One of my weekend projects was to post all the latest videos that I found on YouTube. This happens to include four feature films...ouch! That's a lot of movie watching! So, for the sake of those of you without the fastest internet connections, I'll hold myself to one Ghibli movie a day.
Tonight's movie is a favorite of mine, and it's likely a favorite of yours, too - Kiki's Delivery Service. I've wondered if this is the one Miyazaki film most likely to fall beneath the cracks, coming just after My Neighbor Totoro, and before Porco Rosso and Princess Mononoke. Like the teenage protagonist, Kiki doesn't quite fit into either world. But I think that's part of its charm. It captures that awkward stage so brilliantly, so honestly, all while presented in a romanticized European world. It's the kind of place you'd love to visit but can never find on a map.
It's interesting that Hayao Miyazaki wasn't this film's original director. That role fell to an outside director that Studio Ghibli brought in. Unfortunately, Miyazaki became frustrated with the project, and after some disputes, the original director left the project. This left the famous workaholic to take the reins and assume the director's chair himself. He then proceeds to make Kiki's story his own, weaving his own lessons on work and inspiration and identity.
I'm hoping that Kiki will be released on Blu-Ray soon. It was among the first wave of DVDs to arrive in the States, alongside Spirited Away and Castle in the Sky, and that release is getting a little long in the tooth. If nothing else, a better dub would be in order. But, then again, I'm not a fan of movie dubs in general, and I understand anything that helps gain Ghibli more fans is a good thing. Thank goodness DVD allows for switching of language tracks. I am so glad the lousy days of VHS are long past.
Anyway, enjoy the movie!
5 comments:
Regarding the "romanticized European world; the kind of place you'd love to visit but can never find on a map": I disagree with the "can never find" part. ;-)
One of the things that immediately drew me into Kiki the first time I watched it, was the setting that looked so very familiar to me. Many old towns in Germany look pretty much like the City in Kiki's Delivery Service does (ok, minus the Ocean). If you ever make it over here, visit Rothenburg ob der Tauber for a start.
so what have you got against the disney dub? i think it's quite good as dubs go.
i don't know why they had to change the songs, but i have nothing against the english songs.
i do think it's a shame they covered up the dramatic silence of the climactic scene with background music.
i actually think that kirsten dunst does a very good job on the dub - i can't imagine that her performance could be improved on.
btw, in the youtube version you posted, notice anything funny about the closing song?
^_-
Ooops, first comment's from me, btw. I'm not really that anonymous. Flo's the name. Don't know what went wrong there.
Hey, that's perfectly all right. Glad to have you here, Flo. Be sure to bring your friends along.
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