Kiki's Delivery Service (1989)
I really liked My Neighbor Totoro but didn’t connect much with Spirited Away, so I decided to go back to the 80s for my third Miyazaki film.
Needless to say the animation and drawing are beautiful as always. The whole vibe of the world feels friendly and cozy. There are a ton of animated coming of age stories, and I liked how the approach here is to show a young girl in her first regular everyday job and how she tries to just do well there. Dealing with customers and even to an extent trying to form a work-life balance of sorts. It is all very mundane with the added mystery that she is a witch flying on a broom.
I have nothing really to critize it for but not much that moved or excited me. It is all very straightforward and fine, but not with as much poetry to the storytelling as I felt with both Mt Neighbor Totoro and Spirited Away.
Rating: 3.5