My Neighbors the Yamadas
by Isao Takahata
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Hayato Isohata, Masako Araki, Naomi Uno, Tôru Masuoka, Yukiji AsaokaDirector: Isao Takahata
Brand: Buena Vista Home Video
Writer: Isao Takahata
Producer: Michael Johnson
Producer: Ned Lott
Producer: Rick Dempsey
Writer: Eric Garcia
Writer: Hisaichi Ishii
Writer: Leo Chu
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 5.1; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1; French (Original Language); Japanese (Original Language), Dolby Digital 5.1
Format: Animated, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.85:1
Running Time: 104 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2005-08-16
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Walt Disney Home Entertainment
Movie Reviews of My Neighbors the Yamadas
Movie Review: If they weren't nuts, it wouldn't be peaceful...or funny
Summary: 5 Stars
Hohoukekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun, or My Neighbours The Yamadas, is quite a departure from the usual oeuvre of Studio Ghibli. The work of director Isao Takahata (Hotaru no Haka, Heisei Tanuki Gassen), this 1999 release is done in a rough, less sophisticated art-style harkening back to yonkoma (four panel) comic strips, which is actually where it came from. The colours are softer and fuzzier as well. This look at life's funny moments through the eyes of a Japanese family and their dog works well because despite the Japanese trimmings, the Yamadas of Japan could also be the Smiths and Jones of the US and the UK as well. BTW, the first word of the Japanese title, "hohoukekyo" is a Japanese onomatopoeia for the chirp a songbird makes.
The family consists of Takashi and Matsuko Yamada, the older child and boy Noboru and young daughter Nonoko, Matsuko's mother Shige, and Potchi the dog. Note-although both parents call Shige "okaasan" or "mother," Shige and Matsuko speak in an Osakan dialect whereas Takashi doesn't, hence I draw my conclusion that Shige is Matsuko's mother.
Matsuko's quite useless and lazy when it comes to housework. She scrambles to bring the laundry from the rain, only to find out she'd never put it out to begin with! And she has the tendency to cook the same thing days on end, or to prepare shabu-shabu (a hot pot where one puts in sliced vegetables or meet and pulls them out to eat when cooked). As Shige mutters, that's one way her daughter doesn't have to cook.
Noboru seems to be a typical teenager, studying hard, having problems at school, and with the expected generation gap between him and his father. And it's heartening to see him joyful after he gets a phone call from a girl and is happy with joy. Ah, the spring of adolescent love.
Takashi is a hard-working salaryman who longs for respect. In one episode, he calls home to see if anyone can bring him an umbrella, only to hear various family members give excuses. Mad, he hangs up, buys an umbrella at the supermarket, and emerges into the rain, only to see the rest of the family decked out in rain gear or umbrellas coming out to meet him, Matsuko with a spare umbrella for him. They walk home together. However, when he comes from half-tired after a long day at work and is starving, Matsuko, too bothered to cook, gets him a cup of coffee and a banana before she resumes her place watching TV.
Apart from a series of funny misadventures and observations of family life, it's hard to garner a central theme. However, "the ups and downs of life" as seen on the DVD package is enhanced in a scene where Takashi, speaking to a young couple during the wedding reception, is accidentally handed a shopping list instead of his notes by Matsuko. He goes on an impromptu speech thus to Ichiro and Kazuko which comes from experience with his own dysfunctional family: "life is full of surprises. ... But...you have to accept life as it comes. Acceptance is the key to surviving the worst situations without losing heart or breaking up. ...Even the worst behavior can be accepted and forgiven if there is no malice. In fact, must be forgiven so one can go on with life. It's not necessarily bad to resign yourself to a situation. In fact, it's essential. A must for a happy family. A must for facing life and getting on with it. Though it may sound negative, acceptance is the only way out of totally unacceptable situations." Or better still, it's summed up by a Japanese rendition of Doris Day's "Que Sera Sera" sung by the Yamadas.
The Japanese folk tale origins-of finding Noboru via the story of Momotarou (Peach boy) and Nonoko a la Kaguya Hime. (Princess Kaguya) may be lost on foreign audiences, as well as the haiku from Matsuo Basho and Buson. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable portrait of the Yamadas.
"I know why we're so peaceful. Because all three of you are nuts. ... If any one of you were normal, it'd throw off the balance."-Noboru to his parents and grandmother.
Summary of My Neighbors the Yamadas
Walt Disney Home Entertainment Presents A Studio Ghibli Film. Join in the adventures of the quirky Yamada family -- from the hilarious to the touching -- brilliantly presented in a unique, visually striking comic strip style. Takashi Yamada and his wacky wife Matsuko, who has no talent for housework, navigate their way through the ups and downs of work, marriage, and family life with a sharp-tongued grandmother who lives with them, a teenage son who wishes he had cooler parents, and a pesty daughter whose loud voice is unusual for someone so small. Even the family dog has issues! Experience the little victories in life with MY NEIGHBORS THE YAMADAS -- featuring the voice talents of comedic stars Jim Belushi and Molly Shannon.~(c)1999 Hisaichi Ishii · Hatake Jimusho · GNHB (C)Buena Vista Home Entertainment, Inc.Similar DVD Movies
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