Kiki’s Delivery Service

image for Kiki’s Delivery Service

Short takes

Not suitable under 4; parental guidance to 5 (themes)

Age
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This topic contains:

  • overall comments and recommendations
  • details of classification and consumer advice lines for Kiki’s Delivery Service
  • a review of Kiki’s Delivery Service completed by the Australian Council on Children and the Media (ACCM) on 27 October 2025.

Overall comments and recommendations

Children under 4 Not suitable due to themes.
Children aged 4–5 Parental guidance recommended due to themes.
Children aged 6 and over Ok for this age group.

About the movie

This section contains details about the movie, including its classification by the Australian Government Classification Board and the associated consumer advice lines. Other classification advice (OC) is provided where the Australian film classification is not available.

Name of movie: Kiki’s Delivery Service
Classification: G
Consumer advice lines: The content is very mild in impact
Length: 103 minutes

ACCM review

This review of the movie contains the following information:

A synopsis of the story

Kiki (voice of Kirsten Dunst) is an enthusiastic, 13-year-old witch-in-training, who sets off on a traditional rite of passage – to live on her own, for a year, in a new town. With her talking black cat Jiji (voice of Phil Hartman) by her side, Kiki sets off on this new adventure and soon settles in a witch-less, seaside city. Finding lodging above a bakery, Kiki starts a flying delivery service using her broomstick. As she navigates the challenges of adulthood and struggles to fit in and find friends, Kiki experiences both the thrill of independence as well as the torment of self-doubt. When she suddenly begins to lose her magical powers, Kiki must confront her insecurities and regain her confidence in order to reclaim her abilities. It takes a disaster for Kiki to rechannel her magic but in demonstrating her differences, she proves her worth – not only to the people of the city but most importantly to herself.

Themesinfo

Children and adolescents may react adversely at different ages to themes of crime, suicide, drug and alcohol dependence, death, serious illness, family breakdown, death or separation from a parent, animal distress or cruelty to animals, children as victims, natural disasters and racism. Occasionally reviews may also signal themes that some parents may simply wish to know about.

Loneliness and isolation, Self-doubt; Growing apart; Loss of confidence and identity.

Use of violenceinfo

Research shows that children are at risk of learning that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution when violence is glamourised, performed by an attractive hero, successful, has few real life consequences, is set in a comic context and / or is mostly perpetrated by male characters with female victims, or by one race against another.

Repeated exposure to violent content can reinforce the message that violence is an acceptable means of conflict resolution. Repeated exposure also increases the risks that children will become desensitised to the use of violence in real life or develop an exaggerated view about the prevalence and likelihood of violence in their own world.

There is some violence in this movie, including:

  • Kiki is nearly hit by a bus as she flies into traffic when approaching the city.
  • Kiki is nearly hit by a car while crossing the street.
  • Kiki crashes into a tree when a big gust of wind blows her off course. Crows attack her and her broomstick, pecking at her arms and picking at the straw.
  • Jiji must pretend to be a toy while a little boy plays roughly with him, shaking him back and forth.
  • Kiki and a friend are nearly hit by a car while riding on a bike. They fly over an embankment and crash onto the grass below, damaging the bike.
  • A giant blimp is upended by strong winds. People try to cling to it, to keep it in place but it crashes into a camera-van and lifts off the ground with a boy holding onto it.
  • A car crashes into a fountain.
  • The blimp crashes into a clock tower and a nearby building. The boy holding it falls off and Kiki catches him just in time.

Material that may scare or disturb children

Under fiveinfo

Children under five are most likely to be frightened by scary visual images, such as monsters, physical transformations.

  • Nothing further noted.

Aged five to eightinfo

Children aged five to eight will also be frightened by scary visual images and will also be disturbed by depictions of the death of a parent, a child abandoned or separated from parents, children or animals being hurt or threatened and / or natural disasters.

  • Nothing further noted.

Product placement

  • None noted.

Sexual references

  • None noted.

Nudity and sexual activity

There is some nudity and sexual activity in this movie, including:

  • Kiki’s dress occasionally blows up around her legs and exposes her underwear.

Use of substances

  • None noted.

Coarse language

There is some coarse language in this movie, including:

  • Stupid
  • Snob
  • Shut up!

In a nutshell

Kiki’s Delivery Service is an English dubbed, Japanese anime film directed by Hayao Miyazaki. It is a fantasy/coming-of-age style film that features lush backgrounds, a slow plot and gentle characters. Suitable for most ages, it will likely be best enjoyed by female audiences and fans of Studio Ghibli.

The main messages from this movie are to believe in yourself and to find your own inspiration.

Values in this movie that parents may wish to reinforce with their children include:

  • Kindness
  • Resilience
  • Compassion
  • Courage
  • Independence
  • Friendship.

This movie could also give parents the opportunity to discuss with their children the importance of dealing with self-doubt and burnout in a productive and positive way.