While I understand all of Hayao Miyazaki's work cannot be heavy, 2 hour-plus epics, this is the lamest of all his films. Don't get me wrong, I like it. But there isn't really a lot of story or character to make a feature length film out of.
I watched the English dub with Kirsten Dunst doing the voice of Kiki and the late, great Phil Hartman doing her talking cat Jiji. Much like Sabrina The Late-Thirties Teenage Witch, Jiki is black, cynical and funny. He provides most of the film's laughs and is impossibly cute.
As I have said, the film is very light. So light it could float in the air without the need for a broomstick. Nothing is really made a big deal of and no real story develops. What gives the film class is Miyazaki's attention to detail and gorgeous production design. Kiki exists in a perfect, transethnical European town with wonderful architecture and scenery. The flying scenes look brilliant and the colors are always bright and cheerful.
Still, no-matter how pretty and easy-going, it doesn't have that long-lasting appeal of Nausicaa or Castle of Cagliostro.
I watched the English dub with Kirsten Dunst doing the voice of Kiki and the late, great Phil Hartman doing her talking cat Jiji. Much like Sabrina The Late-Thirties Teenage Witch, Jiki is black, cynical and funny. He provides most of the film's laughs and is impossibly cute.
As I have said, the film is very light. So light it could float in the air without the need for a broomstick. Nothing is really made a big deal of and no real story develops. What gives the film class is Miyazaki's attention to detail and gorgeous production design. Kiki exists in a perfect, transethnical European town with wonderful architecture and scenery. The flying scenes look brilliant and the colors are always bright and cheerful.
Still, no-matter how pretty and easy-going, it doesn't have that long-lasting appeal of Nausicaa or Castle of Cagliostro.