User Reviews

This is one of the less well known Studio Ghibli films which is a shame as it is delightful and rather funny. Unlike most films their is no real plot, in fact there is no story arc at all, just a series vignettes showing incidents in the lives of the eponymous Yamada family. Some of these like the one where they leave Nonoko, the young daughter, at the shopping mall go on for several minutes and others such as the very funny part where son Noboru has what his parents think is his first glass of sake are under a minute long.

As with Isao Takahata's other Ghibli films this will probably appeal to adults far more than children; while it doesn't contain anything unsuitable for youngsters I suspect they might find the subject matter boring. The animation style is totally different from any other Ghibli film or indeed any other animation I can think of. The computer animation looks like a water-coloured comic strip, with fair less detail than usual; this might make it sound inferior but it actually works surprisingly well for the subject matter.

While the episodes are humorous they are almost all the sort of things that could happen in any family, the only ones that aren't are fantasies such as the father imagining himself to be a masked super hero or illustrative such as the charming opening where we see the family taking a fairly fantastical journey. I certainly recommend this for any older Ghibli fans.

These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999) follows the simple yet comical lives and adventures of the family of five; the characters are quite adorable and some of the vignettes are just so funny. This beautiful pastel colored film full of family gag is never shy to depict the antics of the characters and the daily crisis of family lives. The condition of the family may look difficult but it is not completely dysfunctional as they lived happily together.

The first thing that comes to my mind is that this film has an impressive artwork. Its visual style is not just different from most of the Studio Ghibli productions but most of the animated features produced around the world which makes it really unique. It's really amazing to watch how short and simple comic strips can turn into a feature film by a series of vignettes.

However, this film lacks a vital storyline that could connect all of the vignettes. As a whole, it may feel lengthy if it has moved to the ones that doesn't make you laugh or keeps you interested. Nonetheless, it is a recommended watch if you loved comedies, family- themed or slice of life films. Although most of the scenes are usually amusing, they also come with important underlying messages for you to discover.

PS. What would happen if Nonoko meets Shinnosuke, say, kindergarten transfer? ;)

This is an adorable collection of short vignettes of the Yamada family. The story and art style are delightful. This is a "light" movie, and almost feels like a TV show at some times, but I found the connection between the vignettes to be compelling.

Of all the movies Studio Ghibli has produced, MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS could probably be the most unconventional of them all. This family comedy feels like a very jarring change of pace for director Isao Takahata, the man who gave us a heartbreaker in GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES and a decidedly foreign yet compelling drama in POM POKO.

For one thing, the feature is not--I repeat, IS NOT--plot-oriented. It comes across as a series of individual skits involving the titular family in their day-to-day life. The lack of a narrative may put off people beforehand, but doing so could very well deprive you of a most delightful--and refreshingly original--viewing experience. Watching how the Yamadas interact and go about life is every bit as poignant, funny, and off-the-walls as real family life can be; not only are we treated to disputes on who gets to watch TV, but we get to see stories such as the youngest sister, Nonoko, getting accidentally left behind at a shopping mall and all the trouble her parents go to in order to find her. The movie also relishes in silliness and surrealism--especially in the sequences where Mr. Yamada imagines himself as a superhero rescuing his wife and mother-in-law from crooks and the showclosing "Que Sara Sara", where the family floats through the sky on balloons. All these random events unfold at a roller coaster pace.

What I enjoyed most about the movie was the way it looks and sounds. For YAMADAS, the animation is produced in a newspaper comic strip style, which, given that this is what the movie was based on, is an ingenious match for its nature. Simplistic scribblings straight out of a serial fill the screen with a charm that is utterly irresistible. The catchy, tuneful score adds to the essence of the whimsical atmosphere. Employing bits of famous classical pieces on the soundtrack (such as Mahler's First Symphony, Mendelssohn's Wedding March, and Leopold Mozart's Toy Symphony) is a very inspiring touch.

There was only one thing about the movie that I found very confusing: at the end of most of the "segments" present in the film, we see what appears to be a quote taken from various poets. I was also unclear about the "pachinko" references, and the scene where Mr. Yamada is throwing cards down for his family left me puzzled. This is obviously a film steeped in Japanese culture--and one that is more likely to be understood by a Japanese speaking audience.

Which brings me to the biggest problem I have with the Disney dub: while English script writers Eric Garcia and Leo Chu earn points for attempting to remain as faithful to the original material as possible, they do so in exchange for making any effort in presenting this story to a wider audience who would be otherwise unfamiliar with the heavy references to Japanese culture. That alone makes MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS the weakest of the Disney-Ghibli dubs I have heard thus far.

This is not to say that the dub isn't worth watching, however--on the contrary. While the script lacks coherency in places--although the writing is very amusing and very entertaining overall--I have no problems with Disney's selection of actors to record the voices. The incomparable James Belushi takes on the role of Mr. Yamada with exuberance and enthusiasm, and Molly Shannon voices his wife, Mrs. Yamada, with just the right mixture of sweetness and no-nonsense demeanor; the scene where Mr. and Mrs. Yamada argue over who gets to watch the TV is delivered with dead-on comic timing and believability--making this moment one of the dub's best moments. Young child performers Daryl Sabara and Liliana Mumy play the Yamada siblings, Noboru and Nonoko, whose interactions are so natural that you'll swear that they recorded their lines together--which, as a matter of fact, they did!... well, for the cookie scene, anyway. Tress MacNeille, a multi-talented voice actress best known for roles in shows such as TINY TOON ADVENTURES and ANIMANIACS, has been cast in many of the Studio Ghibli English productions, and it is a treat to hear her in another--she nails the crotchety old Grandma Shige to a T and beyond. David Ogden Stiers makes a brief appearance in the movie as well, narrating the titles of the various "segments" in addition to the verses displayed at the end of each episode.

Steeped in heavy references to Japanese culture and atypical of animated features mainstream viewers are used to, MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS may have a hard time finding its audience; the film was not a great success in Japan, and at this point it is hard to tell whether it will suffer the same fate in America. However, it is highly unlikely that folks seeking creativity and something different from the norm will go wrong by discovering this delightfully inventive and charming film.

This is a very different show then what Studio Ghibli has done before, talking more about a regular family and not having a continuing plot. In my mind, this could have been a couple of 15 minute shorts more then a actual movie and it probably would of done a bit better since as I watched, I became very confused. They time skip a lot making it sometimes hard to figure out where we are in the story but then there are things that really don't need a time too.

The characters really don't have anything that actually makes them stand out. They are just a generalization of a mother, a father, and family. There really isn't much that goes in the sense of there own personality and that did really bother me. I wanted some substance in them, not grasping at straws to feel closer to the characters. To me, that really felt boring and it became like me trying to force myself to watch the whole thing. Normally I could actually grasp at someone in the story and relate to them like the older sibling but this one just seemed off.

The art style is very different then Ghibli's work as well, going for pastel colors and artwork that doesn't really fill up the whole screen most of the time. In fact, most of the border areas feel like the artwork blends off into white. It feels much like a comic strip art piece like in the paper rather then a full film. It stays mostly in the real world instead of going into any crazy ideas yet in the beginning and end has a sort of surreal look about being a family as they talk about a poem that deals with life. That was the most interesting part to me actually and it was pretty cool that they started out that strong and ended in the same manner although it made me feeling like I wanted more of that then the other real life stuff.

The English voices are really well done, adding to the whole feeling of family but I wouldn't expect less from Disney when they get their hands on a cute little show like this. Nonoko is a very believable 5 year old and sounds so cute. The show itself takes things rather literal and I believe that is because we are in the mind of this little girl and how she sees her life. The English dub really does add to this idea that we are seeing everything from the 5 year olds aspects. Plus the fact that Nanoko does not show up all that often. There are times that it deals with her but then there are many times that it is only the parents, son, and Grandmother.

The show might have been alright but it really isn't the best Ghibli film in my opinion. It was slow and very slice of life-ish that it was hard to watch.

Miyazaki and Gao Tianxun's long-term partner, known as the master of the master's side, he is particularly good at portraying the city of small people.The delicate life between ordinary people presents a fresh and cheerful appearance in his writings, sometimes with a little bit of subtle sadness and loneliness. The 1999 animated film next door, shantianjun, is based on a beloved four-frame comic book.It describes the daily life of an ordinary Japanese family: a working father and a neglectful mother, a tough grandmother, an adolescent brother and a little sister.(They grow out of cabbages, the crane, Momotaro, Teruyoshi), and a dog.When they live together, happiness and noise always fill every day, and every corner. "The Yamada-kun next door" is full of a warm family atmosphere, which is a casual and fun family comedy. "Thousands of such families are right next to your house, and they make up this society."You will laugh with the family next door, and you will be anxious or happy with them, and you will sing with them.Even you will unconsciously feel that it is your home, you have just hung clothes in its yard, and a pot of soup has been cooked on the stove.Now, you just want to go out to buy things, so you go to the doorway to change your shoes, look up and see that there is an umbrella missing in the umbrella basket.All this is so familiar, because it is every day we have to meet the trivial days.Takada Xun uses colored pencils and watercolors to pave the way for the whole animation, and adds the beautiful haiku of Matsuo Basho, Mountain Fire and Xiewucun.This makes the original ordinary family life and spring, summer, autumn and winter reincarnation linked, more rich color. Life is within the season, but emotion is outside the season.