I purchased the Disney version of Kiki's Delivery Service today.  Just
finished watching it.  Here are my thoughts.

WARNING!  SPOILERS FOLLOW!  READ AT YOUR OWN PERIL!


The voice talent was good, far and away the best I've ever seen in a dub.
No one was wooden or unnatural.  There were quite a few dialogue changes, of
course.  Disney made them, of course, to get around some of the more blatant
cultural differences, and to find filler for the extra mouth movements.
Also, I noticed one small cut, a scene that ended a little sooner in the
dub.

When I first saw the subtitle (thanks, Zen!), I thought Jiji was a female
cat.  That was mostly because the voice actress was female, of course, and
made no effort to sound "male".  So it was a little startling to hear Phil
Hartman's obviously male voice coming from Jiji's mouth.  The dialogue
changes and Hartman's voice made Jiji into a much more sarcastic, negative
cat than I remember from the subtitle.

A somewhat major plot point they changed is that at the end when Jiji is
fighting his way through the crowd to leap onto Kiki's shoulder, he says
something.  So he goes back to speaking.  I don't know how to feel about
that; it depends on how you interpret the reason for Kiki losing the ability
to understand him.  If you think it was because she lost confidence in her
powers, then regaining that confidence means that she should be able to
understand him again.  If you think that Jiji gave up being Kiki's familiar
so that he could mate with Lily, then she should never be able to understand
him again.  I somewhat favor the former notion, only because during the
ending credits we see Jiji's offspring cavorting around Kiki's broom, with
Jiji holding on to a string tied to the young kitten.  That would seem to
imply that Jiji has regained the intelligence he had as Kiki's familiar.

I was going to recommend that my friend buy this movie for his four-year-old
daughter.  I may have to revise that; this is a very slow movie for the
under-six set.

During the "Previews" section, Disney showed scenes from the next Miyazaki
movie they'll be releasing in 1999.  "Castle in the Sky", they call it.

This movie moved me, as it always does.  It's a subtle movie, which I like
very much.  The final rescue scene is, of course, a bit contrived and
awfully convenient, the weakest part of the movie.  But I'm willing to
forgive that because I like the rest of the movie so much.  I've always
wanted to write a Kiki fanfic - several ideas have been floating through my
head for months - but I've never attempted it.  Frankly, I don't want to
spoil the magical mood the movie always leaves me in.  Any fanfic I'd write
would have to recapture that magic to be worthy, and, honestly, I'm not that
good.  :)

The movie was dedicated to the memory of Phil Hartman, which was a very nice
touch.

Anyway, I recommend that everyone - even dub-haters - get this movie, if
only to see a dub done right.  I'm sure purists will rant and rave at the
changes, but I think Disney did a marvelous job at making this bit of anime
accessible to everyone.  And I hope a widescreen DVD version becomes
available one day; someone create a petition or something.  :)

<sigh>  Okay, enough.  Gonna bask in the post-Miyazaki glow for a bit.  ^_^

-Richard