My Neighbors the Yamadas

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​Sandwiched right in between two of Hayao Miyazaki's most famous titles lies this fun, cute, quirky family comedy that is seemingly largely overlooked by Ghibli audiences - at least those who I associated with. The funny hing is, there's no one who seems to actually fully dislike it either. It just happens to be that little movie in between two of the most talked about titles, 'Mononoke' and 'Spirited Away', so I imagine it kinda gets the skip-over quite often.

All the film really is, is another "slice of life" movie told with a series of short sketches that highlight the lives of one particular family, dwelling in Japan. It covers some of the lighter and comedic aspects of family life, but touches on some of the more intense moments as well. I have to also give the film thorough credit for still remaining relatively lighthearted when it does get serious.

The whole idea behind this movie seems to be, at least to me, "this is family life, and anyone can relate." It seems to be the Ghibli answer to an all-around family film that isn't actually some sort of fantasy as well. This one is also about as real as it gets without being somewhat lame and predictable like 'Ocean Waves' or 'Only Yesterday'.

Another thing I have to give this title credit for is that it seemingly rocks its more primitive-looking animation. Believe me, what you see in the poster there is what you get, and the backgrounds and scenery are very lightly done at best. It's just a different stylistic choice to the regular mind-blowing animation, and following the absolutely breathtaking scenery that was 'Mononoke', it's a decent place for it. It's almost like taking a break from the typical. And trust me, I LOVE the typical, but it's an interesting breath of fresh, light air, just as well.

The more interesting thing about the animation aspect of it all was that director Isao Takahata made the creative choice for the film to be the first of the Ghibli series that is completely digital, and done in a sort of watercolour format. That means that all the incredibly amazing animation up to this point was still largely done by hand. That, in and of itself, is pretty mind-blowing.

Anyway, getting back to the film itself, there really isn't a whole lot more to it than what I've mentioned. The voice cast includes the likes of Touru MasuokaJames Belushi, Yukiji Asaoka Molly Shannon and Masako ArakiTress MacNeille as the Father, Mother and Grandmother, respectively, but that's about all there is more to say. It's about as simple as it gets, but I have to admit to liking this one more than a couple of other simplistic Ghibli films, despite their overall better animation.

This one was able to get a few laughs out of me, there were moments I could genuinely relate to, and in the end, it's just a nice, light-hearted and fun flick, even if it is one of Ghibli's lesser titles in the long-run. It still impressively enough accomplishes what it sets out to do, and illustrate the life of an average family quite well - even if it does go ever so slightly over the top at points. It's a 3, but the higher end of a 3.

3/5

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