Kiki’s Delivery Service

Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Kiki’s Delivery Service is a re-release of Studio Ghibli’s hugely successful 1989 animated fantasy film, now formatted for in 4K for IMAX. Written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki, it explores his key theme – a child’s journey from dependence to independence.

Kiki is a witch on the brink of adolescence. It’s a full moon, the right moment, she realises, to follow the tradition for all thirteen-year-old witches: to leave her family and set off alone on a year’s journey. Off she goes with her black cat Jiji, enduring various comic mishaps as she learns to steer her broomstick through the skies.

She doesn’t know where she’s heading, but is drawn to a beautiful port city – the imaginary Koriko. Miyazaki’s aesthetic influences here are various cities of Northern Europe including Stockholm, Amsterdam and Paris and the lovely architecture, the towers, pretty houses and cobbled streets are very much part of the appeal of the film. Dubbed long ago with the voices of Kirsten Dunst, Janeane Garofalo, Phil Hartman and Debbie Reynolds, the film may jar with adult viewers: there’s such a clash between the strongly European feel and the American voices. But adults are not the target audience.

The great swooping shots over the cityscape will undoubtedly suit the transformation into IMAX, in particular the comic sequences in which Kiki, still struggling with the broomstick, accidentally crashes into buildings (which she bounces off unharmed) and causes various traffic accidents (again without victims).

She knows she must earn a living and by chance finds herself at a lovely bakery where pregnant Osono and her silent husband serve the community. She offers to deliver something for Osono and her swift broomstick journey amazes all who see her. She is, we learn, the first witch in Koriko. Osono offers her an attic room and in no time at all, Kiki has a successful business delivery all sorts of packages for the locals. In the original book by Eiko Kadono, Kiki’s adventures follow a pattern of gentle encounters with various townspeople. And Miyazaki does indeed show Kiki getting on well with adults, particularly with the elderly whom she treats with respect.

But Miyazaki adds a much-needed element of jeopardy to Kiki’s experiences. To start with, she must deliver a toy cat to a spoiled boy who lives far off beyond a sinister pine forest. When she accidentally lands on a crow’s nest full of eggs, a whole mob of angry birds rise up to attack her. She survives, but discovers she has let the toy cat fall. Jiji comes into his own, pretending to be the toy while she searches for the missing one.

In the city Kiki is unnerved by the carefree teenagers she comes across who tease her for her her old-fashioned frock and quaint ways. One teenager, the geeky Tombo, however, instantly admires her. He loves all things aviational and is trying to build a bicycle that will fly. But despite their common interest, Kiki repeatedly refuses to speak to him.

Eventually, of course, a friendship starts to develop. But somehow Kiki falls into despondency, fearing she’s losing her powers of witchcraft. She can no longer fly and even Jiji deserts her, his cat-speech no longer intelligible. It’s a nice metaphor for self-doubt and the kindly message of the film is delivered by an older girl, Ursula, an artist who lives alone in the forest. Ursula describes her own passage through artistic block and assures Kiki she’ll find her powers again.

Excitement is added in the climactic sequence when Kiki sees a newsflash on television. A huge airship anchored at the port breaks loose from its moorings. And there is Tombo! In trying to hold the airship down, he has been swept up and is now clinging from its anchor rope. Kiki rushes to his rescue as time is running out. You can guess the outcome, but you may find yourself oddly invested in this final drama. The film then winds up quickly, what happens to Kiki and her friends only shown in a series of vignettes over the end credits. Jiji, we are happy to discover, has his own happy ending, having melted the heart of an elegant white cat.

Miyazaki’s other anime from this period, My Neighbour Totoro, has recently metamorphosed into a highly imaginative stage play thanks to wonderful puppetry. It has yet to be seen whether reformatting Kiki’s Delivery Service for IMAX will be enough to woo a new generation of viewers.

Kiki’s Delivery Service is released in UK cinemas from 28 August.