|
Rating: ***½
Genre: Anime coming of age witchy type movie Review #: 12 MPAA: G Cast: Directed by...Hayao Miyazaki Written by...Jack Fletcher (U.S. version) Written by...Hayao Miyazaki Minami Takayama...Kiki Yûko Kobayashi...Sempai Witch Mieko Nobusawa...Osono Rei Sakuma...Jiji Keiko Toda...Kokiri (Kiki's mom) Kappei Yamaguchi...Tombo Katsuhira Yamaguchi...Tombo Kirsten Dunst...Kiki Janeane Garofalo...Ursula Phil Hartman...Jiji Matthew Lawrence...Tombo Tress MacNeille...Osono Edie McClurg...Barsa Debbie Reynolds...Madame Jeff Bennett...Dad Corey Burton...Radio Announcer Debi Derryberry...Senior Witch Kath Soucie...Mom Pamela Segall...Ket |
|
|
Review:
When I heard that Disney had bought the rights to all of Master Hayao Miyazaki's films, I was scared. Soon, I started doing what I do best: Research. I found out that Miyazaki (called the "Walt Disney of Japan") is no fool. Not only does he hate Disney, he sold the rights under one condition: They can't be edited. The only thing that Disney can do is to redub the voices into english. Any dialog changes have to be for cultural differences, and they can't put the Disney name on any of the videos. That's why all of these movies will be released under the label of Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Apparently, two other Miyazaki movies have been released in the US: My Neighbor Totoro, released in 1995 by Fox, which featured a perfect dub (I own it!) and 1984's 'Warriors of the Wind', which was originally called "Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind", and was so heavily edited that you couldn't even figure out the original plot by watching the dub, and that's the real reason why Miyazaki is so protective now. |
|
| Kiki's Delivery Service is the story of a 13 year old witch, who has to leave home for a year, in order to train. She takes her familiar, a black cat named Jiji, and flies off on her broom. She chooses to settle in a town with a lovely ocean view, but there's only one problem: She doesn't have any real skills. She decides that the only thing which she can do is fly, so she opens a flying express delivery service, and has many adventures, while living next to a bakery. Her love interest is a boy named Tombo who's building a flying machine with the local aviation club, and she finds a friend in the quirky young artist, named Ursula, who lives alone in the woods. Kiki's adventures are quite episodic, but not boring. Kiki tries her best to adapt to her new independent life, and deals with loneliness, self-doubt, and even boredom. I know that real 13 year-old girls get bored, but when was the last time you saw it portrayed in a movie? |
| I've always been a fan of Miyazaki, and if you want to know way, just rent this movie. Miyazaki has been called the 'Walt Disney of Japan', which is ironic, because of his famous dislike for Disney and it's movies. Miyazaki is in love with flying. Kiki flies on her broom, Tombo builds a flying machine, in "Laputa: Castle in the Sky", the character Pazu dreams of finding the flying castle, and meets up with Sky Pirates. Even the Totoros can fly. Fortunately, Miyazaki's flying sequences are breathtakingly executed, and gorgeous to look at. Kiki's plot unfolds at a slow, natural and unforced pace, which feels perfect. It's the opposite of the writing in The Hobbit, but that's another review altogether. I watched this movie several times during my rental, and and then bought it. This movie also marks one of the final performances by Phil Hartman, who plays Jiji. His performance as Jiji is a good one, but also the source of my biggest quibble. |
|
| You see, a major difference between Japanese and American movies is that the Japanese use fewer words. They prefer to allow images and situations speak for themselves. We Americans always have lots of dialog to lead us through scenes. Consequently, the Disney dubbers added dialog whenever possible, as in whenever someone is off-screen. Naturally, you get lots of lines like: "Look at all the buildings!" to explain emotions and feelings to us, rather than watching the character's expressions and inferring these things for ourselves, we get spoon-fed. The press releases say that approximately 50 of Jiji 's lines were ad-libbed by Phil Hartman, which is pretty cool, but some of his lines are glaringly dumb and unfunny. These examples are very few and very between, and they only stand out because they are grey spots on an otherwise perfect production. |
| Every moment in Kiki is a visual treasure. I had difficulty choosing which images to use on this review, for good reason. Miyazaki is a master of the art of animation, and Kiki is gorgeously brought to life with gleaming colors. I think that Disney has finally done good in buying the rights for these movies, and Miyazaki a hero for sticking to his guns and holding out until Disney accepted to not edit the movies. It would be like drawing eyebrows on the Mona Lisa with a magic marker- and I wouldn't even put that past the Uncle Walt's Evil Multinational World Domination Machine (I wouldn't be surprised if there's an announcement of something called MS-Disney soon). Rent this movie, and watch it with both eyes wide open. It's a visual feast, a treat for the eyes, and a marvel of animation. One still from this movie is worth a hundred Hanna-Barbara shorts. |
|
| Back to the Movie section! |
