Director – Hayao Miyazaki – 1989 – Japan – Cert. U – 103m
*****
A young witch sets up her own small business and must learn to make her way in the world – out exclusively in UK and Ireland IMAX cinemas on Friday, August 21st in a 4K remaster shown exclusively in IMAX cinemas
Having reached the age of 13, young Kiki must leave home to do a year’s apprenticeship as a witch. Loaned at her mother’s insistence the latter’s tried and tested broomstick, and accompanied by her talking black cat Jiji, she flies out on a night of the full moon. An encounter with a somewhat snooty witch who has just completed her year out reminds Kiki that she needs to develop her own special skill: at this stage, she has no idea as to exactly what this skill might be. Resting overnight in an in transit railway cattle truck, she takes off again and arrives in Koriko, a bustling city much bigger than the tiny, provincial town where she grew up. She immediately runs into problems with the traffic, causing a near-accident, and is helped to escape an unsympathetic traffic cop by a lad her own ago Tonbo / Tombo.
She is unable to find a place to stay until she runs into kindly baker’s wife Osono, who offers her an attic room in exchange for helping out with the shop. Events lead to Kiki’s delivering orders by broomstick, and turning her into a small businessperson as she sets up her own delivery service. She must deliver a stuffed cat in a cage to the neighbour’s nephew Ket, which she loses after an encounter with an angry mother crow defending her nest, causing her loyal cat Jiji to stand in for the toy while Kiki recovers the stuffed toy which has been found by a cabin-dwelling artist named Ursula, with whom the young Kiki bonds.
Meanwhile, a romance is developing between the reluctant Kiki and the more forward Tonbo who, it turns out, is something of an amateur aviation nerd. (So too is a romance between Jiji and the white cat who lives nearby.) Tonbo is building a flying machine built around a bicycle, and takes her out riding on it when it’s basically a bike with a large propeller on the front. He is also interested in the large airship which is being build and flight-trialled locally.
Kiki runs into difficulties flying when her abilities start to fade. Ursula visits the city, and suggest Kiki needs to take some time out to recover her motivation. The young witch is still struggling with this when, on the TV news, she sees Tonbo dangling from the near-vertical dirigible which has run into trouble. She takes to the air on her broomstick to save him, unsure whether her powers of flight will hold up long enough for her to rescue him…
Full review to follow – please check back. The film is fabulous.
Kiki’s Delivery Service is out exclusively in IMAX cinemas in the UK and Ireland on Friday, August 21st in a 4K remaster.
Trailer: