp, which is basically a big helium-inflated balloon held in shape by the helium.

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Quotes

Jiji: [after hearing that Kiki plans on leaving town for her witch training] I'm going to put my paws together and pray that you're not serious!

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Crazy Credits

In the Disney english version:In Memory of Phil Hartman 1948-1998

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Connections

Referenced in Movie Friends: Prashant Prabhakar (2013)

User Reviews

uplifting movie

Another great Miyazaki film. A young witch, with a good heart, leaves her mom and dad on her 13th birthday with her black cat, as all witches are supposed to do to complete her training and make it on her own. She looks for a city in need of a witch and finds a city near an ocean. She meets some other good hearted people who help her along the way.

There really isn't a villain in the movie and it's mainly a slice of life type of film. In the end of the film it all comes together and she performs a heroic act.

I tried to watch the dubbed version. Dunst was fine, but I just couldn't stand Garofolo and Hartman. So set the DVD audio to the original Japanese soundtrack and used English subtitles.

If you watch the dubbed version. Turn on the subtitles and you will see all the additional dialog they added. They just couldn't help padding their roles, especially Hartman.