My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)

MY NEIGHBOURS THE YAMADAS is a completely atypical movie for Studio Ghibli and probably their most unusual movie to date. The hand-drawn animation seems crude compared to the more elaborate outings directed by Miyazaki, but the simpleness of cartoon characters does grow on you as the film goes on.Essentially, this is a series of comic vignettes showing the various misadventures of an ordinary family living in Japan. Although there are a few fantasy sequences as the characters imagine themselves floating through the air or going on wild adventures, for the most part it's humdrum and realistic. The humour comes from the ditzy characters and the things they get up to, particularly the crazy old grandmother.Those looking for plots about saving the world or battles between heroes and villains are likely to be disappointed by the ordinariness of this one, the matter-of-fact way the film develops and the distinct lack of any kind of storyline. However, I found it quietly charming in its own unique way, and it's certainly a distinctive movie, so there are things to recommend it - if you know what to expect beforehand and prepare your mindset accordingly to take a step back and just enjoy the minutiae of everyday life.

When I first started watching the movie and I saw the way it was drawn - colored pencil style, I thought it is some sort of children thing and I would not like it. But the minimalistic animation works very well for this film, which shows the everyday life of a Japanese family. They are not very smart, good looking or have anything special. They are forgetful, self centered and lazy. But they have each other and they are happy. That's a beautiful message in a world dominated by heroes, celebrity and egotism.One might not like one thing, that the story is merely descriptive. There is no "end" to it, just a funny enumeration of family moments. I enjoyed it, though. The speech at the beginning, from the woman advising the newlyweds what life is and how they should spend it together is both funny, mostly true and descriptive of the rest of the film. The part with "life is hard when you are alone, but even two losers can go through life if they are together" cracked me up, as well as the part with "have children, it will help you appreciate your parents; they will come and take care of them for you from time to time".The bottom line is that this is a movie that families should watch together. It would relieve the pressure of never appearing to make mistakes, trying to be a perfect whatever and missing the joy of life. Now, it's too late for my family, but this film may be a way to screw up your children less.So, while this would not be for everyone, The Yamadas is one of those Studio Ghibli animes that makes you have warm feelings.

What an amazing movie! I was not expecting it! The story is a very simple one, I would even say this movie has an"episodic" nature because it tells the daily-life chronicles of the Yamadas, some shorter, some longer. However its never dull or boring, all these episodes in the Yamadas' lives felt interesting, funny and refreshing one after another, switching the spotlight of the family members in each one.The art style is very unusual, sketchy and fits the story incredibly well. It's undoubtfully different than your standard anime visuals, but beautifully hand-drawn nonetheless. I really liked it.The characters are all superb! To the serious, old fashioned and wise grandma who still thinks she has a lot to give, to the hard-working, day-dreamer and misunderstood father who dreams about breaking the routine and to be acknowledged by his family (that in fact he really cares about). They all have a lot to give and to show through the movie and are constantly being put into ordinary daily-life tasks and obstacles while dealing with them in their very unique and hilarious way.Overall this movie is nothing more and nothing less than a very funny slice of life, with different and refreshing visuals, superb characters and filled with very interesting and thoughtful scenes (Being the scenes with the Father the best and most enjoyable ones for me ^^). The worst thing about entertainment is getting into it expecting a lot and being disappointed. On the other hand, the best thing about it, is getting into it expecting nothing... and ending utterly amused! For me "My Neighbors the Yamadas" was the best example of that, it was just that great.If you like light-hearted comedies or a good slice of life and are opened to unusual art, then by all means, watch this lesser-known Ghibli by the genius director Takahata!

Perhaps this film is something that loses something in the translation when a non-Japanese person watches it, but my daughter and I were completely bored by this film. And, considering that I love Japanese live-action films (I've seen hundreds) and she grew up reading and enjoying manga/anime, this says something--as we both wanted to love this film.MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS is apparently based on a four-panel comic strip and therein might lie much of the problem with the movie. Because of the structure of a comic strip, it doesn't always translate well to a full-length film. Perhaps it might have done better as a TV series or short film. Instead, it was very disjoint--with no real theme or plot. Instead, it's almost like reading a long book of comic strips--fun for a while but only for a while. At 103 minutes, it really became slow going.Now there were things I liked about the film despite its overall dullness. At times, the film was funny--with a few cute little vignettes. Also, while some might not like the minimalist art style, I did. It was bright, colorful and unique. Too bad the story itself wasn't.Overall, not one of the better films from Studio Gibli--in particular, I don't think American audiences would enjoy this film. It's just too long and the payoff for watching it is way too little.By the way, the version we watched was the Japanese language version with subtitles. The translation, at times, was a bit broad but usually we choose this over dubbed versions--and on the DVD you can watch either.