My Neighbors the Yamadas (1999)

• Year: 1999
• Released: 22 Dec 2000
• Country: Japan
• Adwords: N/A
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0206013/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/my_neighbors_the_yamadas
• Metacritics:
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: Japanese
• MPA Rating: PG
• Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
• Runtime: 104 min
• Writer: Hisaichi Ishii, Isao Takahata, Leo Chu
• Director: Isao Takahata
• Cast: Yukiji Asaoka, Tôru Masuoka, Masako Araki
• Keywords: middle class, based on comic, surrealism, dysfunctional family, urban setting, cult film,

	7.1/10
	75/100
	78% – Critics
	75% – Audience

My Neighbors the Yamadas Storyline

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family in urban Tokyo and this film shows us a variety of episodes of their lives. With tales that range from the humourous to the heartbreaking, we see this family cope with life’s little conflicts, problems and joys in their own way.—Kenneth Chisholm

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My Neighbors the Yamadas Movie Reviews

A delightful film for older Ghibli fans

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.

Different and delightful

I do not think this is Studio Ghibli’s best film, but I liked it because it was different and it still maintained their charm. I do think though out of the English dubs this is one of the weaker ones. Don’t get me wrong the voice acting is fine, it’s just that the script as has been said before has many references that some mayn’t get. That said, it is a very funny and charming film. The animation is excellent, different in a sketchy sort of style but I liked that, and the music is cool. The story is engaging while working at being simple, and the characters are sheer delights, I can never get enough of the grandma. Overall, not their best but I still really liked it. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Universally funny. Still this is “Grave of the Fireflies” director’s work !

This is a Studio Ghibli movie: The Totoro is displayed at the opening, and the animation is very well done. There end all similarities. The word to describe it is “different”. Different graphics, different animation, different kind of story… Nothing my knowledge of previous Ghibli films could have prepared me to see. Especially coming from the director of such films as “Hotaru no Haka” (aka “Grave of the Fireflies”)

When seeing the very first pictures, I wondered what these drawings were, so far from the characters I got used to see, and like… And then, the magic of its humor took me. The auditorium was fully filled (some people had to sit on the stairs), and everyone was laughing out loud, having no problem at all to follow the jokes (the movie was subtitled) even if we may have missed a few of them, due to a possible lack in cultural knowledge. Yet, I don’t think I missed so much… This Yamada family is close enough to us, and their behavior seemed rather universal to me.

I spent a great time watching it… But I have perhaps only one regret: I’m afraid I won’t find the same pleasure I always find to see a Ghibli film again and again. The graphics aren’t the main interest in the film, and when you already know the jokes, well… Therefore, I would rate it differently for the first seeing, and the ones after. A high rating anyway, especially for having been able to make us laugh so much without ever using any “dumb” easy joke as we could now find so (too) often in nowadays films. But I will never watch it again and again as I could do with a “Kiki”, a “Nausicaa”, or (my favorite) a “Mimi o Sumaseba” (aka “Whispers of the Heart”).

So, don’t hesitate if you have the opportunity to go and see it. You should appreciate it at least once. Then you could wish to own it, most probably to be able to show it to some friends or family.