Kiki's Delivery Service is essentially a coming of age story. Kiki sets out, with the blessing of her parents, to gain independence and make her own way. She must learn to balance her newfound responsibilities and also deal with emerging romantic feelings. This is communicated chiefly through the visuals. When she first arrives in Koriko she hopes to make a good impression on the people of the town, but she ends up flying into traffic and almost causing an accident. On her first delivery she loses the package and has to go to great lengths to retrieve it.Throughout the film, Kiki searches for acceptance from people in the town but struggles because she lacks confidence in herself. Despite this she is able to win people over through her kindness and goodwill. Osono, a pregnant women who owns a bakery, invites Kiki to live in the attic of her home after Kiki does a favor for her. A young boy named Tombo expresses interest in her but she haughtily shrugs him off. Despite this he persists and surprises her by inviting her to a party.
She ends up missing the party in order to deliver a birthday present for an elderly women named Oku-sama. Standing in the rain outside of the home where she's delivered the package to Oku-sama's rather ungrateful granddaughter, Kiki reaches something of a low-point. After recovering from a cold she also is also able to regain some confidence when she goes out with Tombo. This confidence is shaken when some other girls who Tombo knows show up, causing her to feel jealous and leave. This leads her to lose her power of flight due to a lack of confidence in herself. She tells her cat, Jiji, "I think somethings wrong with me. I make friends, then suddenly I can't bear to be with any of them. Seems like that other me, the cheeerful and honest one, went away somewhere." Then the film does something unexpected.
There's this great scene where Kiki goes on a kind of spiritual retreat with Ursula, an artist who lives in the woods outside of town, in order to find herself and reconnect with her powers. This helps her to come to a better understanding of herself and the person she is growing into. Because of this, Kiki's self-doubt and vulnerability end up being a positive thing. It leads here to seek self-reflection in a quiet and serene environment, something that is important to her growing as a person. Miyazaki's own restraint and sense of pacing in this film reflect this. Ultimately, this period of reflection gives Kiki the perspective she needs and she is able to regain her powers during the film's climax when Tombo' life is put in danger.
What really makes
Kiki's Delivery Service great is its subtlety and easy going atmosphere. While animation, both in the east and the west, is usually marked by bombast and larger-than-life settings Miyazaki's films are distinguished by there subtly and nuance. Despite being about someone who can fly this is a simple, down to earth story, brought to life in a beautiful, heartfelt manner by Miyazaki and the animators at Studio Ghibli. Miyazaki lets the film breath. There are many nice, quiet moments that don't really advance the story. They're just there for mood, atmosphere, and pacing. They invite the viewer to contemplate what there seeing, to really try to understand and empathize with the character.
Though it doesn't feature
the most breathtaking animation the studio has ever done, this is still a beautifully animated film. In particular it's the animators attention to detail that really draws you in to the story. Little details like the sweat on Kiki's face when she helps Oku-sama to bake her herring pie, the movement of the wind, rain and water, and the bustling activities of the people of of Koriko, really bring the world of the movie to life. But this is more than just eye candy. As I said, Miyazaki tells this story chiefly through the visuals and all of the intricate detail and expressive movement of the animation is put to use for this purpose. In the scene when Kiki flies home from after delivering Oku-sama's package, drenched by the rain and realizing that she is late for Tombo's party, the visuals tell us everything we need to now about her thoughts and emotions. Like all of Miyazaki's films,
Kiki's Delivery Service displays the unpredictability of life.
The way people and objects move is also important. In particular I love the way Miyazaki and the animators portray flying in this film. It's buoyant and graceful, giving you the impression of floating but it also feels tactile. Kiki has real weight as she maneuvers through the clouds on her broom. When I have dreams about flying, this is what it feels like. Indeed, the joy of flying and the desire to fly is a sort of motif running throughout the film. Tombo's obsession with flight is part of what initially draws him to Kiki and their mutual interest in it is what brings them together. It's partly Kiki's attraction toward Tombo that causes her to lose her powers and it's only when he is put in danger that she is able to regain them and the two are brought back together. Flying also ties in with another theme of this film, one that permeates all of Miyazaki's work: the connection between man and nature. When Kiki loses her ability to fly she also loses her ability to communicate with Jiji. The ability of young people to communicate with animals, and the loss of this as a part of growing up, symbolizing a loss of innocence, is a common trope in children's fantasy. Miyazaki takes this and feeds it into Kiki's arc. She may or may not be able to talk to her cat by the end of the story, it's left ambiguous, but she has learned to better communicate and interact with the people around her.
The sound design is also very important and Miyazaki displays an uncanny ability to determine when to use music, ambient sound, or complete silence to express the emotion of a scene. Joe Hishaishi's score adds to the film's pleasant, easy going atmosphere and really punctuates the emotional moments. The main theme, featuring piano and solo violin is very melancholy and nostalgic while his use of accordion and plucked strings in other tracks lend a sense of youthful energy to the score and gives the world of the film a distinctly French feel.
Kiki's Delivery Service is the kind of film I wish we could see more often. It's the kind of film that makes common, everyday events seem wonderful and magical. It's simply a joy to watch.
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