My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999) voices Yukiji Asaoka, Toru Masuoka, Masako Araki, Naomi Uno directed by Isao Takahata Movie Review

My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999)   3/53/53/53/53/5


My Neighbours the Yamadas (1999)

At Home with the Yamadas

The Yamadas are a typical middle class Japanese family living in urban Tokyo and like most familiar their lives are made up of various events and episodes some of which make you smile whilst others touch your heart.

I have had the pleasure of watching a few Studio Ghibli movies but am no where near being an expert. But I have learned something and that is not to watch a Studio Ghibli movie expecting to see something similar to what you may have watched before as their movies are diverse with something for everyone. As such as I sat down to watch "My Neighbours the Yamadas" the fact that this was visually very different to other Studio Ghibli movies didn't completely surprise me especially as this different sort of animation was as beautifully rendered as any of their other animations.

Now the visual style in many ways reminded of cartoons you see in the daily papers, that look of being reasonably quickly drawn and quite simple with less attention to detail. But I say that and still have to say that "My Neighbours the Yamadas" has plenty of detail, it is just a lot more focussed and in many ways the detail is getting this look right rather than delivering stunning backgrounds. In fact as I write this "My Neighbours the Yamadas" visually reminded me of the 70s cartoon "Roobarb" but done with a softer almost water colour approach.

But this style is actually perfect due to the nature of "My Neighbours the Yamadas" as it is episodic and less about a flowing storyline with a proper start and ending. And like with so many of Studio Ghibli's movie the story has a real heart and soul to it whilst interweaved with humour so that you constantly find yourself smiling at what happens on the screen.

What this all boils down to is that "My Neighbours the Yamadas" is another little charmer from Studio Ghibli and very different to their other animations. But somehow they manage to make you charmed by such a simple movie even if it isn't what you are expecting.


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