A weaker work in Miyazaki’s oeuvre that while operating efficiently on plot and characterisation doesn’t quite do anything substantial thematically as a young witch travels to a new town to find work as a rite-of-passage.

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When I first watched Kiki’s Delivery Service more than a decade ago, I didn’t quite feel anything for it.  My recent second viewing only confirmed my initial reaction.  It’s a serviceable piece of animation that operates efficiently on plot and characterisation but doesn’t offer anything much thematically. 

It probably also has the most abrupt denouement in all of Hayao Miyazaki’s films, as if Studio Ghibli couldn’t cough up the remaining moolah for the director to complete a proper epilogue.  As such, it marred what was a generally breezy and enjoyable film. 

A young witch, Kiki, and her talking black cat, Jiji, travel to a new town to find work as a rite-of-passage.  Soon, she gets taken in by a genial woman who operates a bakery, and with her encouragement, Kiki sets up her own delivery service, and an express one at that, as she zips around in the sky on her trusty broom. 

“Without even thinking about it, I used to be able to fly.”

Humans aren’t particularly shocked at a flying witch, which suggests this is a world of co-existence between humans and witches, and to Miyazaki’s credit, he manages to create an environment of normalcy where magic permeates the everyday. 

From exploring burgeoning boy-girl relationships (cats included) to Kiki attempting to intervene in preventing a man-made catastrophe, the film has its moments of unadulterated fun and suspense. 

If there’s anything to be gained, it is the comforting recognition of the noble duty that every person has in caring for others.  Still, unlike other Miyazaki’s pictures, this one doesn’t quite reward as much with rewatches. 

Grade: B-

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