KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE
A fun and original coming of age movie.
As a part Kiki's witch training, she must go live in a city on her own for year. Along with her she brings her best friend Jiji, her black cat. Once she settles with a city by the ocean, she develops new friendships and begins her own delivery service, hence the name of the movie. Of course, she is faced with challenges that she overcomes for the better.
The movie is simple. The story line is simple. Most of the movie is just plain and simple, but it's still actually good. Not to mention different and never seen before.
The scenery is lovely. We get many flying scenes with beautiful, clear blue skies, as well as a handful bustling city scapes.
The characters are also very well written and memorable. From Tombo, Osono, Ursula, Jiji and of course, the main character herself : Kiki. All characters have likeable personalities and are quite relatable. Tombo just wants a girl to like him back, Osono is a kind hearted baker, Ursula lives in the woods and paints all day and Jiji is a sarcastic yet cautious cat.
Kiki has to be another one of my favourite characters. She is a friendly, up-beat 13 year old. She can also be a little stubborn and a bit of a show off from time to time but then again, aren't we all? Kiki feels as if she could everyone's friend, despite finding it hard to fit in in her new town at first. You could really feel for her when she experienced her troubles because you feel some sort of connection with her. She's just a great character and a great role model for everybody.
As addressed earlier, the movie is very simple. However, it is how well executed the film is that makes it so good. Similar to The Secret World of Arrietty and My Neighbour Totoro.
In saying that, as well as My Neighbour Totoro, the conflict of the film was very serious. Sure, Kiki losing her witch powers could be considered a problem, but is no where close to Tombo almost falling to his death. I didn't really have an issue with it, however I can see how others can see this as being randomly shoved into the script.
Pushing that to the side, the movie is awesome. It is very well deserving of a spot this high on the list and there is no wonder this movie is considered a Studio Ghibli classic.