Finally got to see this film I’ve heard so much about!! Just been released in the UK with japanese sound track!!
Oh my, what a beautiful, beautiful film.
Darn, why has it taken so long so release it??
For those of you who don’t know, this is a 1989 animated film by Miyazaki (of Princess Mononoke & Spirited Away fame) about a 13-year old witch who sets off, as is traditional with witches, to spend a year making her way on her own in the world.
It’s so gorgeous I sniffled quite a few times during my first watching (it only arrived today). It’s sweet, and lovely, and beautiful, without being too cute or sugary. There is a wonderful understated non-preachy theme about having confidence in yourself. This is, IMO, a true ‘family’ film; kids (hopefully) will love it, while adults will also enjoy the marvellous detail in scenery and character’s expresions.
I mean, it was a simple story, but somehow packed an enormous emotional hug. Genius.
Can’t comment on the dub yet, probably won’t watch that for a while, tho from the bits I experimentally switched over to - Kirsten Dunst seemed great as Kiki, but I thought the deep voice for her cat, Jiji, sucked.
Also replaying the beginning, where she sets out and Jiji crawls out along her broomstick to turn on the radio and the title credits play along with the japanese theme song, I thought the dubbed english song was very poor by comparison.
I’ve seen Kiki’s Delivery Service dubbed; I agree that it’s a wonderful film.
The late Phil Hartman did the dub voice for Jiji. I thought he did a pretty good job of it, but then again I haven’t seen the subbed version so I have no basis for comparison. I’ve always enjoyed hearing Phil as the voice of various Simpsons characters, like Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz.
It’s certainly one of my top 3 or 4 favorite Ghibli movies. I like it for the same reason I like Porco Rosso–it’s bright, happy fluff. No deep messages here, just a cool setting, likable characters, great animation and music. (Although, I have to admit, I like Porco better–awesome dogfights, for one thing).
I love the film as well. I thought the English dub was awful, though. They made the cat into a Disney-style comic sidekick and not a very funny one at that. They destroyed much of the charm of the film by inserting useless lines and adding music everywhere thus ruining many of the quiet moments. It’s almost a texbook example of the difference between Disney and Miyazaki.
The music by Joe Hisaishi is also very special. I love the music in the opening scene when Kiki is staring at the clouds and also the scene where she first flies into the city. Of course the dub has to ruin some of the music as well by decreasing its relative volume in the places where they inserted silly lines and noises. For some reason they also removed one piece altogether (the one where Kiki flies higher and higher while making her first delivery) and replaced with a bland variation of earlier theme.
Finally the artwork is beautiful and the images of the city, the streets and the people have a painterly quality to them that never grows stale.
BTW did you know that the same Japanese actress plays Kiki and Ursula(the painter)? It’s an amazing perfomance.
Out at the same time as KDS, but presumably posted slightly later as it didn’t arrive today :(. Still,wheeeee!!! it’s in the post!!!
No I didn’t, thanks, for that That really is amazing!
FYI in the just-released UK version the music at the very beginning is the same. They did replace the music at the flying higher on her earlier delivery bit. I did not find the replacement music for the titles too bad, tho I did consider it syrupy, and DEFINITELY inferior. I was bopping away with a big grin to the original, it was just perfect
One oddity - there is no straight english language option - only english for the hearing impaired, which includes subtitles for ambient sounds. “sound of traffic passing” etc. Didn’t bother me too much, and I totally support this kind of dub as it could spoil a film if you are hearing impaired and don’t have these cues, but it was a bit annoying with the extra screen real estate it cost. Laputa is listed as having BOTH english and english for hearing impaired. Odd, eh?
I’ve heard that a past US release had no subtitle option - is this true??? If so, why??? Surely the cost of providing subtitles is negligible compared to the cost of dubbing?
Finally, isn’t Jiji drawn brilliantly? So expressive, and I adore
Big Big Big Spoiler :
his kitten at the end, trying to catch a butterfly and falling off the wall, then the final bit where the kitten is crawling along the broomstick, and Jiji has him tied to a piece of string. Aaaaahhhhhhh : )
“FYI in the just-released UK version the music at the very beginning is the same”
It’s the same in the US version (which is probably the same as the UK one) as well. AFAIK they replace only that one piece(and the songs) but they do add in a lot of music; often where it’s not needed. The other thing they do ,like I said, is to reduce the music volume because they have added lines. Check out the scene where Jeff the dog approaches Jiji for instance.
The scenes at the end which you mention are delightful . I also liked the bit where Kiki sees a little girl dressed up just like her. In fact I liked the entire closing sequence and the song that went with it.
That really is amazing!