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Majo
no Takkyubin Kiki's Delivery Service |
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and Discussion |
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May 2, 1998
page 69
Disney Looks To Expand Mainstream Presence Of Japan's Anime
Anne Sherber
NEW YORK -- After years during which publicity about Japanimationfar exceeded its sales, the cartoon genre is poised for a real growthspurt.
Last summer, an _anime_ feature on DVD, Manga Entertainment's "GhostIn The Shell," flew through PolyGram Video's distribution network toreach the top of Billboard's sales chart. Major suppliers have seen begun releasing anime titles on DVD.
Now the category has caught the attention of huge Japanese toymakerBandai, which has launched a home video division and plans to enterthe Japanimation market.
And there's the Disney factor. Michael Johnson, president of Disney'sBuena Vista Home Entertainment, says the studio spent four yearspursuing Japanese moviemaker Ghibli, as well as the head of itsanimation division, Hayao Miyazaki, called by some "the Walt Disneyof Japan."
The end result: Disney is Ghibli's anime representative in the U.S.Disney also gets first look at any of Ghibli's live-action productbrought here.
Plans stretch beyond Japanimation. Johnson says Buena Vista is workingclosely with Disney's Miramax subsidiary to release a Ghibli title,"Mononoke Hime," in theaters this summer. Miramax is also consideringa remake of Ghibli's "Shall We Dance?," an American arthouse hit.
But the first video release, which arrives Sept. 1, is aimed atcarving a new foothold in the anime trade. Ghibli's "Kiki's DeliveryService," a cartoon for young audiences, has been dubbed into Englishusing the voices of actors Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, DebbieReynolds, Janeane Garofalo, and Matthew Lawrence. Another cast isbeing assembled for "Castle In The Say," scheduled for release nextyear, Johnson says.
Disney is springing for high-profile talent to bring Ghibli'sJapanimation home to Americans, but without altering the plot. Johnson says, "One of the understandings that we have with them is that theoriginal story lines are maintained."
Buena Vista will treat lightly in a market that has had a reputationfor striking graphics -- and strong violence and sexual content. Thestudio plans to market its titles in their own display to keep them out of anime sections in video stores. In fact, Buena Vista has beenreluctant to identify the Ghibli product as anime."
Anime is one of those strange, generic words," says Johnson. "Thisis not typical, 24-frames-per-second anime with static backgrounds.These films have kinetic backgrounds and are more subtle in theirlook." Johnson maintains that Buena Vista will put the full force ofthe company behind the Ghibli releases.
Simultaneously, it hopes to educate consumers about Japanimation."We'll use the press, point-of-purchase, and our distribution system,"he adds. "We're working with a lot of synergy, which means we'llget it broadcast on some [sic] our networks, including the DisneyChannel."
The deep pockets of Disney and Bandai are hard to beat. However,unfazed anime executives say they welcome the attention that is boundto follow. "I don't [sic] they'd be coming into the market if theydidn't think that it was a growing market," says Mike Pascuzzi,director of sales for Central Park Media. "As they make their presencefelt, they'll help to expand the marketplace."
Buena Vista's reticence about the word "anime" is understandable.Vintage, made-in-Japan TV shows, such as "Speed Racer" and "Astro Boy," notwithstanding, most Japanimation isn't geared for kids.
Says Kara Redmond, director of marketing of the American Anime labelfor Urban Vision in Los Angeles, "There is every single genre ofanime product available that you might find on television." And muchof it would require V-chip.
The difference is that most retailers carrying anime don't categorizethe titles on store shelves to identify content. They rely on the18-25 males who are the prime consumers of Japanimation, in videoand comic books. Children are often left out of the mix. "We have toeducate the buyers in the stores," says Redmond.
This cult status derives from anime's beginnings. When Central Parkbegan distributing titles seven years ago, recalls Pascuzzi, "therewas very little competition. It was still pretty much an undergroundmarket, with a lot of bootleg product."
A lot has changed since, say the large music and video retailers thatcater to Japanimation fans. "Anime is very strong," notes John Souza,video buyer for retailer Trans World Entertainment in Latham, N.Y."It's a bigger category than exercise or sports."
Anime suppliers are taking lessons from their mainstream cousins onhow to build revenue. While Japanimation is almost always exclusivelypriced to sell, Central Park has announced a rental-like depth-of-copyprogram that rewards retailers that meet goals with free goods.
Hollywood world approve Manga's step into new technology. Manga saysit's preparing a DVD version that takes full advantage of the format.
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May 18, 1998
Company Press Release
ADVISORY/Buena Vista Home Entertainment Presents the Acclaimed Japanese Animated Film: Hayao Miyazaki's "Kiki's Delivery Service"
First Title in International "Animation Celebration" Series Premieres May 23 at the Seattle International Film Festival
--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)-- Re-Voiced by All-Star Cast Including Kirsten Dunst, Phil Hartman, Matthew Lawrence, Debbie Reynolds and Janeane Garofalo
Hayao Miyazaki's (dubbed ``the Walt Disney of Japan'') enchanting and highly celebrated No. 1 box office smash hit, ``Kiki's Delivery Service,'' the delightful, coming-of-age tale of a young witch named Kiki, makes its worldwide debut at the Seattle International Film Festival, on May 23 in its all new, English-dubbed version.
Following this honor, ``Kiki's Delivery Service'' will appear at other distinguished festivals around the country, including the Florida International Film Festival and the Nashville Independent Film Festival, both on June 13, among others, before its exclusive home video release on September 1 from Buena Vista Home Entertainment.
The first in a series of animated films to be released on video by BVHE as part of its international ``Animation Celebration,'' through which some of the world's greatest masterpieces of animation will be brought to international audiences for the first time, ``Kiki's Delivery Service'' is considered to be a modern classic in Japan.
Adhering to its exceptionally high standards, the division has gone to considerable expense to dub ``Kiki's Delivery Service'' for English-speaking audiences so that millions more can share in the experience.
One of the most highly regarded animated family films of all time, ``Kiki's Delivery Service'' is the 1989 creation of legendary animation director Hayao Miyazaki, whose films are brilliantly imbued with compelling characters, intricate plots and stunning animation.
A wonderous tale filled with magical and heartwarming adventures, ``Kiki's Delivery Service'' tells the story of Kiki, who, at age 13, must leave home and put her extraordinary flying skills to work by serving a new community for one year.
Taken in by a wonderful lady baker, Kiki launches her special delivery service, magically conveying pastries and other packages throughout the town. In so doing, she comes face-to-face with the meaning of her independence, inner strength and sense of self-reliance.
Incorporating a celebrity vocal ensemble of high-flying proportions, the newly-dubbed ``Kiki's Delivery Service'' features Hollywood teenage sensation Kirsten Dunst (``Jumanji,'' ``Little Women'') as the voice of the bright, independent young Kiki; funny-man Phil Hartman (TV's ``Newsradio''; Kiki's hilarious black cat Jiji, and Matthew Lawrence (``Mrs. Doubtfire,'' TV's ``Boy Meets World'') as her inventive and energetic friend, Tombo.
Adding additional ``spirit'' to the all-star cast are Hollywood legend Debbie Reynolds (``Mother'') as the caring grandmother figure, Madame, and comedienne Janeane Garofalo (``The Truth About Cats & Dogs'') as Kiki's quirky artist friend, Ursula.
``Kiki's Delivery Service'' will be available in VHS and CLV laserdisc formats in digitally-mastered Hi-Fi stereo sound and will be closed-captioned for the hearing-impaired. Rated ``G'' by the Motion Picture Association of America, ``Kiki's Delivery Service'' has an approximate running time of 104 minutes.
A part of The Walt Disney Co. [NYSE:DIS - news], Buena Vista Home Entertainment has been the recognized industry leader for 10 consecutive years.
NOTE: For review cassettes or artwork, please call 818/295-4609.
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7). Kidscreen Retail
May, 1998
Buena Vista announces launch date for first Miyazaki vid title
_Kiki's Delivery Service_, and extremely popular children's animated feature created by Japanese anime master Hayao Miyazaki in 1989, is due to be released in English for North American video sell-through in September by Buena Vista Home Entertainment. Dubbed versions will roll out worldwide later in the year.
The release of _Kiki_ is the second installment in a worldwide distribution deal signed in 1996 between The Walt Disney Company and Tokuma Shoten Publishing for Miyazaki's nine-title library. The first property to be released under the deal was the adult-oriented animated feature film _Princess Mononoke_, which was distributed theatrically last year by Disney's Miramax unit. The top-grossing domestic film in Japan in 1989, _Kiki's Delivery Service_ centers on the coming of age of a teenaged witch who must leave home and serve the community in order to preserve her magcial skills. Set in an ocean-side village that resembles old world Europe, the story espouses the values of independence and self-reliance.
"It's a wonderful story for young girls," says Michael Johnson, president of Buena Vista Home Entertainment Worldwide, who adds that test screenings of _Kiki_ have been particularly well recieved by girls age six to 14.
Permitting that the works to come out of Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli appeal to more divergent audience demographic than that traditionally associated with Disney properties, Johnson says Buena Vista viewed the distribution deal "as a way to enhance our product line and create a relationship with somebody who is a real powerhouse in Japan."
Miyazaki, a pioneer of Japanese anime who is often compared favorably to Walt Disney himself, does not display as darkly violent and overtly sexual themes in his work as to his national counterparts. Still, Buena Vista is doing its best to form a line of distinction between Miyazaki's and other forms of anime, which in one extreme case has been blamed for causing children to experience convulsions.
"You'll never hear the word 'anime' attached to Miyazaki's stuff around here," says Johnson, adding that _Kiki_ "has a much deeper texture to it, a higher visual quality; it's much brighter than most anime. Frankly, it's more like Disney than any other type of Japanese animation."
Although Disney has promised to maintain the English adaptations of Miyazaki's work as true to the originals as possible, _Kiki_ has been "localized" for North American audiences through the addition of English voices and an expanded musical score, according to Johnson.
The English voice of Kiki was provided by Kirsten Dunst, who starred in _Jumanji_ and _Interview With the Vampire_, while other voice talent included Janeane Garofalo, Phil Hartman and Debbie Reynolds.
Admitting to having a strong personal appreciation for Miyazaki's work, Johnson says he thinks there will be a healthy worldwide demand for _Kiki_ in the video sell-through market. "It's not going to sell 10 million units," he proffers, "but I'd be happy with half of that. A good story is a good story. So the opportunity for it to travel might be a little wider than anyone ever expected.
"We're going to use festivals to build up the Miyazaki name. We're looking at cross-character merchandizing, and there may be some broadcast potential for it within The Walt Disney Company, although we're not positive yet whether it will be on the Disney Channel or ABC," he says.
As for how merchandising will shape up for _Kiki_, Johnson says discussions have been limited to the publishing area so far. "We'll probably have to establish the film and the character first, and then the consumer products will come in behind it," he says.
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8). Consumer Retailer Magazine
June 29, 1998
'Upcoming VHS Releases'
Kiki's Delivery Service
Buena Vista
Highly regarded animation director Hayao Miyazaki crafted this delightfultale of Kiki, a 13-year-old witch-in-training, who learns the value offriendship, trust and hard work. While animated in the familiar Japanesestyle, Kiki's Delivery Service doesn't have the sex and violence of otheranime titles, and it's a fun outing for the whole family.
Order: 7/21, Street: 9/1, SRP: $19.95
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August 7, 1998
n444 p81(1)
CHILDREN'S HOUR. (video releases)
A slew of high-profile kids' tapes hit shelves this month and next--including Disney's made-for-video Pocahontas sequel, straight-to-tape Teletubbies cassettes, a Scooby-Doo video feature, and Disney's first venture with leading Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki, Kiki's Delivery Service, the English-language version of which features the voices of Kirsten Dunst and Phil Hartman. "Video consumption picks up dramatically after summer vacation," Disney senior VP of marketing Bob Chapek notes, a truth increasingly driven by back-to-school buying at groceries and mega-marts. Besides, says Columbia TriStar exec VP Paul Culberg, "if you wait until Thanksgiving, you're fighting with Armageddon."
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August 4, 1998
New York Now | Movies
Coming Toon, Japan's Top Anime Films
Nine of master Hiyao Miyazaki's features will be released here
By LEWIS BEALE
Daily News Staff Writer
He's the Walt Disney of Japanese animation, a force whose films routinely outgross movies like "Aladdin" at the Nipponese box office. Now he's coming to America.
Nine feature films by Hiyao Miyazaki, Japan's foremost animator, were recently purchased by Disney. Eight will be released on video by Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Disney's video arm, and one will make it to theaters later next year.
The first release, debuting Sept. 1, is "Kiki's Delivery Service," the story of a 13-year-old witch who uses her flying skills to open a delivery business. It was a No. 1 smash in Japan.
"Princess Mononoke,"a 14th-century fable involving a battle between gods and man, will be theatrically distributed next year by Disney subsidiary Miramax. The film, whose English-language version will feature the voices of Gillian Anderson, Claire Danes and Minnie Driver, has earned $150 million in Japan — it is the second-highest-grossing film in that country's history, topped only by "Titanic."
"Disney is picking up on [Japanese animation] because they think it's the next stage in animation around the world," says Bruce Apar of Video Business Magazine.
Compared to Disney's output, Miyazaki's work is leisurely paced ("Mononoke" runs 133 minutes — an epic length by animation standards), more story driven and nonmusical. Many films also have a distinct ecological subtext.
"There's an epic nature to [Miyazaki's] stories, but also a certain naivet·and innocence," says Scott Martin, Miramax' executive in charge of production for "Princess Mononoke."
Miyazaki's work is barely known outside Japan.
One film, "My Neighbor Totoro," about two girls who are befriended by a mythical creature, opened here theatrically in 1993 and sold more than 500,000 cassettes since it was released on home video the following year.
But though Miyazaki has been courted by other foreign distributors — including Fox and Warner Bros. — he has refused in the past to license his films for fear they would be cut or altered.
"We have not done anything to change these films but dub them. We have added some new songs, but we have remained true to the original," says Michael Johnson, worldwide president of BVHE.
Johnson admits Miyazaki's work may initially appeal to a niche audience — one familiar with anime (Japanese animation). But, he says, "we're going to try to go beyond that audience here. Anime . . . is about cutting-edge humor, violence, sexual overtones. None of that exists in the Miyazaki product. [We will be] taking it out of the anime category by packaging it differently, presenting it differently to the public."
Will this approach work? Bruce Apar feels "Disney is looking for a cataclysmic change in the market, where [Japanese animation] becomes the really hip thing."
Says David Wharff of West Coast Entertainment, one of America's largest video chains: "It seems like they're not really pushing the title to the industry that much right now. ['Kiki's'] will be a moderate hit. It won't be a 'Lion King' that [ships] 25 million copies, but it can do something like 'Totoro,' which is a consistent seller."
Johnson is equally cautious. His company plans to release a Miyazaki title every six months, but those plans are dependent on how well "Kiki" does.
"It's a build philosophy," he says. "We hope people discover this, and retailers are patient enough to stay with this product."
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September 2, 1998
Tooning In
Disney Imports a Japanese
Auteur-Animator
by Elisabeth Vincentelli
Disney is not known for heralding directorial authorship, least
of all when it comes to animation: try naming the director of The
Little Mermaid or even a classic like Dumbo. It's the corporate
brand name that sells the movies. And yet, last year, the company
acquired the rights to distribute the entire oeuvre of Hayao
Miyazaki, Japan's premier auteur-animator. Miramax will release
the director's latest film, Princess Mononoke, in theaters next
year (the movie is second only to Titanic as Japan's all-time box
office champ); the remaining titles will go straight to video in
brand-new dubbed versions, starting with this week's release of
1989's Kiki's Delivery Service.
Born in 1941, Miyazaki is a beloved icon in his home
country--though he's called "the Disney of Japan," he's
been vocal about his distate of Disney movies. After working on
various TV series, he made his directorial feature debut in 1979
with Lupin III: Castle of Cagliostro, a breathless caper complete
with secret stairways, a captive princess, and Indiana Jones-like
hijinks. Miyazaki's artistic breakthrough came in 1984's Nausicaa
of the Valley of the Wind, whose title character, the first of
the director's trademark headstrong heroines, leads her village
in a battle for ecological survival. In 1986's Laputa--Castle in
the Sky, slated for video release next year, a young girl fights
off the factions lusting after her "levitation stone"
(flight is a Miyazaki obsession, and there are airborne scenes in
all his movies).
My Neighbor Totoro (1988; Fox Video, 1993) may be the director's
best-known film. Two young sisters meet a mythical forest
creature who helps them cope with their ailing mother's absence.
Buoyed by Joe Hisaishi's imaginative score (he also works with
Takeshi Kitano), Totoro neatly encapsulates Miyazaki's main
obsessions: the need for balance between man and nature, and the
trials of spiritual and moral development.
Though Miyazaki can orchestrate impressively precise action
scenes (Kiki's arrival in the city provokes chaos in the streets;
1992's philosophical adventure movie, Porco Rosso, includes
magnificent aerial dogfights), his movies usually unfurl at a
leisurely pace. The director allows for reverie and for a sense
of wonder to bloom. Humor, always present, tends to be gentle
slapstick, unobtrusively punctuating an otherwise contemplative
rhythm.
Drawing thousands of each movie's animation cells himself,
Miyazaki composes every shot with a painter's eye. Influenced by
Jonathan Swift (Laputa--Castle in the Sky is named after a
floating island in Gulliver's Travels), Jules Verne, and Lewis
Carroll, he smoothly integrates the fantastical and the mundane.
Nobody gets crushed by falling pianos in Miyazaki's movies (he
finds Disney too violent), but cats shaped like buses roam the
countryside. A humanist concerned with rites of passage and
periods of transition, Miyazaki avoids cheap moral lessons and
the safe distance of cynical wisecracks. Being marketed by
Disney, in fact, might be the greatest irony in the career of a
director who can appeal equally to four-year-olds and admirers of
Yasujiro Ozu.
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Reviews |
August 29, 1989:
'Majo' delivers innovative world of animation"
MARK SCHILLING
The Japanese have a huge appetite for animation, as one glance at a TV or -- at this time of year -- a movie schedule will confirm. Much of that appetite, of course, is fed with junk: endless recyclings of superhero fantasy or schoolyard humor.
But this large potential audience, which includes legions of junior and senior high school *anime* fans, has given Japanese animators a creative freedom unknown to most of their American and European counterparts. Instead of catering exclusively to the very young (and their "young-at-heart" parents), they can attempt a more sophisticated storyline and treatment without worrying about confusing -- or losing -- their audience.
One of the most innovative of these animators is Hayao Miyazaki, who started his career with Toei Animation -- the largest animation studio in Asia -- more than two decades ago. In the course of that career, Miyazaki has developed a highly distinctive style that combines free-form fantasy with a meticulously observed reality. His animals talk and his children fly, but they perform these miracles in a world where windows stick and the heroine catches cold in the rain. And his artwork has a lushness and love of detail that rivals classicDisney.
In his latest film, "Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service)," Miyazaki reaches new heights of not only physical but psychological realism. His heroine, Kiki, is more than a witch with a shaky command of her broom (she has a distressing habit of bouncing off buildings). She is also a very real 13-year-old girl -- and a better actress of her flesh-and-blood contemporaries.
Miyazaki, who produced, directed and wrote the script for the film, explores states usually considered the province of "live" movies. Besides showing courage and spunk -- standard stuff for a cartoon heroine -- Kiki experiences boredom, depression and embarrassment.
The last is particularly interesting. After spending her first night at the home of a baker and his wife, Kiki wakes up and, still in her nightgown, steps outside. From her second-story room, which opens into a courtyard, she can see an outhouse down below. She trots down the steps, dashes into the outhouse and, a few moments later, peeps out. To her surprise, she sees the baker -- a young, silent giant -- stretching his muscles and walking slowly across the courtyard toward a storeroom. The moment he is out of sight, she runs back up the steps, dives into her room and shuts the door, breathing hard.
This scene does absolutely nothing to advance the plot and the humor in it is low (Disney would reject it out of hand), but in Miyazaki's hands it wordlessly -- and eloquently -- expresses Kiki's youth, vulnerability and isolation. A small triumph of understated but sharp observation, it allows us, for one clear moment, to see into the heart of an adolescent girl.
The movie is sprinkled with similar moments, but it is also very much an entertainment for kids. Here again, Miyazaki is successful, though boys might find Kiki's adventures a little tame. The story is a quest: Kiki's mother, a witch, sends her witch-in-training daughter on a yearlong journey to complete her apprenticeship.
Kiki, after spending a rough night riding through the rain and sleeping in a boxcar, arrives at a city on the seacoast. Here she finds that policemen do not appreciate her aerial acrobatics and that hotels do not accept underage witches.
She is saved from the park bench by a baker's wife, who offers her a room after Kiki helps her return a pacifier (by broom, of course) to a forgetful customer. This gives the baker's wife an idea: Kiki can pay for her room and board by operating a delivery service.
Thus title -- and the premise for much of the action. On her rounds Kiki meets an 18-year-old artist who becomes her best friend, an elderly lady who takes an interest in her welfare and a 13-year-old boy who makes a pest of himself.
These people become a substitute family, one that she needs very much when, midway through her stay, she loses her powers. Her black cat no longer talks to her, her broom no longer rises into the air. Miyazaki's depiction of her struggle to regain those powers is his great achievement in this film, and he shows her desperation, despair -- and eventual triumph -- with striking vividness. He doesn't shy from melodrama, but the most telling scenes tend to be the smaller ones that, like Kiki's race from the outhouse, contain nuggets of emotional truth.
The setting, however, is a complete fiction, with the cultural coherence of shopping bag prose. Kiki's city is a jumble of European styles, with a dash of San Francisco thrown in for good measure. Time is also warped in strange ways: The streets are filled with old-time cars, the houses, with microwave ovens. All of these "mistakes," however, are quite deliberate: They make the city a pleasantly bizarre blend of old-fashioned charm and modern convenience where a young witch with a Walkman hanging from her broom can fit right in.
"Kiki's Delivery Service" is more than a place to park the kids for two hours -- it is a surprisingly moving celebration of the animator's art that deserves a wider audience.
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June 19, 1998
Jay Boyar
Sentinel Movie Critic
'Mulan'
Rating: * * *
[snip]
In fact, I was more impressed by the visual design of Kiki's Delivery Service, an unpretentious animated Japanese feature that Disney reworked for American audiences and which recently played at the Florida Film Festival. It's not nearly as glitzy as Mulan, but its spirit seems fresher and purer.
(Disney, which is releasing Kiki direct-to-video in September, may not realize what it has in that film: Although its appeal is probably mainly for younger children, it deserves a chance in theaters.)
[snip]
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June 13, 1998
A trio of festival treats
Jay Boyar
_Kiki's Delivery Service_ (Four stars out of five)
One of the freshest films for young children to come along in ages is _Kiki's Delivery Service_, a sort of _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_ for thepreschool-and-slightly-above set.
A Japanese production from the acclaimed animator Hayao Miyazaki, it features a new English-language script and familiar, American-sounding voices. Trust me, the kids won't know the difference.
The Kiki of the title is a 13-year-old witch who, according to witch custom, must live apart from her loving family for a year. So she hops on her mother's broom and flies off to seek her fame and fortune in the big city.
With its simple characters and episodic nature, _KDS_ has an unpretentious fairy-tale charm. And despite its fantasy context, it deals with the sort of homey details that small children often really do think about, such as what happens when you miss an appointment and what to do when your clothes get wet.
The beautifully composed animation, with is spacious and gentle colors, is a welcome departure from the usual high-tech visuals of much modern animation. As for the voices, they are entertaining without being overpowering.
Kirsten Dunst (_Jumanji_) is Kiki, Matthew Lawrence (TV's _Boy Meets World_) is a junior aviation buff, Janeane Garofalo is an artist who paints Kiki, and Debbie Reynolds plays a grandmother. The late Phil Hartman once again steals the show: He's the nasal voice of Jiji, Kiki's sarcastic black cat.
Because the film is being released directly to home video on Sept. 1 (through Disney's video division), this festival showing could be your only chance to see it on the big screen. Kids and animation aficionados of all ages, should not let the chance slip away.
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July 17, 1998
Kiki's Delivery Service (Majo No Takkyubin)
(Animated kidpic, Japanese-U.S., color, no rating, 1:43)
By Ken Eisner
SEATTLE (Variety) - The flag-waver for Buena Vista's rollout of nine top Japanese cartoons by Hayao Miyazaki, all revamped for the U.S. market, "Kiki's Delivery Service" is top-drawer kiddie fare for both fans of the exotic and mainstream family audiences.
Nippon's box office champ back in 1989, this breathtaking feature has been given deluxe English-lingo re-recording, led by Kirsten Dunst as a teenage witch-in-training and the late Phil Hartman as her wisecracking cat. (It had a negligible Carl Macek dub job at the beginning of the decade.)
The new video is scheduled for a Sept. 1 launch, having garnered a strong reaction on the festival circuit. The picture's offshore star has never faded -- there are hundreds of Web pages devoted to it, as well as spin-off books, CDs and games -- and there's no reason to believe "Kiki" couldn't inspire similar Stateside frenzy.
For animation buffs, the picture's main pull is extraordinarily detailed backgrounds that rival anything from the heyday of the Mouse House -- an outfit helmer Hayao Miyazaki's Studio Ghibli has routinely trounced in Japan. "Kiki" is remarkable in its conception as well as its visuals: Miyazaki sets the story in a mythical, polyglot Europe of the 1950s -- one, he says, in which WWII never happened. Result is cities and towns that resemble quainter places in Scandinavia, Italy, Japan and the U.S., with mixed-up typography (and iconography) to match. There's also a delightful jumble of sights and sounds -- '30s blimps thrown in with bulbous '40s cars and crude B&W TVs.
Big draw for parents will be the stellar voice cast, starting with Dunst, buoyantly believable as the 13-year-old who must leave home to find her way as a witch. The earnestness of her venture, which involves terrible broomstick takeoffs but unimaginably beautiful flights, is leavened by the presence of Jiji, her ground-hugging black cat. Hartman, who plays Dunst's dad in "Small Soldiers," was given free rein here: since Jiji often talks offscreen, he added about 50% more material to the script, and at least 100% more sarcasm to comments that are unfailingly amusing and often downright hilarious. ("Yes, Kiki, you can fly very high and very fast," the kitty sighs, while turning various shades of green.)
Also notable are Tress MacNeille as Osono, a pregnant baker who gives Kiki a delivery job and a new home in the seaside town of Colico; trouper Debbie Reynolds as an elderly lady helped out of a jam by our heroine; tube kid Matthew Lawrence as Tombo, an aviation-minded boy with a crush on the new witch in town; and Janeane Garofalo as Ursula, a mystical-yet-tough painter who inspires Kiki when her magical powers start to fail. This last blip is the picture's only downside, since it also deprives Jiji of speech for the final fifth of the story.
Overall, this thoroughly delightful tale is stronger on character and texture than on plot, with Miyazaki's masterful use of quiet spaces and expansive moods (especially in flying segs) offering a fresh contrast to hyped-up Yank toons. The picture does peak with one very exciting development, however, when Tombo is trapped on a Hindenburg-type dirigible that threatens to crash into Colico's city center. The thrill factor is also raised by two upbeat folk-rock tunes by newcomer Sydney Forest.
The big-eyed, mostly Caucasoid characters, drawn in typical manga style, may not be to everyone's tastes, but the highly original, color-rich tale is such a self-contained treat, parents won't mind the relentless replays tape will get.
Many folks will also appreciate "Kiki's" gentle tone of empowerment in its portrayal of different generations of women helping to bring out one another's strengths. This female skew hasn't kept boys from embracing the picture wherever it has played. On the other hand, a right-wing group called Concerned Women for America has already protested the picture's importation, accusing Disney of promoting "divination" and denigrating family values. (They cite "Fantasia" and "Peter Pan" as earlier evidence of Uncle Walt's "darker agenda.") At any rate, as part of the Ghibli deal, Disney can't put its logo on, or cut in any way, the nine Miyazaki efforts in the package, which go out under the bland imprimatur of "Animation Celebration." The next spell-caster due here is 1986's "Laputa: Castle in the Sky," which is said to have enough major names on the soundtrack to guarantee wide release.
Voices:
Kiki .......... Kirsten Dunst
Jiji .......... Phil Hartman
Ursula ........ Janeane Garofolo
Tombo ......... Matthew Lawrence
Madame ........ Debbie Reynolds
Osono ......... Tress MacNeille
Barsa ......... Edie McClurg
Mom ........... Kath Soucie
With: Jeff Bennett, Pamela Segall, Debi Derryberry, June Angela, Corey Burton, Lewis Arquette, Fay Dewitt, Susan Hickman, Sherry Lynn, Matt Miller, Scott Menville, Eddie Frierson, John and Julia Demita.
A Buena Vista Home Entertainment presentation of a Studio Ghibli production, in association with Eiko Kadono, Tokuma Shoten, Nippon TV Network. Produced by Hayao Miyazaki. Executive producers, Yasuyoshi Tokuma, Mikihiko Tsuzuki, Morihisa Takagi. U.S. version executive produced by Jane Schonberger.
Directed, written by Hayao Miyazaki, based on a book by Eiko Kadono. U.S. version adapted by John Semper, Jack Fletcher, with voices cast and directed by Fletcher. Camera (color), Shigeo Sudimura; editor, Takeshi Seyama; music, Joe Hisaishi, Paul Chihara, Sydney Forest; production designer, Hiroshi Ono; character designer, Katsuya Kondo; sound (Dolby), Shuji Inoue, Ernie Sheesley; special effects, Kaoru Tanifuji; associate producer, Toshio Suzuki; assistant director, Sinao Katabuchi. Reviewed at Seattle Film Festival, June 14, 1998.
Reuters/Variety ^REUTERS@
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August 14, 1998
[Image of Kiki with caption: Kiki's voice is provided by Kirsten Dunst -- and there's no singing. ]
Kiki's Delivery Service.
Directed and written by Hayao Miyazaki.
Voices:
Kiki....Kirsten Dunst
Jiji....Phil Hartman
Madame....Debbie Reynolds
Ursula....Janeane Garofalo
Tombo....Matthew Lawrence
Three Stars (out of 4)
When it absolutely, positively doesn't have to be there.
MPAA rating: G.
Running time: 1 hour, 35 minutes.
Bewitching 'Kiki' sweeps
away cartoon cliche
By Frank Gabrenya
Dispatch Film Critic
Aug. 14, 1998
Even as feature animation has grown common and popular, a slavish compliance to formula is making most of it look alike.
You know the drill: A hero or heroine sings about achieving his/her destiny; a cackling villain sings of the joys of evil; small, comical allies run into walls but keep the hero/heroine on course; the villain is defeated in a climactic battle cribbed from old movie serials; a sympathetic character is thought dead but, no!, he/she/it survives; a power ballad is warbled over the closing credits.
The eras and locales change, but the story travels a well-beaten path. Disney created the mold, and now even its rivals are loath to break it.
How refreshing, then, to find an animated feature with virtually none of the tired elements.
Kiki's Delivery Service, a movie as unlikely as its title, ignores the recipe. It has no strutting villain. The heroine doubts herself but doesn't burst into song about it. In fact -- and this borders on the seditious -- none of the characters sing.
Kiki's Delivery Service was made in Japan, where animation has been booming for years. And it was made in the late '80s, before the Disney formula had become animated law.
The movie is the work of Hayao Miyazaki, whose 1986 feature Laputa: Castle in the Sky is a landmark work in the current boom of animated fantasy in Japan.
Disney's home-video arm is bringing Miyazaki's work to America, beginning with a Sept. 1 release of Kiki's Delivery Service and a 1999 release of Laputa (the title now shortened to Castle in the Sky).
When it comes to Miyazaki, though, Columbus' Drexel theaters are ahead of everyone. The Drexel North screened Laputa in 1990 and played another Miyazaki feature, My Neighbor Totoro, as part of a Japanese animation festival in 1993. Now the Drexel has snatched up Kiki's Delivery Service for a rare American theatrical run before it hits video.
Even by Japanese standards, the story is refreshingly mellow. Kiki is a young witch who, according to witchly custom, leaves her loving home on her 13th birthday to find her place in society. Flying on her broom, accompanied by her skittish black cat Jiji (who talks to her young master), Kiki soars up the coast until she discovers a scenic village.
Kiki's mission is to find a place to live and do good with her powers. She decides to provide a delivery service -- for small parcels only, considering she has to carry them while straddling a flying broom.
She attracts the attention of Tombo, a Waldo look-alike with a passion for flying, and gains inspiration from Ursula, a reclusive painter who sees extraordinary beauty in the little witch.
A pair of crises unfold: A dirigible crashes into the sea beyond the town, and Kiki loses her confidence -- and with it her ability to fly. At no time do conventional villains with long mustaches barge in to take over.
The movie is full of surprising touches. People accept witches matter-of-factly, as if every town has one. The village looks more Bavarian than Japanese; of course, most of the characters have the big, round eyes common in Japanese animation.
Disney has westernized the movie with a re-recorded soundtrack, featuring familiar voices. Kirsten Dunst provides a perfectly innocent voice as Kiki, and the late Phil Hartman gets most of the laughs as her complaining cat. (Two innocuous background songs have been added but are easily ignored.)
American children, spoiled by the endless spectacle of today's animated features, may find Kiki a bit low-key. Kiki may be a witch, but she can't conjure spells or produce magic with a twitch of her nose; all she does is fly.
But that's a big part of the movie's charm. While the sensation of extreme height (a trademark of Japanese animation) can be breathtaking, the story's essence is in the down-to-earth charity of strangers helping a homeless waif, of a little girl creating her niche in life. Gentleness replaces bombast.
Miyazaki's animation is stiffer than
Disney's process (half as many drawings per second), but Kiki's
Delivery Service is loaded with humanity and heart.
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September 4, 1998
[image of Kiki and Jiji with caption
"BROOM WITH A VIEW / Will Kiki's sorceress work magic in the
U.S.?"]
SPECIAL 'DELIVERY'
A Disney package deal brings the first of
nine animated national treasuresfrom Japan to video
By Ty Burr
The cassette box may make it look like just another kiddie
cartoon, but if you see 'Kiki's Delivery Service' (1998, Buena
Vista, G, $12.99) at the video store, pounce. Beyond that
innocent cover lies not only an extraordinary film but the
culmination of a five-year saga in which Walt Disney has
endeavored to bring the work of reclusive animator Hayao Miyazaki
(known to some, ironically, as the Walt Disney of Japan) to U.S.
audiences.
To date, only two of Miyazaki's painstakingly crafted films have
been theatrically released in English: 1984's 'Warriors of the
Wind' was a butchered version of his 1984 breakthrough 'Nausica·of the Valley of the Wind', and while the 1993 U.S.
release of 'My Neighbor Totoro' (1988) was well dubbed, Miyazaki
was still reportedly unhappy with the results.
[image of Miyazaki]
On the basis of 'Kiki', the first, and most family-friendly, of
the films to hit tape as part of this new deal, Miyazaki can rest
easy. Far from rushing out a quickie dubbed version, Disney
enlisted the vocal talents of Kirsten Dunst (as the winsome
teenage witch of the title), Janeane Garofalo, Debbie Reynolds,
and, in one of his last roles, Phil Hartman as Kiki's feline
companion, Jiji.
The next film to see tape here will be 'Castle in the Sky'
(1986), a far more ambitious fusing of action and mythology. And
'Princess Mononoke', the 1997 Miyazaki feature that was Japan's
all-time top-grossing film until 'Titanic' came along, will get a
U.S. theatrical release in 1999 and feature the voices of Claire
Danes, Gillian Anderson, and Minnie Driver. Only one question
remains: Are American audiences ready for films that, as the
director once said in a rare interview, try to express the idea
that "the world is profound, manifold, and beautiful"?
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