I’ve always liked Disney Ghibli movies and I love seeing how close they are to the books that inspired them. I did this with Howl’s Moving Castle and since I recently bought a pretty edition of Kiki’s Delivery Service I decided to do this again. I won’t be spoiling either book or movie in case you haven’t seen or read it.
While the movie stayed true to the main plot of the book (a witch must leave home after her 13th birthday and live in a town for a year by herself/work), the movie through in some extra plot points that made sense but took away from the super cozy vibe that the book had. The movie added more of a boy named Tombo in it, which I would have liked except he was more annoying than in the book. His and Kiki’s first meeting was way different and I liked the book one more.
The deliveries Kiki makes were different too. While some of the same people were in both, the deliveries were different still. The book also had more in them too. I did like Kiki’s mom better in the movie than the book. She seems a lot harsher in the book.
The ending of the book was way better though. The movie had to end that way because of the extra plot point they threw in, but the true ending was so sweet and wholesome.
Overall, both the book and movie were great but they are different. I’d recommend reading the book first so you can really see the differences in the stories.
Thank you so much for reading! Until next time.