The Yamadas are a typical Japanese middle-class family. Takashi Yamada, the father, is a salaryman who's the sole breadwinner. His wife Matsuko, the mother, is an easygoing housewife who would much rather
relax than do house chores.
Takashi and Matsuko have two children, Noboru and Nonoko. Noboru is the average high school student with first crushes and
less-than-excellent grades while Nonoko is the pesky little sister and baby of
the family. Then there's Shige, Matsuko's mother, who also lives with them.
My Neighbors the Yamadas chronicles how the family copes with the challenges
of daily life.
Review: My Neighbors the Yamadas
Just because a film is by Studio Ghibli does not automatically mean that it's
the greatest thing since sliced bread. That's what I learned after watching My Neighbor the Yamadas anime.
Up until now, I've practically loved and raved about each and every Ghibli
film I've seen. As the title suggests, My Neighbors the Yamadas is a chronicle of the life and
times of the Yamada family.
One minute Takashi Yamada is stressing about an office envelope he thinks he
left at home, the next minute Matsuko is frantically trying to remember what
she needs from the store.
There's no continuing plot, it's just one unrelated situation after another
involving the members of the Yamada family.
Whether it's about grandma paying the taxes right or Nonoko getting left
behind at the mall, every day seems to be a major event at the Yamada
household.
So what's my problem? My Neighbors the Yamadas is not a bad film per se. I think its main flaw is that it gets boring as you go along.
After the novelty wears off, one would have to muddle through a lot of the
same thing before seeing the end of it. It took me two weeks to watch all 104
minutes because I kept dozing off. Everything was just so... typical.
I didn't find anything particularly laugh-out-loud funny nor tremendously
interesting. And since there is no real story, there's no climax either.
I felt I was merely waiting for the credits to roll as I sat through each and
every situation.
Art and animation-wise, I have to give Studio Ghibli My Neighbors the Yamadas a thumbs up. The entire film is presented uniquely in comic strip fashion, such that the
characters look like moving caricatures against roughly drawn backgrounds.
The experience can be likened to watching my newspaper's daily funnies come to
life. Character designs and settings are extremely simple, but the combination of
pencil sketches and light washes of watercolors gave the scenes a quaint,
artsy charm.
The English dubbing was extremely well done to boot. Jim Belushi and company do a stellar job of making the Yamadas reachable to
western audiences while at the same time retaining their Japanese roots.
Even the way they pronounced all the Japanese names was good. I enjoyed listening to the soundtrack as well.
My Neighbor the Yamadas would probably work nicely as a half-hour animated
short, but stretching it to become a full-length film feature is just too
much. There's a reason it did not become a box-office hit in Japan, and that is
probably it.
Miscellanies: My Neighbors the Yamadas
My Neighbors the Yamadas anime was originally released in 1999.
Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas) | |
| Genre | Comedy, Slice of Life |
|---|---|
| Episodes | 1 |
| Status | Finished Airing |
| Aired | Jul 17, 1999 |
| Producers | Tokuma Shoten |
| Studio | Studio Ghibli |
| Rating | G - All Ages |
| Themes | - |
0 comments
Post a Comment