RyothChatty ridiculous rating

Matialth Good concept, poorly executed.

Spoonixel Amateur movie with Big budget

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

e-70733 The hand-painted production guarantees that every frame of the film is very beautiful, but in contrast, the lens language of the film is slightly immature. Like many Japanese movies of similar style, the film tries to capture the texture of ordinary life in the details, but in the final effect, each chapter does not seem to be placed in the most suitable position. Therefore, because the story design is generally too sloppy, deliberately dividing the chapters and emphasizing the theme will naturally only be in a hurry.

susanadsbarrera The animation was different but good nonetheless and although the story may be good for a lot of people I felt like I didn't enjoy it as much as if I have grown up in a environment like the one represented in the movie because I don't get all the jokes or feel identified with some aspects and this main reason is the explation to my personal low review but is still a good movie.

CinemaClown From the director of Grave of the Fireflies & Only Yesterday, My Neighbours the Yamadas is Studio Ghibli's first fully digital film and although the approach it takes to bring its tale to life is noticeably different from the studio's previous works, the attention to its story & characters exhibits the same level of commitment as before.The story of My Neighbours the Yamadas follows the life & misadventures of the Yamadas family in contemporary Japan and is told in a series of vignettes. Each segment deals with different themes, explores its characters & their relationships with others, and through these brief snippets, the film contemplates on both the delights & hardships of life itself.Written & directed by Isao Takahata, the film adopts the narrative style of a comic strip and follows a non-linear route. Each episode focuses on a particular family member & covers their relationship dynamics with others, all expressed in a believable & relatable manner. But the core ingredient that keeps everything glued together is their love for one another, despite the numerous flaws.The look & feel of the film is considerably different from Studio Ghibli's traditional anime style. The use of colours & character sketches are kept to its minimum, edges of the canvas are left blank for the most part, and lighting is pitch-perfect. Editing allows the tale to unfolds at an unhurried pace but one unintended result of it is that the story feels much longer than its 104 minutes runtime.On an overall scale, My Neighbours the Yamadas is an exquisitely humoured, delightfully engaging & thoroughly amusing cinema that utilises its storytelling medium quite efficiently. Finely directed, deftly scripted & wonderfully animated, this social commentary on life, family, marriage & kids from Takahata is yet another winning material in the legendary animation studio's canon. Do not miss it.

Anssi Vartiainen Of the two Ghibli founding directors, Isao Takahata has always been far more Japanese than his more internationally successful colleague Hayao Miyazaki. And unfortunately this movie is no exception. My Neighbors the Yamadas depicts the live of a typical Japanese family as seen through Takahata's eyes. The Yamadas are more than a bit quirky, set on their ways and more than a bit dysfunctional - like most families really are - but the movie still manages to convey the love and admiration they feel for each other, even if their outwards reactions are the exact opposite.The problems arise from the fact that a slice of life movies like these have to be charming and funny for them to be enjoyable. That is, if they're not made to be brutally honest and realistic, which this in no way is. You're supposed to laugh at the jokes and the humorous blunders that each of these family members get into in turn. Yet the fact is, I didn't laugh a single time watching this movie, I didn't even smile all that much. I could kind of recognize the scenes I was supposed to be laughing at, but the humour never connected. Guess you need to be Japanese to get them.Though, to this film's credit, it's unlikely this would have gotten released outside of Japan if not for the fame Studio Ghibli has amassed over the years, so Takahata's choice to make this a very Japanese film is understandable and it's our failing as a viewer if we just don't get the culture. Or the language, for that matter, because apparently a lot of the jokes are based on the dialects of Japan, which is pretty much lost in the subtitles. I don't know if the English dub would be any better, as my personal copy didn't include that.The other good thing about this film is its animation. Especially the early fantasy sequence, delving into the imagination of the family's young daughter, is amazing to look at and the talent of Studio Ghibli is showcased beautifully. The rest of the film tries to imitate the newspaper strips it's based on, but even those simplified designs have fluidity and great motion to them. Not the best looking film Ghibli has ever produced, but it has its moments.As a whole I'm going with an average rating for this one. I personally didn't enjoy it all that much, but I can see the talent behind it and the idea they were going for. If you're a fan of Japanese culture and especially if you understand the language, give it a watch.