Credited cast: | |||
Tadanobu Asano | ... | Ishi | |
Rie Miyazawa | ... | Kiki's mother | |
Minako Kotobuki | ... | Jiji the black cat (voice) | |
Machiko Ono | ... | Osono | |
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Fûka Koshiba | ... | Kiki |
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Michitaka Tsutsui | ||
Hiroshi Yamamoto | ... | Fukuo | |
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Miho Kanazawa | ||
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Misato Shimizu | ||
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Miki Hayashida | ||
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Ryohei Hirota |
A witch becomes one if at age thirteen she takes a mandatory one-year trip to find herself and perfect her skills. Kiki takes the trip and lands in a seaside town where she begins supporting herself and her black cat by offering a delivery service. The young witch is soon embroiled in a bakery, a wind mill, a zoo, teenage antics and a medical emergency. It is when she is most needed, however, that Kiki has to find the resolve to continue. Written by aghaemi
The original, animated version of Kiki's Delivery Service is so pitch-perfect that it doesn't seem possible that they'd dare come out with a live-action version.
Only rarely does a live-action version of an anime equal the original. With live-action, it's almost like trying to translate from one language to another; some of the actors are good (and others ordinary), and the story conveys only some of the wide- eyed wonder of the original. Fuka Koshiba has a petulant optimism (and a little brattiness) the fills out the title character; JiJi, the talking black cat could have played a bigger part of the movie. Fans of Japanese film will notice a few interesting casting choices - like Asano Tadanobu and Rie Miyazawa.
Ultimately, changing this to a live-action film makes it seem more suited for children (as opposed to the anime version, which is ageless).
That said, I enjoyed much of the film. It's a minor miracle that it's as good as it is.