Portal:Studio Ghibli/Selected feature films/4

Kiki's Delivery Service (魔女の宅急便, Majo no Takkyūbin, "Witch's Delivery Service") is a 1989 Japanese animated fantasy film produced by Studio Ghibli. It was written, produced and directed by Hayao Miyazaki as an adaptation of the 1985 novel of the same name by Eiko Kadono. The film features the voices of Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma and Kappei Yamaguchi, and tells the story of a young witch, Kiki (Takayama), as she moves to a town with her talking black cat, using her flying ability to earn a living. According to Miyazaki, the movie touches on the gulf between independence and reliance in teenage Japanese girls.

Kiki's Delivery Service was released in Japan on July 29, 1989, and won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize. It was the first Studio Ghibli film released under the distribution partnership between The Walt Disney Company and Studio Ghibli; Walt Disney Pictures recorded an English dub in 1997, which premiered theatrically in the United States at the Seattle International Film Festival on May 23, 1998. The film was released on home video in the U.S. and Canada on September 1, 1998. It received very positive reviews from critics worldwide.