“Kiki’s Delivery Service” drops back into Petaluma

Fans of Japanese animation master Hayao Miyasaki are a vocal bunch, and every one of them has a favorite film produced by his Studio Ghibli over the years. For many, it’s the first Miyasaki film they ever saw, the entirety of their movie-going lives divided into two halves: everything they saw before they were introduced to the works of Studio Ghibli and everything that came after.

For this particular writer, that defining moment “Kiki’s Delivery Service.”

But back to that in a moment.

Starting last month with 1988’s “My Neighbor Totoro,” the cinematic “special screening” company Fathom Events has launched a monthly Studio Ghibli Festival, bringing the best of Hayao Miyasaki to neighborhood movie theaters all over the country. The series, which is being run locally at Petaluma’s Boulevard Cinema, takes place the third weekend of each month, with a Sunday afternoon screening featuring a different Ghibli film dubbed into English, and a Monday evening screening of the same film in Japanese, with subtitles.

On Sunday, July 23 at 12:55 p.m. and Monday, July 24 at 7 p.m., it’s “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” praised by Roger Ebert as one of the best animated films ever (See sidebar for full list of upcoming Studio Ghibli special events).

Released in Japan in 1989, “Kiki” is an intimate, inventive, stunningly beautiful fantasy film – created with hand-drawn animation that still looks dazzling after all these years. The story was adapted from the 1985 book by Eiko Kadono. First released in America with subtitles, most Americans’ were not introduced to it until Walt Disney Studios began distributing the Miyasaki films, in dubbed versions. In the Disney release, Kiki is voiced by Kirsten Dunst, and Jiji, her black cat “familiar,” is voiced by comedian Phil Hartman. It was his last film, as he died not long after recording the part, and the film’s credits were altered to include a dedication to Hartman.

What’s most notable about the movie is its pre-Hogwarts view of witchcraft and magic as a benign and mostly empowering pathway to maturity and independence. Kiki is a resourceful and resilient young witch with the ability to fly - and yes, she uses a broom.

After moving to a new town, Kiki starts a delivery service, but eventually loses her confidence after a series of setbacks. Exactly how Kiki regains her determination, learning to care about the needs of others, and eventually finding her true calling, is an adventure that is surprisingly rich with emotion, every frame crammed of gorgeously nuanced detail.

The opportunity to see “Kiki” on the big screen should draw broom-loads of fans to the theater, and could turn the third weekend of the month into a standing Ghibli party, from now to the final screening, of “Howl’s Moving Castle,” in November.