Review of Kiki's Delivery Service (1989) by Anhiro — 27 Aug 2018

A coming-of-age story about a teenage witch who sets out from her little countryside village to earn a living in the city. As she helps out with several chores using her magical broom-flying abilities, she one day decides to start running her own mail delivery service using her witch powers (which seem to be limited only to flying her broom and giving her cat the ability to talk, curiously enough). From there, we see her meeting new people and customers - some helpful and some rather curt with her - which has an impact on her development as she tries to balance work and life as a normal girl. The main weakness of this movie lies in its short length, in my opinion. Running at only 100 minutes, the action and character development feels rushed, which is compounded by the fact that there are many characters that Kiki comes across, and have little time to develop further along with her. As such, they felt like accessories to develop or contrast with Kiki's own character and little else besides that.

Even the ending seems to come abruptly, with the credits scene rushing to tell what happens to the characters after the climactic point in the story.

Besides those gripes, the animation is great and has aged well since 1989. Kiki's mannerisms are endearing and the idyllic life of this fantasy European port city can be felt during those scenes where Kiki is flying on her broom.

The protagonist Kiki, upon which the movie's storytelling is centered on, is a character who is easily relatable due to her plain looks, but the real qualities that define her are her excellent work ethic and refined etiquette/manners... A unique message that is not very often told in today's movie characters. That said, Kiki's Delivery Service is a very nice feel-good piece of animation if the short duration of the movie is not an issue for you, because for me it still felt like I was at some introduction chapter to a larger series as far as character development goes. Still, I would highly recommend this movie to the younger audience out there for its positive message, and adults can easily find a great hour & a half with this one too.