Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989)

“We each need to find our own inspiration, Kiki. Sometimes it’s not easy.” -Ursula

“Gigi, I’ve decided not to leave this town. Maybe I can stay and find some other nice people who will like me and accept me for who I am.”  -Kiki

Kiki was Miyazaki’s first major success at the box office. Although Totoro was popular, it gathered more steam once it had come out on VHS and was run on the tv. Kiki was popular the minute it came out. Why? It’s cute. It has an easy story to follow. There’s not really a villain. It’s very kid friendly. It has characters that are memorable. Plus, it’s about a kid doing amazing things. And she’s a witch that can do magic. (seriously, why has this movie not made a huge comeback??) What’s not to love?

This was the second Miyazaki movie I saw. We bought it on VHS sometime in the 90s, and I remember that this was the moment I realized that the animated tv show of Little Women that I loved was Japanese animated. I know that has nothing to do with the Kiki movie, but it’s a random fact. anyway, i liked it, but it didn’t hit me like Totoro did as a kid. Even now, it’s probably one of my least favorite Miyazaki movies. But like I said before, asking me to pick my least favorite Miyazaki movies is like making me pick my least favorite Pixar movie. It’s still better than 90% of the movies out there.

Kiki is a really simple story. there’s not really a villain like i said before, there’s no war or action (or very little). It’s just a coming of age story: a girl finding her place in the world, quite literally.

Kiki is a 13 year old witch in a world where this type of thing is apparently pretty normal. when a witch turns thirteen, she sets off on her own to a city/town/village to find what she is good at and make herself a valuable member of society. Along with her companion talking cat Jiji (it’s a boy – in case that’s not clear) she lands in a beautiful seaside city, and after some searching, eventually settles on starting a delivery service, running it out of a bakery of a nice couple who are letting her stay. We follow Kiki as she attempts her deliveries as she learns a little about people, life, and how to make friends. through growing up, she learns, arguably, how to be a kid.

The most of a climax we get is a dirigible getting ready to crash into town (think the hindenburg) and Kiki has to help get the people out. It is pretty intense for younger kids. Actually, it’s kinda a perfect conflict for little kids.

Just like Castle in the Sky, if I had to pick a word to describe this movie, it would be this: Happy. Oh my goodness this movie is just happy. In some ways it is more of a feel good  movie than Totoro is. Part of it is just the way this movie is set up: since there IS not villain, there’s no real seriousness. That’s not to say the movie doesn’t take itself seriously, but instead, there’s no overarching hatred of a character or situation. It’s just Kiki figuring things out about life and about people.

I want to talk about our protagonist for a minute, especially because she is part of the huge reason this movie is just so happy. Miyazaki’s one for making great female characters, and I would throw Kiki in the mix. She’s a step above Sheeta and Satsuki, but a step below Nausicaa. She’s young, confident, independent, and strong. But at the same time she’s naive, shy (around certain people) and one track minded. She’s a real person and a real kid, but one that has flaws and acts arguably older than she really is. If anything, Kiki is a girl who really isn’t great at anything. She’s good at things, and she tries extremely hard, but she’s not amazing at any one thing. She’s still trying to find her niche. She’s the kind of person who is set on doing what she’s supposed to do, is willing to help anyone, and pays attention. At the same time, she doesn’t really “enjoy” what she’s doing, in that she is so focused on work that she forgets to have fun. In spite of that, she has the most infectious personalities ever. She puts a smile on everyone’s face she meets.

The only other major character that’s not just a side character is Jiji, Kiki’s cat. Voiced by Phil Hartman, this little black cat acts as a conscience and also a bit of comedic relief. He’s plucky and sarcastic, and he’s a good balance to Kiki’s upbeat nature. In the English dub, he has some pretty good one-liners, and it does make me wonder what kind of jokes he makes in his native language.

There’s a few other characters in the movie, but no one too major. There’s the pregnant woman and her husband who run the bakery. She’s nice, and he doesn’t really say anything at all the entire movie. She motivates Kiki and takes care of her almost the way a mother would. The other smaller character would be Tambo, a boy who has a crush on Kiki and thinks she’s the most amazing person in the world. Where Kiki is super serious, Tambo is the opposite. He knows how to have fun, and spends a lot of his free time tinkering with his flying machine, a bike with a propeller on it. He attempts to teach Kiki how to have fun, and tries to get to know her despite her one-track mind. He finds himself on the dirigible at the end, and Kiki must save him as well as the others.

Probably the most interesting thing about this movie is how Kiki learns her lesson. As I mentioned above, her one major “flaw” is that she is almost too serious about her job. She ends up working herself so hard that she ends up losing her magic. Suddenly she can’t fly on her broom, do other magic, or even talk to Jiji. It’s only after she spends some time with this woman named Ursula out in the woods (yeah I forgot to mention her….) that she can almost relax and find her magic again.

It’s a part of the movie that actually doesn’t last too long, but it’s a good reminder to all of us not to work too hard, because we’ll lose the part of us that makes us unique and just work ourself into oblivion. Again somehow Miyazaki manages to work in the environment. Ursula is almost a bit of a hippie, living out in the woods in a log cabin. She draws crows and cooks with herbs she finds in the forest. But she manages to stay relaxed and knows who she is. She’s a good person for Kiki to meet.

In fact, everyone in the movie meets Kiki for a reason. That’s like real life, isn’t it? I like to think that everyone in your life you meet for a reason. they all teach you something. Kiki’s Delivery Service makes me think that Miyazaki believes that too.

Some of the only things I don’t like about this movie are some of the things that make it really endearing. The lack of a villain. The lack of action. Some of it is just things that to me, don’t make for a movie i can watch over and over. Another issue i have, however, is one that has to do with the dubbing. All in all,the voices in this are pretty good. I mentioned the late Phil Hartman as Jiji, and he is awesome. Kirsten Dunst does a good job as Kiki. Janeane Garofalo is enjoyable as Ursula. The one voice I really don’t like though is Matthew Lawrence as Tambo. I don’t know why. I felt like Tambo should have this really playful voice, and Matthew Lawrence is just… being Matthew Lawrence. You don’t feel it. You can’t think of him as this character. You just think of him as him, or as Jack on Boy Meets World.

The only other issue I have I actually didn’t know I had until I learned about the dubbing. Now it is sort of common that when dubs get transferred into other languages, the company takes a bit of leeway and will add in lines in places where maybe there was no speaking in the original. This might be done to get across something they think the audience won’t get, or to add in useful information. This movie does that in a few places with Jiji. BUT THE LINES THEY ADD IN DON’T MATTER. It’s literally just Jiji’s jokes. why? why? why? I dunno. The one that really bugs me is at the very end and Kiki’s just saved everyone and Jiji is walking up to her. In the original he doesn’t say anything until he gets to her. In the english version, he talks literally the entire way up to her. And it’s not anything important. It’s just Jiji talking. WHY? I have no idea.

I’m not going to say too much more about this movie. This is the last in what I guess I would call completely family friendly Miyzaki movies for a while, meaning that with this and Totoro, anyone can watch them. We’re going to get into more serious Ghibli fanfare soon, or, as I call it, the golden Era. Really excited to do the next four movies.

I give Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989) a 3.5 out of 5. I wasn’t a huge fan as a kid, still not really. That doesn’t mean it’s not a good movie. Still enjoyable.

Next up: Porco Rosso (1991)

The Brave Little Toaster (1987)

Kirby: The battery’s gone dead!

The Radio: We’re trapped here like rats! Small little rats with no hair and one leg!

 

I had been looking for this movie FOREVER at used dvd stores when I finally found it a few weeks ago at half price books. To me, this movie is just a classic. I hadn’t seen it in years but it’s one of those movies that I can still quote. I still happen to remember almost every single part. I still remembered half the words to one of the songs (which is kinda hilarious because the songs are probably the weakest part of the movie.) So what’s so great about a bunch of talking appliances anyway?

 A lot. This movie is seriously great for kids. It’s almost a perfect children’s movie that’s good enough even adults can enjoy it without rolling their eyes because it’s so stupid. And I hate to say it, but watching it now, I almost felt as if Pixar actually ripped these guys off. There were a lot of points while watching this movie that I went “huh, that’s a bit like Toy Story.” I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but I almost wonder if this is where a few of the animators got their ideas for Toy Story.

 Whoa. Time out. I just learned something. Upon doing research on who was involved in the making of this movie (I wanted to see if any Pixar animators were attached), I came across the origin of this amazing little movie. Turns out it was a short story first! It was published in a magazine in 1980, then became so popular and won a ton of awards, so it had to be released as it’s own book. It was popular because “it lacked a defined audience,” and people of all ages could relate. Wow. After reading that, seems like this movie did a good job adapting its pages. I might have to find this and read it.

 Anyway…. The movie focuses on five household appliances: Toaster, Lampy, Radio, Blanky, and Kirby (a vacuum). They’ve been abandoned in a summer cabin for a few years longing for their Master (a kid) and decide that instead of waiting for him, they’re going to go find him. On the way to the big city they get in all sorts of peril, but eventually their Master finds them, and it turns out he really did want and need them.

 It’s a super easy plot to follow, and I think a lot of kids can relate. A lot of adults can relate. Everyone in the world wants to just be loved and know that they’re appreciated. These appliances were appreciated and treated well by their Master, and they’re loyal enough to go through lengths to get that feeling again. I think any person would do the same thing. 

 The characters, even though they don’t have amazing backstories or the emotional depth we see in some movies, are great. They’re all memorable, if just for the fact that these are appliances. It’s fun to see the way they move. It’s fun to see the problems they run into. They each have very unique personalities, and odds are there’s at least one that kids can relate to. The Toaster is the leader, the Radio is annoying, Lampy isn’t too “bright” (intelligent), Blanky is the overly loyal naive little kid, and Kirby is the grump. Too many times in movies these types of characters are brought together and they’re magically friends. In all honesty, that kinda annoys me. Most friends have similar personalities, or they at least have some things in common. This movie though doesn’t do that! They’re all different, but they do have one thing in common: they all want to find their Master. They’re hardly friends, but instead more just tolerate each other because they’re all each other has.

 They’re like a family: they fight, they have really stupid arguments. They get on each others nerves. But at the end of the day, they’re willing to risk their lives to save each other (even grumpy old Kirby, although he’d never admit it). I don’t even know if you could call them “friends” even at the end of the movie. Sure, they all do learn some things and they do learn to accept each other for what they are, but I don’t know if friends is the right word to describe any of their relationships. Instead, they respect each other and they love each other; like a family (I’m not saying people in family’s aren’t necessarily friends… you get it).

 I remember as a kid thinking that this movie was a bit of a misnomer. I never understood why it was called the Brave Little Toaster, because I thought all of them were brave. In the end I chalked it up to the action the Toaster does in the last 5 minutes of the movie. They’re at a junkyard and their Master has found them but is stuck on a conveyer belt moving toward a pounding machine. The Toaster flings himself into the gears, essentially destroying himself and stopping the pounder from flattening his fellow appliances and his Master. Sure it’s brave. It’s sacrificial. But in my opinion, all the characters were brave because of what they had to get through to find their Master.

 Let’s talk about this unnamed “Master.” In the movie he actually does have a name, and it’s Rob. He’s a kid that spent every summer at the cabin where the character appliances were located, but hadn’t been back for a few years. Now he’s getting ready to go off to college and wants to go back to the cabin and get those appliances for the dorm. This was always something that bugged me. It’s Murphy’s law. If those appliances had just stayed there, they would have gotten everything they wanted. They weren’t patient enough. But then I guess we wouldn’t have a movie.

 Master is held in such high regard by the appliances that you would think he was God. And in appliance land, maybe people are like Gods. They change lightbulbs, fix you, etc. Until you meet the kid, you’re like, “Yeah, sure. They’re making this up. He was probably a really annoying kid.” But actually, it’s the opposite. I don’t think there has ever been this nice of a 17 year old. I admit I was only 2 when this movie came out, but I’m sure there has never been a 17 year old quite like Rob. He’s mature, he’s polite, he’s sweet. I know that’s kinda the point, and this IS a kid’s movie, but it kinda annoys me. But then I have to remind myself to just the movie go, and that this is intended for really little kids. It’s not a deep movie. It, in a way, isn’t realistic at all, and it shouldn’t be. It’s fantasy.

 This is going to be a short review because honestly there isn’t much to pick on this movie about. The adventures the appliances have are entertaining and tense, but don’t drag on. It almost feels like it’s a bunch of shorts stuck together in that regard. But that’s not a bad thing. The songs are meh, and some of them I completely forgot existed. But some of them are really catchy. There’s no villain (except maybe the appliances in Rob’s new house that are “cutting edge” and don’t want him to take the old appliances to college), so there’s no real long lasting drama. It’s a road trip movie, and sometimes the way you get there is interesting enough.

 A few extra thoughts:

• at least on my DVD (which was supposedly an anniversary edition), the picture was really… bouncy. I don’t know if this is just an issue with the DVD or the transfer or if all of them are like this. It’s kinda sad, but it got over it. For the first 2-3 minutes it was really annoying.
• AH-HA! Turns out many of the original Pixar animators worked on this movie, like John Lasseter and Joe Ranft. That kinda explains a lot now that I think about it….
• It’s kinda funny watching this now that the appliances in Rob’s new home were “cutting edge” and they even sing a song about it. Now, they’d be like the main characters. Hahaha.

 There’s not much to pick on with this movie. It’s not an amazing feat of animation, but it’s entertaining and great for kids. The characters are memorable, the plot is easy to follow, and the “scary” moments are the right level for kids. I would highly suggest giving it a watch (it is NOT on Netflix watch instant FYI). It’s not a bad way to spend 90 minutes.

 I give The Brave Little Toaster (1987) 3.5 stars out of 5.

 Up Next: Ice Age (2002)