It's on days like these when you crave to watch something to escape reality. A story that makes you feel fully immersed in a magical world. Well, I got the two perfect movies for that.
First, we start with Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989). A Japanese animated film by Hayao Miyazaki adapted from a novel written by Eiko Kadono. It’s the story of a young witch that begins a new chapter in her life where she has to learn to become independent while training to be better at her talent as a witch: flying. She moves to a new town, and thanks to her ability, she finds a job doing deliveries for a bakery. She also makes new friends, gets her own place, and basically learns to be a responsible adult at only 13.
Then, we have Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. The first chapter of the fantastic saga created by J.K. Rowling. adapted for the screen. In this story, we have a young wizard with magical abilities who also had to leave home and become independent at a young age. In the process of learning to master his abilities, he also makes new friends, finds a new home, and learns to grow very fast.
They are similar because they are both stories about growing up, the importance of friendship, and finding yourself while living in a magical world. Kiki’s Delivery Service, however, is more simple, innocent. and heart-warming than Harry Potter. There’s not much explanation about the magical world and why she has such powers, although I suspect it’s similar to Harry Potter: you inherit them. Kiki’s mother was also a witch and potions were her specialty. In Harry Potter, we learned that Harry’s parents were both wizards, although it’s also possible to have magical powers even when your parents don’t.
Both main characters are helped by the friends they make along the way. In Kiki’s, those friends are Osono, Tombo, Ursula, and her cat Jiji. Harry had Ron, Hermione, Hagrid, and his owl Hedwig among others. J.K. Rowling once explained that the death of Hedwig was a symbol of Harry’s losing his innocence, and even though they are stories by different authors, I feel that perhaps Kiki losing the ability to understand Jiji was also a symbol of growing up.
These movies are both equally entertaining, charming, and inspiring, with stunning visuals and cinematography. In the end, it doesn’t matter if you are 5 or 80, because you are going to wish you were a witch or a wizard living in those fantasy worlds.
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