In this film from Hayao Miyazaki, Kiki is a teenage witch with a talking cat (Sabrina inspiration?) who leaves her family and embarks on a journey to practice her witchcraft out in the world. While the English versions of Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle suited me just fine, the celebrity voices in this one were distracting (notably Phil Hartman) so we switched the subtitled Japanese version. Even though the main character was a witch, this film was much more grounded in reality than Miyazaki's other films. While I really liked the story and the characters, the somewhat older and stale animation puts this one a notch below Howl and Spirited Away. (10/22/2009)