The Miyazaki film festival continued last Friday night with
Kiki’s Delivery Service. I was both impressed and
disappointed. But first, a word about the story.

Kiki is a thirteen-year-old girl whose mother is a witch (a word which should
probably be translated as “village healer who happens to be able to fly
on a broom”). She’s been raised to be a witch herself, and has just
embarked on her training. Quite literally–a witch begins her training
by flying off on her broom, by herself, and finding a witch-less village
or town, where she must survive on her own for a full year. It’s clear
from the beginning that Kiki’s going to have some trouble; she likes the
idea of being a witch but hasn’t paid much attention to the skills
needed. She can fly on a broom, but that’s about it. Being as spunky
and resourceful as all Miyazaki heroines, she starts an airborne delivery
service to make ends meet. She also meets a variety of people, some she
gets on with, and some she doesn’t, and does a mess of growing.

I was impressed, as always, by the quality of the artwork and animation.
The town Kiki settles in is a beautiful place, and the flying sequences
are breathtaking and hilarious by turns–Kiki has a way of ricocheting
from trees and buildings as she gets started. He does rain remarkably
well, too.

I’m equally impressed by Miyazaki’s storytelling skills and his pacing.
It’s a heartwarming story, well-told, and I enjoyed watching it.

So why am I disappointed?

For a movie about flying on a broomstick it was a little…pedestrian. It
has none of the action or
gee-whiz moments of Castle in the Sky; despite being about a
witch, it has none of the magic of Spirited Away or
My Neighbor Totoro. Not once did I feel transported somewhere
else, as I did with the others.

To be fair, I had fairly exalted expectations when I put the DVD in the
player. And I really can’t fault the movie, either; it’s exactly what
it’s supposed to be, and what it’s supposed to be is simply different
than the other ones. It’s not about a human being in Faerie; rather (to
the extent that childhood is a different country than adulthood, and a
large town a different country than a small village) it’s about a
resident of Faerie having to make her way in the Mortal Lands. It’s not
Kiki’s fault that I’m used to living there all of the time.