Majo no takkyûbin (1989)

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:

Kirsten Dunst, Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma

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's Mother (voice)
Kôichi Miura	...	Okino - Kiki's Father (voice)
Haruko Katô	...	Rô-fujin (voice)
Hiroko Seki	...	Barsa (voice)
Yuriko Fuchizaki	...	Ketto (voice)
Kôichi Yamadera	...	Bakery Worker / Policeman (voice)
Kikuko Inoue	...	Maki (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 13 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 | cat | studio ghibli | goodwill | magic | 

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Taglines:

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

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Genres:

Animation | Adventure | Drama | Family | Fantasy

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Certificate:

G

Did You Know?

Trivia

Disney's English subtitle translation for the Japanese track on the US DVD release are actually dub-titles. Interestingly, they are not from Disney's 1998 English version of the film but are from an earlier non-Disney English version from the early 1990's. Tokuma, the Japanese company that Disney negotiated the rights to the Ghibli films with, provided this dub translation to Disney for a subtitled release not aware that it was not an accurate translation. However, the dialogue from this earlier dub is much more faithful to the original Japanese version than Disney's dub is.

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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

Kiki: But I'm not going just for a good time. In order to be a good witch I have to train a year away from home!

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Crazy Credits

The denouement scenes of the film play out with the credits rolling ending with Kiki's parents reading a letter from her after the credits finish.

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Alternate Versions

The film had the Toei logo at the beginning during it's original Japanese release. Most subsequent home video releases however replace the Toei logo with the Studio Ghibli logo.

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Connections

References The Blues Brothers (1980)

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Soundtracks

Rouge no Dengon (Message of Rouge)
Performed by Yumi Matsutoya

User Reviews

One of the greatest children's films ever made

This ranks up there with Pinocchio as the greatest movie for children ever made. One huge problem with most animated children's films are that the plots are so conventional and often contain very 1950s ideals for society that they become detrimental to society. One's childhood is the most impressionable time in their life, so movies that are directed towards them teach them what places different sorts of people play in society. There is a very humorous, but also very serious bit of dialogue in a film called The Last Days of Disco where characters discuss the effects Lady and the Tramp could have on little girls, depicting a young female dog falling for a vagabond Tramp. This, they muse, sets young women up to fall for rebellious men later in life. This may seem like a humorous idea, but it's absolutely true. Even good Disney movies give children these standards. As nice as The Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast or Cinderella or Snow White and the Seven Dwarves may be, they basically teach that it is the woman's place to grow up and get married, prefereably to a handsome rich man (perhaps the rich part is never said, but both the main male characters in these films do happen to own castles). The writers of these films probably had no idea that that is what they were doing, but it is.

That is why Pinocchio is the best Disney movie. It is probably the only Disney animated film that I can think of that actually concerns the predicament of its target audience: children. I can hardly think of a single (American) animated film besides it that has a child as its main character (oh, the Jungle Book, which is also excellent).

Then comes Kiki's Delivery Service. It is an absolutely perfect movie about a young girl out on her own trying to handle the responsibilities of life. It is, in my opinion, the best movie that a child can watch. And not only will it teach children, it is also marvelously animated, directed, and written. There is a plethora of great characters, exciting moments, and imaginative situations. It should also expand a child's mind, not only because of the imagination involved, which will help to break children away from conventions in their film experience, thus making them more intelligent, but because it comes from another culture. It doesn't overtly show its Japaneseness, unless you count the imagination involved (though you should count that as a credit towards Hayao Miyazaki, who is the greatest genius of animation as far as I'm concerned). But it may spark an interest in children old enough to understand that someone from another country made it. Also, for younger kids, Miyazaki's fantastic, equally good My Neighbor Totoro. 10/10

(ps: I have only seen the dubbed version of this film. I find it perfectly acceptable and great. Nothing made me cringe, anyway. I think Kirsten Dunst did a very good job characterizing Kiki, a much better job than Claire Danes did characterizing San from Princess Mononoke.)

Details

Official Sites:

Disney's Official Site

Country:

Japan USA

Language:

Japanese English

Release Date:

31 December 1992 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Kiki's Delivery Service

Box Office

Budget:

JPY800,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$352,556, 28 July 2019

Gross USA:

$1,004,057

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,151,019

Company Credits

Production Co:

Kiki's Delivery Service Production Committee, Nibariki, Nippon Television Network (NTV)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1