8.3 | / 10 |
Users | 4.2 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.2 |
When an apprentice witch turns thirteen, she must leave her home in order to hone her craft. Although Kiki's sole talent is broom-flying, she sets out for adventure with her cat Jiji. They settle in a charming seaside town, where Kiki establishes her own delivery service. As Kiki learns to balance independence with responsibility, her kind heart wins her many new friends in this coming-of-age tale.
Starring: Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda, Mieko NobusawaForeign | 100% |
Anime | 90% |
Fantasy | 56% |
Family | 50% |
Adventure | 35% |
Supernatural | 12% |
Coming of age | 9% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Japanese: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, English SDH, French
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD)
DVD copy
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
Ghibli doesn't get much lighter than Kiki's Delivery Service, though that by no means makes it a lesser film. Quaint, disarming and utterly enchanting, it's a simple tale told simply, with delightful characters, lovely animation, and an unexpectedly charming blend of magic and reality that exercises incredible restraint. In any other filmmaker's hands, Kiki's year-long adventure abroad would have been bursting with dangerous spells, supernatural creatures, exploding cauldrons, witch duels, and a deadly race to save the world from something decidedly evil. In Miyazaki's hands, Kiki's journey is nothing of the sort. Hers is a classic coming-of-age story -- one that will be instantly familiar to most any young girl -- fraught with oh so normal teenage insecurities, anxiety, fears, feelings of rejection and other everyday struggles. Just because she can fly on a broom and strike up a conversation with a cat doesn't make talking to a boy any easier...
Kiki's Delivery Service makes its North American debut with a perfectly pleasant 1080p/AVC-encoded video presentation faithful to Miyazaki's intentions and the integrity of the original animation. The palette is soft, airy and subdued, just as it's meant to be. While Disney has carefully cleaned up the film's source elements, it did so without the use of any egregious, texture-smearing noise reduction, artificial sharpening, or color and contrast boosting. Grain is intact, the animators' line art is naturally defined, background textures and brushstrokes are unblemished, and every last detail is on disarming display. There also isn't any significant macroblocking, banding, ringing or other issues of note, and only a small handful of blink-and-you'll-miss-em print nicks and scratches remain. (Eagle-eyed videophiles may spot tiny artifacts around the English words "Kiki's Delivery Service" on the wooden sign in the bakery's window, and, at the end of the film, notice that the words of Kiki's letter bleed into the black bar at the bottom of the 1.85:1 image. But both of these negligible anomalies trace back to language/text changes Disney made to the film for its release in U.S. theaters in 1997.) All told, Kiki's Delivery Service looks terrific.
Disney presents Kiki's Delivery Service with two lossless audio options: English and Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0, and both are quite good. There's nothing particularly remarkable or revolutionary here -- each presents their language mix as it's designed, with no issues or mishaps to report -- yet nothing that would render either underwhelming. Voices are clear and intelligible at all times, and prioritization isn't problematic in the slightest (though minor differences can be found between the dub and Japanese-language tracks). Effects and Joe Hisaishi's score fare wonderfully as well, and more active broom-flying, retrieval and rescue sequences sound better than ever. Purists will be irritated to find Disney's English dubtitles have been included, rather than a more literal translation subtitle track, but otherwise there aren't any disappointments to be had.
For a film first released in 1989, Kiki's Delivery Service is a breath of fresh air. Unafraid to tell a simple story simply, it tip toes along without a care in the world, yet still manages to make a lasting impression. Disney's Blu-ray release is excellent too, with a faithful video presentation, solid English and Japanese lossless audio tracks, and a decent selection of special features. If you've yet to meet Kiki, prepare to be pleasantly surprised.
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